Riding high after a monumental success in South Korea on Sunday afternoon (7 September), Jerry Chau returns to Hong Kong racing on Wednesday (10 September) at Happy Valley aiming to kick on with the same momentum which resulted in an unlikely G3 Korea Sprint (1200m, sand) triumph on Self Improvement.<\/p>
\u201cIt is a very good racecourse (Seoul). It has a very big grandstand with lots of people and they\u2019re cheering. They were very excited and to be there was my honour. It\u2019s my first overseas Group race winner, I hope there can be more soon. It\u2019s a very good memory,\u201d Chau said.<\/p>
\u201cIt was a pretty good win for me representing Hong Kong. I\u2019m very happy. I think he\u2019s very lucky because it was raining, it kept raining until the race started, so the track condition was good. I think the surface with rain was more suitable for Hong Kong\u2019s horses because it becomes more similar to Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>
Chau, 25, who skilfully avoided much of the sand course\u2019s harsh kickback aboard Self Improvement on his way to Korea Sprint victory over Japan\u2019s Chikappa, is booked for five rides at the city circuit, including Embraces (135lb) in the Class 3 Central Handicap (1650m) for trainer Cody Mo. <\/p>
\u201cHopefully the outside draw (10) will help Embraces because he always comes from behind. He\u2019s in good form, in good shape and I think he will run good,\u201d Chau said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6354″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Happy Valley\u2019s opening meeting of the season marks the start of the DBS x Manulife Million Challenge, worth HK$1.5 million, which runs from tomorrow night until 4 February, 2026. The competition is for horses racing in Class 3 and above, with points awarded for first, second, third and fourth place finishes.<\/p>
Success first-up at Happy Valley for Embraces will secure 15 points in the challenge. Second receives six points, third gets four, while fourth place secures three points. David Hayes\u2019 Soleil Fighter won the 2024\/25 edition with an unmatched 65 points accrued, featuring three wins, for owner Sze-To Kin Sun.<\/p>
Chau also partners Flying Wrote in the Class 4 Quarry Bay Handicap (1200m) for trainer Tony Cruz.<\/p>
\u201cLast season he ran a good race on the final day (when third). I\u2019ve trialled him this season and he was still a little bit heavy in that trial, but after that he will improve,\u201d Chau said.<\/p>
Chasing a hat-trick, four-year-old Wrote A New Page (120lb) steps away from draw seven for trainer Danny Shum and jockey Harry Bentley in the Central Handicap. The bay has been gelded between seasons.<\/p>
\u201cHe finished the season in really good form and it\u2019s great to get back on board and see how he goes. Danny\u2019s certainly good for getting his horses fit at the beginning of the season. I don\u2019t expect this horse to be any different. I sat on him the other morning and he felt really good. He was moving very, very nicely and all is good,\u201d Bentley said. \u201cThere was no point keeping him as an entire. It probably just gets his mind focused on the job that bit more, which is going to do no harm.\u201d<\/p>
Regal Gem (125lb) found his winning groove with success in the final race of last season. Derek Leung is hunting consecutive wins with Frankie Lor\u2019s charge when the British-bred three-year-old features in the Class 3 Wan Chai Handicap (1200m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6355″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cHe needed time to acclimatise to Hong Kong. He was squeezed a little at the beginning, so we were a little bit further back than we wanted. The tempo was fast, so it was suitable for him and he ran home strong (last start). I galloped him a couple of days ago and he\u2019s holding his form,\u201d Leung said.<\/p>
In preparation for his shot at Japan\u2019s G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama on 28 September, Lucky Sweynesse finished second to Ka Ying Rising in Sunday\u2019s HK$3.72 million Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive\u2019s Cup Handicap (1200m) with Leung.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cWe are very happy. The stable did a very good job and his action was good. His fitness is getting better and better. He\u2019s still not 100 percent fit. It\u2019s step-by-step, he\u2019s older, so he needs a few runs to get his routine back. He\u2019s pulled up good and his movement was good,\u201d Leung said.<\/p>
Trainer Michael Chang fired out of the gates last Sunday by winning the campaign\u2019s first two races at Sha Tin with You\u2019remyeverything and Perfect Peach. Karis Teetan unites with the in-form handler when last-start winner Sovereign Fund (127lb) returns in the Wan Chai Handicap.<\/p>
\u201cMichael has had a great start already. So, it\u2019s nice to have a couple of rides for him. Sovereign Fund did well last season, he finished the season really strong. He had a nice trial recently against a few strong horses. That was just a piece of work to make him come on for his races, but overall, we\u2019re happy with his progression and happy with his form. I\u2019m looking forward to riding him now,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (10 September) eight-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 7.05pm with the Class 5 Admiralty Handicap (1200m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6352″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Riding high after a monumental success in South Korea on Sunday afternoon (7 September), Jerry Chau returns to Hong Kong racing on Wednesday (10 September) at Happy Valley aiming to kick on with the same momentum which resulted in an unlikely G3 Korea Sprint (1200m, sand) triumph on Self Improvement.\u201cIt is… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6350"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6350"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6364,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6350\/revisions\/6364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}