Three horses compete for final Challenge bonuses

16 December 2003

The Happy Valley Million Challenge, inaugurated this season, will end at Wednesday's meeting, with three runners still able to claim a share of the $1 Million in bonuses.

Dashing Champion has 40 points and cannot be beaten for the first prize, which includes $650,000 and a trophy, but the second and third rankings in the competition may not be finalised until the conclusion of Race 8 tomorrow night - the final race of the series.

The top five contenders of the Challenge will not be in action on Wednesday, but there are a number of possible outcomes, and much depends on the performance of sixth-ranked Fighting Mascot who will compete in Race 6. He has 24 points and a win would put him in a tie for second with Splendid Patrol. Since both would have three winners in Challenge races, they would share the prize money for second and third, namely HK$250,000 and HK$100,000.

But if he fails to win, the door remains open for Reward (Race 8) and Amo (Race 7), who both have 23 points, to claim third place, which is currently held by Mighty Hugo (30 points), who was a reserve for this meeting but was unable to get a run.

If Fighting Mascot only runs second in Race 6, and both Amo and Reward fail to win their races, Fighting Mascot will dead-heat with Mighty Hugo for third.

Although they both have 23 points, Reward ranks ahead of Amo under the scoring rules of the competition, and if Fighting Mascot does not finish in one of the quinella positions in his race, Reward can secure third place by winning Race 8.

Alternatively, if Amo wins and the other two do not, he can take the $100,000 bonus for third place in the Challenge.

Presentation of the $1 Million in bonuses will take place at the Happy Valley meeting on January 7, 2004.

As second and third positions are still undecided, Fighting Mascot, Amo and Reward can all be expected to be doing their best tomorrow night. Throughout the competition, horses that had previously won points were the ones to follow, and this trend continued last Wednesday, when My Chief, King Of Fish and Packing Angel framed the tierce in Race 7.

The Tung Wah Centenary Challenge Cup, programmed as Race 6 on Wednesday's race card, is a Class 3 event over 1650m carrying $700,000 prize money. Mr Ricky Yeung Chiu Sing, Chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, will present the trophy to the winning owner. In addition, the owner, trainer and jockey of the winner will each receive a miniature of the trophy. The inaugural running of this Cup race was held on January 19, 1994 at Happy Valley Racecourse.

Runners with points in HVMC at Wednesday meeting