Later today California Memory will make what is likely to be his penultimate race appearance, assuming he goes onto the Champions and Chater Cup at months end. When you look up the term ‘horse who outruns his pedigree’, you’ll likely see a photo of California Memory attached. His catalogue page isn’t littered with black type winners through the dam side (see below), however no one told him that.

He began his career as Portus Blendium in France at Compiegne, as a three year old over a mile. The track was described as very soft and he was beaten a neck in a four horse field. Next up at Chantilly Portus Blendium recorded his first win, over a mile, ridden by Gaetan Masure. After the win he was off to Saint-cloud for a Listed race over 2000m where he finished third, beaten by Cavalryman and Cirrus Des Aigles. He was ridden that day by Gerald Mosse, who would see much more of him later in his career. His final race in France was at Deauville over a mile, where he finished third over a mile ridden by Christophe Soumillon.

California Memory’s Hong Kong career began inauspiciously, when he finished near the tail of the field in the Hong Kong Derby trial over 1800m. He was ridden forward that day by Matthew Chadwick, who would go on to form a longstanding partnership with the horse. That was it for California Memory in the 2009/2010 season.

He broke through in 2010/2011 winning his first start for the season, a C2 over 1400m, where he swamped them out wide.http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20101024&no=06&lang=eng .

He went on to win four races that season including his first Group 1 in the Hong Kong Gold Cup http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20110227&no=07&lang=eng . In the 2011/2012 season he won his first Hong Kong Cup. For me this was the day I fell for him in a big way. He renewed his rivalry with Cirrus Des Aigles and was also taking on Ambitious Dragon, the boom horse in Hong Kong. Having drawn low, was able to show his tactical versatility by settling much closer to the speed than he had been doing. Held up in the early part of the straight he finally found a gap between horses and showed his acceleration to easily beat his rivals. He was able to win the Cup again the following season, again from a low draw and showing that he was not just a run on back marker. http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20121209&no=08&lang=eng

California Memory is a genuine Hong Kong star. He’s not been easy to race, being on the small side and having creaky joints that trainer Tony Cruz has had to manage carefully. He’s won nine races in Hong Kong and over HK$50m in stakes. Not a horse I warmed to initially, he won me over with his determination, winning when weighted at the top of the scale and showing tactical versatility.

His racing career is about to end and he’ll be sorely missed. Hopefully he has a good retirement. As a grey he is a candidate for an outriders job, and not many will outrun him if he does that. If not an outrider, hopefully he finds a lush green paddock to grow old and fat in.