Who will win the Hong Kong Cup? Part 2
If Cirrus Des Aigles represents the hopes of the small owner and trainer on the International stage, then Byword would be at completely the other end of the scale.
Byword, of course, represents the legendary owner Prince Khalid Abdullah (left, welcoming with star horse, Frankel). Abdullah has been a powerhouse in world racing ever since a trip to Longchamp in the 1960′s sparked his interest in the throughbred. Since that day, he has raced many top class horses in his famous white, green and pink silks and has developed a formidable breeding empire spanning many countries under his Juddmonte Farms banner. The most famous of his horses is probably Dancing Brave, who will be forever remembered for his desperately unlucky second in the Epsom Derby and his thrilling victory in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. That said, the Prince recently claimed that his new superstar, the unbeaten Frankel, was the best horse ever to raced in his silks. It is of tremendous credit to the Prince that he has opted to keep Frankel in training for 2012. The horse is probably one of the most valuable stallion prospects of all time and the fact that he is to race on is fantastic news for racefans all over the world.
Byword wouldn’t be in the same class as Dancing Brave or Frankel, but make no mistake – he is a top class animal and he took the scalp of Cirrus Des Aigles at Longchamp in October when he prevailed by a short-neck in the Prix Dollar. Cirrus Des Aigles was carrying slightly more weight than Byword that day – and Corrine Barande-Barbe’s horse of course went on to win the British Champions Stakes at Ascot on his next start. Byword’s next effort wasn’t so successful – and the experiment of running him back over a mile in the Breeders’ Cup Mile backfired. The tight track and firm ground at Churchill were against him, as was the drop in trip and there is little doubt that the horse is much better than his 8th place suggests.
A victory for Byword here would demand that the horse returns to his very best and Andre Fabre will be hoping to get the horse back to the kind of form that saw him land the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes back in the summer of 2010.
As discussed last week, the main Hong Kong challenge in the Cup undoubtedly comes from Ambitious Dragon, but there are other home contenders of note. The main trial for this race is the Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Cup and although the winner, Thumbs Up, heads for the Hong Kong Vase, the horses that chased him home, namely Pure Champion, Irian and California Memory are set to run in the Cup.
Of the three, the horse with probably the best chance in the Cup, is ironically the horse that finished 4th in the trial, California Memory. This grey gelding, owned by Howard Liang Yum Shing, was carrying more weight than his rivals and suffered a troubled passage in the race. He looks better than his finishing position of fourth and his win in the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy in late October suggests he could be up to making the frame here.
Pure Champion, who finished second in the Jockey Club Cup is also worth a mention. This son of Footstepsinthesand will need to record a career best to win this contest, but it is worth mentioning that in his previous life – when trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien and known as Steinbeck, he was an extremely well regarded horse. In fact, O’Brien spoke of how he was the horse that the “ birds in the trees are singing about ” as a juvenile and he was clearly thought capable of far more than he ever showed on the racecourse for them. Given the wealth of talent that Coolmore always have at their disposal, there is little doubt that this horse has the raw talent to land a race of this nature – it is now down to his new trainer, Tony Cruz to try to unlock that potential.
Later this week: The final field for the Cup and the verdict on where the biggest prize in Hong Kong racing is heading.
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