With exactly seven weeks left until the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) at Sha Tin in December, there is a distinct sense of anticipation with the Lukfook Jewellery 35th Anniversary Raceday at Sha Tin today (25 October).
The G2 Lukfook Jewellery Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) is one of the key lead-up races to the HK$28 million LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) on 13 December at Sha Tin and, with nine quality runners engaged today, this year’s running shapes as no exception.
Hong Kong has been long renowned for the depth of its sprinting stocks, and I will be particularly interested in the performances of emerging horses such as COLOURFUL KING and KA YING ATTACK as they clash with proven older rivals including RAGING BLIZZARD, COPARTNER PRANCE and last year’s winner of this race TOMODACHI KOKOROE.
The Lukfook Jewellery Premier Bowl has been won by some of the greats of Hong Kong racing, including KA YING RISING, ABSOLUTE CHAMPION and ABLE FRIEND, among others and I look forward to another fantastic edition of the feature today.
The G2 Lukfook Jewellery Premier Bowl Handicap is carded as Race 7 and will be run over 1200m at 4.05pm for prize money of HK$5.35 million.
The speed will be good with COPARTNER PRANCE going forward to lead for Keith Yeung from gate five. BEAUTY WAVES will be handy from gate six for Alexis Badel, with CRIMSON FLASH holding a forward position on the rail from barrier two with TOMODACHI KOKOROE (Harry Bentley) and SING DRAGON (Matthew Chadwick) settling behind the leaders.
COLOURFUL KING is a short-course specialist but generally settles at the back of the field and finishes off strongly. He has won his last two runs down the straight 1000m course and resumed in great form when winning the G3 National Day Cup Handicap on 1 October, beating MAGIC CONTROL and BOTTOMUPTOGETHER. From gate nine here, Jerry Chau may opt to go back at the start and bank on COLOURFUL KING outsprinting his rivals in the straight. COLOURFUL KING is a win and place chance.
KA YING ATTACK finished last season off with two dominant wins over 1200m and 1400m. He then resumed where he left off on 11 October with an impressive victory over TURQUOISE VELOCITY jumping from a wide draw and ridden from the back of the field by Matthew Poon before sprinting brilliantly through a gap near the rail in the final stages to win easily. This is a rise in class for KA YING ATTACK but he is also a win and place chance.
COPARTNER PRANCE fought on gamely in the straight to hold fourth behind INVINCIBLE IBIS in the G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m) on 27 September. His previous effort was full of merit when he sat second behind KA YING RISING throughout to finish a distant runner-up to the world’s best horse in very fast time on 6 September over 1200m. Keith Yeung stays aboard COPARTNER PRANCE, and he is a place chance.
RAGING BLIZZARD was second in this race last year, coming from well back in the field to beat all but TOMODACHI KOKOROE. He resumed in the National Day Cup and made some ground late to be a well beaten fourth to COLOURFUL KING. RAGING BLIZZARD will be better suited over 1200m here and despite conceding weight to all his rivals is a place chance for Brenton Avdulla.
CRIMSON FLASH won four races last season and resumed on 1 October when fifth to COLOURFUL KING in the National Day Cup. CRIMSON FLASH has gate two and Andrea Atzeni will be looking for clear running early in the straight. He is a place chance.
TOMODACHI KOKOROE was an easy winner of this race last year and won’t be far from the placed horses at the finish, while AERIS NOVA (Derek Leung) can improve on his first up run when unplaced behind VICTOR THE WINNER on 27 September.
While the 2026/27 Hong Kong season is still very much in the early stages after just 13 of 88 local meetings completed and with 127 races decided, it is pleasing to note that the total racing turnover on local and overseas races is up by 12.5 percent to HK$24.8 billion.
In relation to wagering on Hong Kong racing with turnover of HK$16.9 billion, we see a slight decline of 1.4 percent with turnover from Hong Kong customers down by 5 percent and partially compensated by commingling turnover, which is up by 5 percent.
The increase of significantly more overseas racing fixtures has led to an increase in Simulcast/World Pool turnover of percent 61 percent to HK$7.9 billion. The local turnover on these races is up by 55 percent and overseas turnover has risen by 92.8 percent.
When looking at the total turnover from Hong Kong customers, while we see a decrease of HK$624 million on local races, this is by far overcompensated by a growth of HK$2.3 billion from Hong Kong customers on overseas races.
We feel that that despite seeing an overall increase of the total turnover on racing, we will review the number of simulcast races before our Hong Kong meetings because our customer survey shows that some of our customers feel we have sometimes too much content, which left not much time to study form for upcoming Hong Kong Races.
One point of customer concern we want to improve is how we can reduce the late changes in odds before the start of the race.
These late odds drops are coming not only from our overseas customers, but also from our local customers who use more and more digital channels. Interestingly, the success rate of these late changes is much less than perceived and is approximately about 11 percent, but naturally when successful it creates a lot of interest and suspicion.
For some of these spectacular odds drops – for example, we saw a drop from 99 to 40 and it took only a total of HK$600,000 to trigger this move – turnover came from multiple sources overseas, as well as local.
Our Racing Control and especially our Integrity Team monitors not only the Hong Kong market but as well all overseas markets. The team has very advanced algorithms and, in combination with our Security/Integrity Department, we will do to everything possible to ensure the integrity of our racing.
One of the international highlights of today’s is the running of the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, 3000m) at Kyoto Racecourse in Japan.
LOVCEN is attempting to become the ninth horse to win all three legs of the Japanese Triple Crown after victories in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, 2000m) and the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, 2400m). LOVCEN has won five of his six starts and is a win and place chance for trainer Haruki Sugiyama and jockey Kohei Matsuyama.
DANON HISTORY – a half-brother to DANON BELUGA – is the main danger to LOVCEN after an eight-length victory over 2600m at Sapporo on 16 August and is a strong chance for Christophe Lemaire, who has ridden the past three winners of this race.
GOING TO SKY, who will be partnered by Yutaka Take, finished fourth in the Japanese Derby and will be suited by the 3000m as a place chance.
Source: HKJC