John Moore is the most prolific first-day winner of the Hong Kong trainers’ ranks but he looks overshadowed on Sunday by Tony Cruz and Danny Shum as the 2013-14 season commences.
All three men have been regularly successful on opening day in the past, but Moore has only four runners, two of them in the feature race, the Chief Executive’s Cup, and he has already poured cold water on the chances of Leading City in that race.
Moore said Leading City is looking at retirement if he doesn’t find some form quickly this season, leaving Destined For Glory as his best chance to take out the sprint or perhaps any race on the day. The gelding has had internal issues, making him hard to train for distances beyond a mile so Moore said in the press this week that Destined For Glory may be kept for sprinting fresh.
But punters might want to pay most attention to Cruz, with 10 runners, and Shum, with 9 stable representatives.
Shum has a great association with Zac Purton and the Australian is aboard only two of his runners on Sunday: the very talented Little Cow (race seven) and Floral Man (race five) indicating they may well prove the best from Shum’s yard, but he also has good chances with well handicapped Clement Spirit for Douglas Whyte in the fourth and Owners’ Pride in the eighth. Owners’ Pride is unbeaten in two first-up attempts and gives an opening day chance to Irish jockey Colm O’Donoghue, who was aboard and gave the gelding a very quiet time finishing last in a recent trial.
But Cruz’s team looks strong – he is two-handed with good hopes in Best Eleven and El Zonda in the feature and has great chances to win support events with Majestic Anthems (race five), Beauty Sparkle (race seven) and Multivictory (race eight), all with Matt Chadwick up.
By Nathan Mody
