Special award for 'Cape crusader'

Globetrotting sprinter Cape Of Good Hope will be honoured with a special achievement award at the Champions Awards presentations on Saturday night.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club had planned to honour the 'Cape crusader' when he returned to Sha Tin yesterday, but rain washed out the planned celebration. The Jockey Club has been stung by criticism that Cape Of Good Hope could not gain a nomination in the champion sprinter category of the Horse of the Year awards, even if the great Silent Witness did have that position all parcelled up. But the club wants no one to be in any doubt that Cape Of Good Hope is held in the highest esteem.

Trainer David Oughton said yesterday he had agreed to Cape Of Good Hope being paraded before the fans at Sunday's Sha Tin meeting, quarantine protocols permitting.

Jockey Club executive director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges confirmed yesterday the two-time international Group One winner would be honoured at the industry's annual night of nights at the Ritz-Carlton on Saturday.

'This has been a truly magnificent performance, for a seven-year-old to maintain top form across a campaign in three different countries this year,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said. 'For a lot of the world, northern hemisphere racing is the benchmark for top performers so winning a Group One race at the Royal Ascot meeting is a wonderful compliment to the horse, his trainer and to Hong Kong racing in general.

'I hope the handicappers of the world have really taken note of this and, of course, it cements Silent Witness's reputation as the world's number one sprinter.'