And so another year has gone by and I am back in Hong Kong as a guest of the Hong Kong Jockey Club to take in the atmosphere and basically enjoy the four International races often billed as the World Turf Championships (rightly or wrongly). This year we have an ultra strong European contingent but then again it is half way around the globe to get here and who can tell with any degree of certainty just how much that sort of effort takes out of a horse, especially as we are at the end of what has been a long year for most of them. Luckily (for me), I am not claiming to be a tipster which allows me a free hand to just write about the contenders but be warned – if you want to watch them live it’s a very early start on Sunday morning UK time!
6.00am Sunday – Longines Hong Kong Vase.
Won last year by Flintshire, Andre Fabre’s five year old is back to defend his crown and attempt to pick up the fairly significant sum of £778,000 or so first prize in the process. He has kept his form all season and looked as good as ever when two lengths runner up to Golden Horn in what many saw as a vintage Arc, and a repeat of that run may well be good enough. He looked alright to me in his morning work but others suggested he wasn’t sparkling which has to be a worry, with Highland Reel for Aidan O’Brien and that man Ryan Moore looming up as a possible danger. He has been running well over a mile and a quarter including a comfortable victory in the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington but he has been taken home from his last run in Australia and then back out here to Hong Kong as far as I know, which may well have a negative effect. Cirrus Des Aigles, Cannock Chase, Ming Dynasty, and Dariyan make up “our” contenders but in my view it is the first two named who look to have the better chances.
6.40am Sunday – Longines Hong Kong Sprint.
Just the one European raider in amongst the fourteen runners as Sole Power attempts to win here at the fourth attempt with a second to crack Japanese star Lord Kanaloa his best finish to date. Much as I would love to see him win and will be cheering him as loudly as anyone else, the fact is he has yet to win over six furlongs after eleven tries and is basically a five furlong specialist, which has to count against him as he runs his fifty-fourth race under rules looking for his thirteen success. Gold Fun is the local favourite and perhaps most likely winner, while Mongolian Saturday and his connections will bring a touch of colour to proceedings, and you can never write off any Wesley Ward trained sprinter which also makes Green Mask of interest though he has had some minor issues this week.
7.50am Sunday – Longines Hong Kong Mile.
Plenty of European options again here with Mondialiste (David O’Meara), Toormore (Richard Hannon), Red Dubawi (Frau Erika Mader), and Esoterique (Andre Fabre), but they look as if they will have their work cut out to cope with local hero Able Friend. He was or is a World beater and will be ridden by Joao Moreira who the locals just worship (so expect his price to shrink by the off), but blotted his copybook at Royal Ascot with a poor showing and was also surprisingly beaten last time out here as well. Even whispering that he may have had his time would leave me liable to a lynching here, and trainer John Moore seems convinced he has him back to his best, but if not, who can take advantage? Japanese raider Maurice has been the subject of some negative gallop reports (he looked good to me, but what do I know having never seen him before), leaving Beauty Flame as an interesting each way option that I may play – after all, he beat Contentment and Able Friend last time out, yet is freely available at 16/1 – as opposed to 5/4 for the public favourite.
8.30am Sunday – Longines Hong Kong Cup.
The grand finale and culmination of a long and tiring week (for which I expect and will get zero sympathy), and one we really could or even should win with Dermot Weld’s Free Eagle. He has always been thought of as a potential world-beater ever since his two-year-old days when he was sent off odds on to beat Australia before being beaten six lengths by the future Derby, Irish Derby, and Juddmonte Stakes winner. Off for almost exactly a year he returned with an easy win in Group Three company and has been mixing it with the best ever since, posting a third in the Champion Stakes before another eight months off. Returning with another win, this time at Royal Ascot in the Prince Of Wales Stakes, he has added a third to Golden Horn in the Irish Champion Stakes and an unlucky in running sixth to the same horse in the Arc in Paris when he would have finished closer granted a better run. It could well be my pro European blood that makes me bias but I can’t see any other form in the race that matches those exploits, and despite a top class field he looks the best of the European chances all night. Naturally, there is a strong home contingent headed by the likes of Designs On Rome (last years winner) and Military Attack (last years short head runner up), though I am more tempted by a little each way on Dan Excel – he has won over the mile here and beat Military Attack half a length in Singapore this May, yet is priced in the UK at 100/1 – greedy of me I agree, but sorely tempting to pennies if nothing else!
