Hong Kong International Races 2016: Japan, Purton take two Group 1s

Hong Kong turned on a fabulous day of racing at Sha Tin, with the big four Group 1 International races a whirlwind of champion winners, upsets, and thrilling racing.

Japan’s Maurice was the star. He won his third Group 1 in Hong Kong, backing up his win in last year’s Mile to win the Cup with Ryan Moore steering to be undefeated at Sha Tin, no small order.

Brilliant in victory even after rearing at the jump, Maurice and Moore were fortunate to find a hot speed in the race led by a breakaway effort by A Shin Hikari, who bolted for home early.

Maurice was able to sit back and unleash at the perfect time and ended up striding away from the field like good horses do, with Secret Weapon in second and Staphanos in third, three lengths away.

There is some intrigue about Japan’s Horse of the Year. Everything says Maurice will be retired, with the Cup his swansong, but his trainer Noriyuki Hori wouldn’t confirm that explicitly.

As a champion five-year-old stallion, his stud value is, of course, enormous and he’s owned by Japan’s best-known racing and breeding family, the Yoshidas.

The great shame is through retirement, we’re guaranteed not to see a match-up of Winx and Maurice. However unlikely it may be anyway, it’s perhaps fortunate for wherever the race would have been held, given the grandstands wouldn’t have coped with the teeming and fervent Japanese and Australian support for the two.

Maybe Hori can find a way to keep him racing, but it’d be hugely surprising to see him at the track in 2017.

Of the other Group 1 races, Australia made plenty of claims. Hong Kong-based jockey Zac Purton was the best performer, winning the Mile on Beauty Only and the Sprint on the grand eight-year-old local, Aerovelocity.

The Sprint was fiercely contested from the jump, a rough and tumble affair. Aerovelocity punched away on the rail to win, but the favourite Lucky Bubbles was flying home and looked unlucky not to win the race down the outside for Brett Prebble.

Peniaphobia, last year’s winner, was third as Hong Kong horses filled the top four with Amazing Kids in fourth.

Of the two Australian-trained horses in the Sprint, Takedown, fresh from his Winterbottom win, was sixth and coming late and just under two lengths off them in the finish. His rider Tim Clark commented, “He ran well – he just didn’t show much early speed. He kept working along the whole way.”

Rebel Dane was worked early to be on the pace but weakened in the finish to be 11th. His jockey Ben Melham had no excuses, saying “he just didn’t have it today”.

Purton made it a double with the later win in the Mile with Beauty Only, who was off the bridle early but didn’t stop giving. He stayed on to beat Helene Paragon with Hugh Bowman on board by half a length, with Joyful Trinity another length off for third.

Perhaps the upset of the day came early in the Vase, with the highly-fancied Highland Reel beaten a nose, run down by Japan’s Satano Crown ridding by Joao Moreira in the final strides, in what was a two-horse race in the finish.

It looked like a one-horse race at the 300m mark – Highland Reel had seemingly given the field a Cox Plate-style thrashing like Winx, but he was gathered in just on the line by Moreira and Satano Crown. Big Orange, fresh from the Melbourne Cup, didn’t factor in the finish.

In the final race of the day, Australia had another win*. It’s an asterisk, because the Queensland Derby winner and now import, Eagle Way, won for trainer John Moore and jockey Hugh Bowman. The race was intriguing not just for Eagle Way, but for Pakistan Star, the horse with a giant motor but zero tactical speed who keeps wowing fans but not always winning

In his five starts, Pakistan Star – who still could be anything – has had to come from last each time and despite unleashing sectionals that make your eyes water, can’t always overcome horses at the front.

Each time he runs and each time he doesn’t quite get there, he divides punters into two categories: those that back him for the thrill, and there are many given how short he starts, and those that play the percentages and back the on-pace runners and enjoy the big odds.

The latter have been more smug recently but that might change if he can ever learn to jump with them. His sectionals were special.

All in all, a record crowd of 100,710 provided a record turnover for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, with HK$1.518 billion bet on the meeting, an astonishing $260 million AUD. And why not? The data on horses competing available is second to none and it’s one of the cleanest jurisdictions in the world. The size of pools is further enticing for big punters.

It’s not all perfect, though. Children aren’t allowed at the races except with owners. Some would applaud this, I feel it takes away a little of the romance not having youngsters there to enjoy the atmosphere and racing. Plenty of us fell in love with horses at the track well before betting was a part of the equation

Of course, for those who don’t worry about such things, there’ll be plenty of pencils being sharpened to keep dates around mid-December free for the Hong Kong experience in 2017. It seemingly only gets bigger and better.