Last Wednesday night at Happy Valley where we had the International Jockeys Competition was all about great atmosphere- great jockeys, people, music, food, drink, racing, fireworks, and a flutter on the races.
And watching the world’s greatest jockey- Frankie Dettori- jump for joy.
Sunday is the more serious business at hand- some of the best horses in the world, the world’s leading owners and trainers and bigger prize money.
Win, lose or draw, it promises to be a fantastic day of racing.
Of course, I’ll be there and, as I always do, will watch the first few races as I just need to see if there might be a track bias which favours horses drawn on the inside, or if it might favour horses coming off the pace..or if it will be a fair racing track for all.
Looking at the card, I notice that Hong Kong-based trainer Tony Millard has provided a number of rides to leading UK jockey Ryan “Smiley” Moore.
Moore is not the most gregarious of personalities, but he certainly can ride and I would keep an eye on his rides for Millard.
Elsewhere in the card, I have been looking at the overnight odds of the John Moore pair- Leading City and Captain Sweet- in Race 3.
The latter is at very short odds- too short- and I really prefer Vincent CY Ho who has done a stack of work on Leading City to Darren Beadman on Captain Sweet.
I just feel that the great Aussie jockey will “come alive” on Xtension in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile and a win this race will be good enough.
For some spicy value, include Sichuan Success. It won’t be hot and just makes your day take off.
Elsewhere, I might be proven wrong, but I am not all keen on Rocket Man and Sacred Kingdom in Hong Kong Sprint.
If Singapore’s Rocket Man was anywhere near its best, top jockey and the horse’s regular jockey in all its International Races, Felix Coetzee, would have even given up a Bob Dylan concert to come and ride the horse.
The fact that “The Cat” has passed on the ride makes me go off it whereas a third placing looks like the best the ageing Sacred Kingdom can achieve. Age slows down even the best.
In this race, I lead towards the Hong Kong trio of Lucky Nine, Little Bridge and the creatively-named John Size-trained Entrapment. If I had to pick one from these three, I’d go for the Caspar Fownes-trained Lucky Nine. There’s a spring in his step and a song in his heart when Cas speaks about the chances of this horse.
In the Hong Kong Cup, I have doubts about Ambitious Dragon and feel that the galloper had its stuffing knocked out of it at its last start when it was given an appallingly amateurish ride by Maxime Guyon.
This time, Douglas Whyte takes over and though I would dearly love Whyte to show Guyon a lesson in riding and win this race, I feel that if Matthew Chadwick does not PANIC, he can take this out and with Cirrus Des Aigles to beat.
But young Chadwick has to be really on his toes. If not, he’ll have trainer Tony Cruz on his ass.
And one really would not wish Tony Cruz on anyone’s ass.
Race 9 looks pretty open- I really don’t like King Mossman which will be one of the favourites- whereas Fay Fay should take out the last race.
For some value, I would throw in one of my favourite gallopers in Caspar Fownes’ Best City along with the two David Ferraris runners- Semos and Liberator- with Dragon Fighter for odds.
The third Double Trio looks like a worthwhile bet while I cannot see the Six Up paying much.
The Triple Trio?
Very gettable even if using double bankers in all legs and 5-6 legs.
Then again, it all could go tits up.’cos that’s racing.
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