In scenes the like of which Happy Valley has never before witnessed, Dennis Yip was presented with his first Hong Kong Champion Trainer trophy on Wednesday, 10 July after a deciding last-race victory that supercharged an already crackling atmosphere, to the extent that it alone may well have ignited the sparkling post-race pyrotechnics.
"I’m very happy and proud to do this for Hong Kong – I was born in Hong Kong, I grew up in Hong Kong and I would like to thank the Hong Kong people for supporting me,” said an emotional Yip, after he became the first local Chinese Hong Kong trainer to claim the premiership since his mentor Brian Kan in 2001.
And as two huge flags were unfurled by his supporters, one bearing his name in Chinese form and the other carrying the characters meaning “Everyone is together”, the emotional Yip punched the air and was swarmed by a bevy of well-wishers and photographers. The champagne moment will long be remembered and cherished by Hong Kong’s enthusiastic local race fans – Yip is one of their own.
Hong Kong’s final meeting of the season had been billed as potentially one of the most exciting in recent memory with Yip on 68 wins leading the in-form Tony Cruz by only two going into the nine-race card. And none of the packed crowd of over 26,000 that filled the racecourse to witness the excitement left disappointed.
“It’s amazing, to go right to the last race before we know the result,” said Yip. “I felt some pressure after Tony got the two wins because he had more seconds than me but I was quite confident that my horses had good chances in the last two races.”
On a night of twists that included a half-hour torrential downpour, Yip’s worst fears were realised in the space of 30 minutes mid-way through proceedings. Having failed to hit the mark early, he could only watch as two-time champion Cruz, who had scored a back-to-back double a week earlier to pile the pressure onto his rival, repeated the trick. First Bullish Boy in race four and then Super Goal Elite in race five equalled Yip’s win tally and thrust Cruz into pole position on second-place count-back.
Cruz was then thwarted in race seven as the John Moore-trained Destined For Glory short-headed his Bullish Friend. After both blanked in the penultimate contest, it all came down to the last and Yip’s army of fans in the packed stands supported his contender, the hot favourite Flying Elite, as if defeat was inconceivable. Loud cheers accompanied a flurry of waving papers as the Yip-trained gelding walked the yard pre-race and the roar was deafening as Ben So drove Flying Elite past the winning post a length and three-quarters clear of the field for a stunning success.
“To think I might win the championship was just a fantasy,” confessed Yip, “and then after April, when I went top, I started thinking and planning for all of my horses. I seriously tried my best and for every horse I started planning, planning, planning and thinking hard.”
Yip’s celebrations were enhanced at the presentation ceremony with the award for Most Improved Horse going to his Champion Griffin All You Wish.
Total turnover for the season’s evening finale was HK$1.346 billion, while the overall crowd figure for the two racecourses on the night was 32,012.
