Pat Smullen: Derby Winner To Excel In Hong Kong

[Wandering Eyes]

The International Jockeys’ Challenge in Hong Kong is an event I always enjoyed, even though I had very little luck whenever I rode in it. But I loved my trips there—obviously the racing is very competitive, and everything is very professionally organised by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

This year’s line-up of jockeys was the best group of international riders we’ve seen for quite a while but I was disappointed that there wasn’t an American rider there. That was the only thing I felt was missing and it was great to see the winners shared about between Ryan Moore, Colin Keane and Vincent Ho. Karis Teetan claimed the top spot, however. Born in Mauritius, he went to the jockey school in South Africa and in recent years he has settled in to the Hong Kong system. Karis has been doing really well to be challenging for the championship in the last couple of seasons and I think it’s only a matter of time before he is crowned champion in Hong Kong.

There’s no getting away from the fact that being on home ground is a huge advantage to the jockeys who are riding regularly at Happy Valley on a weekly basis. It’s a unique track. There are very few courses in Europe that are as tight and as speed-oriented as Happy Valley. Local knowledge is definitely an advantage but the top international riders can come to the fore with the right horse and a good draw. I always found it fascinating to ride there and it was a place that every time I came home I felt I had learned something on the trip.

The action switches to Sha Tin for Sunday’s International Meeting and it is a real contrast to Happy Valley. Sha Tin is a big galloping track where the European horses are a bit more at home, though it can be a very demanding trip for them at this stage of the year.

This Sunday’s action is a great advertisement for race mares. While it’s a shame that Almond Eye (Jpn) was unable to travel from Japan, there’s Magic Wand (Ire) and Deirdre (Jpn), both of whom are Group 1 winners this season, as well as True Self (Ire) for Willie Mullins. She’s a mare who has come up through bumpers and has quite a National Hunt pedigree but, like Magic Wand, was also a group winner in Australia recently.

Deirdre has been away from her home stable for so long so it was a great credit to her connections for her to have won at Goodwood then to run so well without luck on her side in the Irish Champion Stakes and go on to Ascot. She’s done everything you could ask of her and it would be great to see her end her season on a high with a big run at Sha Tin.

Magic Wand is as tough as teak and coming back off her win, but my big fancy of the meeting is Anthony Van Dyck (Ire). I think this racetrack will play to his strengths, as opposed to Santa Anita. Ryan Moore can ride him in a nice forward position wherever he is comfortable and he should be able to hit top gear in that big long straight.

He’s a big horse and I don’t think he was seen at his best on the tighter track of Santa Anita. Let’s hope he can reproduce what he did earlier in the year at Epsom.

The public have great affection for Prince Of Arran (Ire) of course, and what a horse he would be to own. Charlie Fellowes has done an excellent job with him and he seems to thrive on travel. I’m sure he’ll run a very good race but, for me, Anthony Van Dyck just has a little bit more ability at a mile and a half.

Joining The Pinhooking Ranks
This season was our first time buying foals and it was obviously a learning experience. We were lucky to buy one from Goffs and one from Tattersalls to resell next year, hopefully. It’s a whole different discipline to buying any other horse and only time will tell how good we are at doing that or not.

We pushed the boat out a bit and bought a Caravaggio filly. A lot of people seemed to be sweet on his foals and I was surprised that we were able to buy one. His foals had a huge amount of quality and presence and I was a big admirer of the stallion as a racehorse. Hopefully his progeny will be able to help to continue the Scat Daddy sireline.

We’re only small breeders but I love to use stallions that I have admired on the track. Obviously they have to be a good match physically for the mare but a lot of our decision-making would come down to the stallion’s performance on the racecourse. Highland Reel (Ire) is another horse who was very successful in his racing days and his first offspring also appear to have sold very well in the last few weeks, and I saw some really good foals by Ribchester, too.

The trade was very strong and anything that we seemed to like was very difficult to buy. It’s good for the industry to see such a strong market and it seems to have carried on through the mares’ sale as well. There’s been a real buzz to the season and we’ve enjoyed dipping a toe in the water. I’ll tell you next year if it was a success or not!

 

 

 

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