Racing Odds: Australians Brave In Hong Kong
December 15th, 2014 by Pom de TurfThe biggest day in the Hong Kong Racing calendar has been and gone this weekend, and it was every bit as exciting as we’ve come to expect from the big event at Sha Tin racecourse. There was some action in the Racing odds to keep us all interested, of course, and there were a couple of stand-out performances by Australian horses that are worth taking note of for the future, too…
The first of them was by popular local boy Buffering, who did his reputation no harm at all in the Hong Kong Sprint, taking on a field stuffed with speedsters from all around the world and giving them a decent scare, too. He’s usually slow away from the gates, and the Hong Kong Sprint was no exception for Buffering, but he showed himself more than willing to put in it for jockey Damian Browne, and it was only in the closing stages that he was swamped by the chasing group – a chasing group that included some genuine international talent, not least of all the winner Aerovelocity.
And if that performance gave Australians something to cheer on Hong Kong’s biggest race day, then they will have been thrilled when Criterion nearly went one better, leading the Hong Kong Cup for a decent span before he was collared in the last 50m by the pair who came in first and second. Criterion was right on the pace for the whole race, and even went a couple of lengths clear – giving Australian Racing fans the chance to dream of a first win on Hong Kong’s premier race day for more than a decade – but Military Attack and Designs On Rome proved too classy in the end, though Criterion hung on for a third place that does him a lot of credit.
Both were great races to watch, and they marked out a pair of Australian horses to watch this year: if you see Buffering or Criterion in those Racing odds in the coming months and prick up your ears, then you won’t be the only one, by any stretch of the imagination…
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