A celebratory crowd of more than 91,000 enthusiastic race goers heralded the Year of the Goat in Hong Kong today, Saturday, 21 February, as Real Specialist and Joao Moreira combined to win the day’s feature race at Sha Tin, the Chinese New Year Cup (Handicap).

The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, hailed the afternoon’s sport and expressed his delight at the vibrant holiday atmosphere that accompanied the thrilling on-track action.

“The atmosphere was perfect today, the weather was kind to us, and it was good to see so many people here right through to the last race,” he said. “Our priority is the customer experience so I’m very happy with the attendance today, we had a good-sized crowd without it feeling too full, which has been a bit of a concern in past years.

“Despite a small field, the feature was a really exciting race, one of several close finishes this afternoon, which helped drive our turnover to more than HK$1.7 billion. That figure represents a rise of 12.8% on last year’s total, which is huge, and it is also a new record for the Chinese New Year race day.”

The Chinese New Year Cup, the main contest on the 11-race card, was widely viewed as a chance for Divine Calling (130lb) to bolster his reputation. Tony Millard’s charge had debuted in Hong Kong back in October with a remarkably easy win under Zac Purton, but had failed to score in two smart efforts since, latterly when second in the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile.

Purton was back in the plate for today’s 1400m Class 1 contest, with Joao Moreira, the grey’s partner in those two previous reversals, teaming up for the first time with top-weighted Real Specialist (133lb). Purton set the pace atop the front-running four-year-old while Moreira stalked handily in the eight-runner field.

Pressed on his outer turning for home, Divine Calling responded to Purton’s urgings and maintained a narrow advantage for much of the run home. But Moreira had the leader in his sights. The Brazilian switched his mount to mid-track at the first opportunity and once Real Specialist hit full stride the writing was on the wall. Divine Calling had no answer as the John Size-trained runner swept past him close home to win by a comfortable half-length.

“He gave me such a good feel on the way to the gate I thought, you know, this horse cannot be bad! He’s actually such a good horse, and John has been telling me that ever since I got here,” said Moreira of Real Specialist, who had made a belated seasonal bow last month with a solid seventh in the G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m).

“He didn’t jump that well but once he got going he found his rhythm and put himself in the right spot. I had cover on my outside turning for home, which meant I got going a little bit late, but once I got going on the outside he gave me a nice kick and got there quite easily. He’s been running three or four lengths behind Able Friend and those good horses, and today he showed what he’s capable of in this grade.”

The winner surged home, covering the final 400m in 21.53s to register a winning time of 1m 22.92s. The Millard-trained Super Lifeline was a further neck away in third.

Purton was out of luck on the short-priced favourite but had earlier kicked off the Year of the Goat with a victory. The Champion Jockey was on board the Benno Yung-trained Wild Boy to win the opener and he notched a treble on the day thanks to the Danny Shum-trained Presidentparamount in Race 5 and Good Good View in the 10th.