Global Racing 2007-06-04 by Gary Knight

There is no other way to describe Viva Pataca’s absolute demolition of Vengeance Of Rain in today’s Gr 1 Champions and Chater Cup (2400 metres) at Shatin in Hong Kong bar simply amazing.

The Stanley Ho owned galloper was brilliant on his way to a crushing four lengths defeat of Dubai victor Vengeance Of Rain in a win that had all the pundits shaking their heads with disbelief.

Not that the win was unexpected – after all last year Viva Pataca captured both the Hong Kong Derby and the Champions and Chater Cup – and he did beat Vengeance Of Rain in the QEII Cup at his last outing.

It was the manner in which he did it and the time he ran which astonished all – even no doubts – his most ardent admirer, trainer, Australian John Moore.

The world saw what Vengeance Of Rain is capable of in Dubai. He is no slouch. Yet the train of thought was he was a little underdone after the trip from Dubai and that is why he succumbed to Viva Pataca in the QEII Cup and the Hong Kong punters rallied to him and sent him off a warm 1/2 favourite at the off. Viva Patace had always been a firm second favourite in what was regarded as a match race and he firmed late in the betting to jump at 6/4 second favourite.

But today Vengeance Of Rain was beaten fair and square by a horse who now deserves his chance on the international stage. The son of Marju was given a lovely run in fourth place off a hot speed set by Saturn. Champion Irish jockey Mick Kinnane followed Vengeance of Rain everywhere he went and Viva Pataca simply cruised past the odds on favourite and with Kinnane merely waving the whip at him in the final 200 metres he streaked clear to win by an ever widening margin.

Kinnane was probably thankful he did not have to work too hard as he spent all night on the plane after riding in yesterday’s English Derby to fly to Hong Kong to renew his association with Viva Pataca – and keep his record at 100% on the horse – three rides – all in Gr 1 races and three wins.

In winning Viva Pataca smashed the track record held by John Hammond’s smart British stayer Red Bishop – set at one of the first international race meetings in 1994.

Moore now plans to bring Viva Pataca to Australia to contest the Cox Plate – and if travels well and arrives in the same form he was in today – lookout – he will be right in the finish.

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The connections of Daiwa Major had $1.8m (AUD) reasons to celebrate after that galloper won the Gr 1 Yosuda Kinnen in Tokyo today – but I will bet they were also having a thought about what might have been.

The Yosuda Kinnen is the fourth leg of the Asian Mile Challenge – which incorporates the Hong Kong Mile, the Futurity Stakes at Caulfield in Australia and the Dubai Duty Free at the World Cup meeting and any horse that can win two of the four legs gets a $1m US bonus.

Daiwa Major was absolutely luckless in Dubai and should have been right in the mix and today he proved when the luck went his way that he is yet another serious racehorse to emerge from the Land Of The Rising Sun.

Unlike last year when Hong Kong’s Bullish Luck took out the Yosuda Kinnen and the bonus, the Hong Kong raiders today were outpointed and all four were disappointing.

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The Brett Prebble – Douglas Whyte show rolled on again at Shatin today with Whyte landing three winners to Prebble’s one and he has now increased his premiership lead to four.

Happy Valley will be packed to the rafters on Wednesday night as the two again go head to head with eight meetings of the season remaining.

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As one continues to watch the racing in Hong Kong both from having been there several times and from afar one can only wonder at just what the former British Colony has achieved in racing a very short space of time.

Don’t forget Hong Kong only began professional racing in 1970. Prior to that 25 meetings per year were conducted on an amateur basis.

In those days Happy Valley was the only racecourse and the thought of a world class set up like Shatin was merely a pipe dream. I can recall when Aussie jockeys like Peter Miers, Brian Foy, Billy Burnett and others were among the first intake of professionals into Hong Kong.

From those days it has progressed at such a rapid rate – only Singapore has made anywhere near the leaps in achievement that Hong Kong has – and it now has a product that is absolutely world class in all facets of its industry.

Racing in Hong Kong is theatre – every race is worth massive money and totalisator pools are huge by any standards anywhere in the world.

The stars in the game are exactly that – superstars.