Leung Ho Yin, Simon's Bio
Simon is a well respected full-time thoroughbred racing commentator specializing in overseas international racing. Bringing with him a wealth of racing knowledge, Simon is the host and race caller for the overseas simulcast programme since 2008/09 season. He is currently the presenter on several racing television programmes including, ‘Racing Horizon’ and ‘Horse Racing – Results’.

Taipa Racecourse – Track Analysis (Macau Hong Kong Trophy Day):

With the sand oval configured inside the turf course, this year’s edition of the Macau Hong Kong Trophy Day at Taipa is simply loaded with quality. Except for the both MAC G3 contests – the Sand Specialist Stakes and the Sand Classic Cup, the remaining quintet of contests – the MAC G1 Macau Hong Kong Trophy, the MAC G1 Chairman’s Challenge Cup, the MAC G3 Macau Derby Trial, the MAC Listed Lisboa Juvenile, and the 70-40 Handicap – will all be staged on turf.

For the 1350m Sand Classic Cup, the field has to hit the first right-hand turn some 200m into the race, and outside-drawn runners will invariably lose ground early. Whereas in the 1510m Sand Specialist Stakes, the gate is positioned just 100m behind the finish, with likewise an impending clubhouse turn just 300m after the break, outside-drawn runners would neither find a short way home – though in sand racing, a wide draw is somewhat compensated by a clear path with less kick-back; that being said, the Taipa sand oval is also notorious of its short stretch run, measuring only 330m from the top of the lane to the finish, thus deep closers would often run out of ground in the final stages.

Back onto the turf strip, with over 400m of backstretch to travel before hitting a more sweeping far turn, even a bad post in either the Chairman’s Challenge Cup or the Lisboa Juvenile – both 1200m prizes – is still manageable. Meanwhile, the 1500m trip for the Macau Hong Kong Trophy and the Macau Derby Trial has basically the same features as the Sand Classic Cup on sand, particularly a 200m stampede to the first turn, and a high post number is, once again, never any good help. Rather, in the 70-40 Handicap contested over 1800m, runners will navigate the full 350m homestretch for the first time before hitting the clubhouse turn. Together with a moderate pace in the early goings, horses breaking from out wide sill have all the time and space they need to position properly.

On the other hand, with an abbreviated homestretch of just under 400m, much like the case at Happy Valley, the turns winging the Taipa turf course are thankfully not as sharp, and deep closers balancing well through the far turn are still more than capable to reel in their competition, especially with off goings on rainy days.

In the 2017 edition of the Macau Hong Kong Trophy Day, when the turf was listed as yielding, and the sand strip was watered normally, Zac Purton simply owned the front-end all day long, and reined home ROMANTIC TOUCH and SACRED MAN respectively in the Macau Hong Kong Trophy and the Macau Derby. With occasional showers teasing through a mostly cloudy and humid Sunday, according to the latest weather forecasts, the strips at Taipa will be less than ideal, and speed horses up front will take up much of the dirty work – unless the racing action itself is drenched.

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