Has there ever been a more unpopular and deflating result than the Hong Kong Classic Cup blowout that left the Sha Tin masses feeling numb on Sunday?
After 125-1 winner It Has To Be You beat home another triple-figure longshot, President Lincoln, you could have heard a pin drop. The exotic dividends tell the story – a 1,800-to-1 quinella, and a tierce that paid a whopping HK$349,124 for a HK$10 outlay.
The Sha Tin faithful are famously feral when it comes to unexpected results, but there was no single figure to scorn on Sunday, no odds-on favourite to tear strips off. A beaming Tim Clark returned to a reception reminiscent of a crowd in mourning. The Australian jockey is so likeable and hard-working it’s impossible, even for the cynical patrons of the public stand, to begrudge him his success.
So what we got was a strangely silent gathering of morose punters, who were not only wondering how they would afford the train fare home but what the hell to do when the Hong Kong Derby rolls about in one month’s time.
The beaten jockeys were just as confused. Before the following event, one rode past us in the parade ring with a puzzled look on his face and asked, to no one in particular: “What wins the Derby now?”
Enough bubbles burst that there would usually be frantic phone calls made as jockeys wiggle out of big-race commitments and jump on a more fancied runner.
The top six from Sunday seem set for riders but which horse would you want to get on? Fortune has fallen Matthew Chadwick’s way – he ended up on the previously out-of-form President Lincoln almost by default – but after he burst back into big-race reckoning, you won’t be able to prise him off Danny Shum Chap-shing’s runner with a crow bar.
You can watch as many replays of the Classic Cup as you want, but you won’t glean any more insight than the fortuneteller that was stationed in Happy Valley’s Beer Garden last month. As one trainer said, and we’ll tone this down: “You can take the results from that race and wipe your nose with them.”
Such is the even and apparently mediocre standard of this lot, barrier draws and the run of the race are likely to decide the Derby; but there are still a couple of wildcards that could emerge from outside Sunday’s field.
Tony Millard may have left his run too late with Jolly Victor. He is stranded on a rating of 69, but still has blinkers up his sleeve and two wins in three weeks would put him in the field.
The most intriguing left-field candidate is John Moore’s last-minute acquisition from Italy formerly known as Silent Killer and now Albiceleste. He is rated 86, and that alone might be enough to get into the field. Silent Killer won five straight over a mile and was then placed in good company. He trials on Tuesday morning at Sha Tin.
On the question of unpredictable results, Sunday’s crushing comedown was one of the best, or worst, whichever way you look at it, but could the Derby produce another low point? We could be headed to another random result on blue-riband raceday, making the event a HK$16 million crapshoot decided by a roll of the dice or, more accurately, by which toy car someone selects at the barrier draw.
Sunday rekindled memories of what is believed to be the previous high for a Hong Kong quinella. In the 1999 Derby when Holy Grail beat Commander Charlie – both of the horses starting better than 100-1 – the results producing a “Q” of HK$18,872 and tierce of HK$499,350 for each HK$10 unit.
Actually, it might be an idea for the Hong Kong Jockey Club to bring back the Beer Garden fortune teller for an extra month so she can help us get our numbers in order before March 17.
