THE FORECAST: Hong Kong Heroes

THE FORECAST: HONG KONG HEROES

Hong Kong does racing differently. In this town the horses are heroes and the jockeys are celebrities, trainers are revered and racing is king. Race day is a celebration of the punt and punters take hard core to a new level – they live and breathe bet slips, beer gardens and triple trios.

On Sunday the 140th Hong Kong International race day brings together the best turf horses in the world and I will be on track to experience it for the first time. Walking into Sha Tin on Thursday for track work, you can’t escape how the absolute great horses in Hong Kong’s history are celebrated – there was movement at Shark Towers when I turned a corner to see a life-size mural of my old favourite, Vengeance Of Rain.

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The world’s best sprinter KA YING RISING holds the aces and the eyeballs in the Sprint on Sunday. This horse is a proper freakshow, can’t tell you how excited I am to see this beast in full flight.

ROMANTIC WARRIOR is the other headline act in the Cup. This horse is reaching God-like status in Hong Kong – he is their world-beater, the big daddy of the local scene and with James McDonald superstar horse and jockey combination that punters rely on.

As has become the norm, the Japanese are here in force across the four international races. I reckon their best chance comes in the toughest race to sort out – SOUL RUSH looked a beast at track work on Thursday and when you’re winning Group 1 races like he did last start, you’re looking at a world class horse.

Enjoy the spectacle, enjoy the show, I’ve got goosebumps already.

THE SHA TIN SET

R3 No. 4 DIVANO

R6 No. 11 SUNSTRIDER

R7 No. 1 SOUL RUSH

R9 No. 6 CHARMING LEGEND