Jerry Chau knows how to win a Korea Sprint but, if he could bring one thing from last year’s victory into Sunday, it would be the rain.
Chau drove Self Improvement to a half-length success on a wet surface 12 months ago despite Manfred Man’s sprinter being among the lower-rated international runners, and believes those conditions made Seoul’s loose, deep sand easier for a Hong Kong horse to handle.
“For Hong Kong horses, sometimes it’s difficult to handle the track here. Last year, the ground was wet and that was a bit helpful for the Hong Kong horses,” Chau told The Standard.
“In Hong Kong, we’ve got the dirt track, the all-weather track, so the material is different from Korea. In Korea, I feel like the dirt is all loose and quite deep. In Hong Kong, we try to keep the track firm and hold everything together.”
The forecast offers little encouragement, with only a slim chance of rain in Seoul on Sunday, so Beauty Waves will probably have to cope without the advantage enjoyed by last year’s winner.
Whether he handles the surface is not entirely a matter of guesswork. Beauty Waves has raced on Sha Tin’s all-weather track only once, finishing third, but has passed the post first in 15 dirt barrier trials at Sha Tin and Conghua since arriving from Ireland, where he also won on a synthetic surface.
His final hit-out before travelling was another trial victory over 1,050m on the Sha Tin dirt under Chau, and he completed his preparations with a gallop on the Seoul surface on Thursday.
Barrier 13 is another problem entirely, although Beauty Waves’ gate speed should give Chau options in the run.
“I believe the horse has got the early speed to overcome it, so I would like to just let him stride and race comfortably and hopefully get up in front and enjoy a good trip,” Chau said. "I really think he can handle the track well, and I hope I can get some cover in the right way.”
Beauty Waves is one of three Hong Kong runners in the 16-horse field. Self Improvement, now ridden by Dylan Mo, begins his title defense from barrier nine, while Danny Shum’s Gorgeous Win has drawn the outside gate for Richard Kingscote.
Japan supplies two challengers, headed by Dragon Welds, who arrives after winning the Tokyo Sprint over 1,200m on dirt at Oi in April.
That last-start victory does give Dragon Welds one recent trend in his favor: six overseas runners have contested the past four Korea Sprints after finishing in the first four at their previous start, and all six again made the first four in Seoul, producing two wins, two seconds, a third and a fourth.
It is a small sample, but Dragon Welds is the only overseas runner this year who fits the profile.
Chau returns with stronger credentials of his own. His Korea Sprint victory preceded a career-best Hong Kong season in which the 26-year-old rode 48 winners and claimed his first Tony Cruz Award, while he added another overseas success at the Shergar Cup at Ascot last month.
