Pakistan Star the banner horse for our final race meeting in 2016

I trust that you and your family enjoyed a sweet Christmas, and hopefully with some added enjoyment from the Arima Kinen simulcast from Japan on Sunday. This JRA year-end major feature went to Satono Diamond, the only three-year-old horse in the field. It also marked another major success for his owner Mr Hajime in a fortnight’s time, as his other horse Satono Crown also won the Hong Kong Vase earlier this month. Satono Diamond showed plenty of promise and I believe many overseas horsemen will follow plans and news on him next year.

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I also hope you had a chance to enjoy some of the traditional Boxing Day football fixtures, which included eight English Premier League games for the many football fans around the world.

Back to racing we will host our final race meeting in 2016 at Sha Tin today. Pakistan Star will be the banner horse of the meeting as he will seek to add one more win before he turns to four on 1 January.

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I also suggest you to put extra attention on our two Class 2 events today, as there will feature some exciting newcomers who could further develop and become some of the key players in our 4YO Classic Series in the next three months. Our last race of the day, the Chek Keng Handicap, is a Class 2 over 1400m and has attracted five Classic Series hopefuls with Beauty Generation, Raghu, My Darling, Who Dat Singa and California Whip. Some of these should also excel when stepping up in to the BMW Hong Kong Derby distance of 2000m.

The pace will be good which should give every horse a good chance but the pace could be more on the slow side if Kei Chiong is left alone in the front with Spicy Sure and decides to slow the pace down.

My Darling now has two starts this season and is fully fit now plus working very well and should be well-positioned. He is my first choice with California Whip, who is also working very well and has improved from his first up second in Class 3. Beauty Generation is in with a rating already on 93, the highest rated four-year-old in the field and John Moore is a master of bringing Derby aspirants into Hong Kong and acclimatise them in time to perform well in the Classics. With Group 1 race form in Australia, being second in the Rosehill Guineas, Beauty Generation seems to be no exception, and is working well, making him a win and place chance for me too.

Who Dat Singa makes his debut in Hong Kong with good form from Australia, being second in the Western Australian Derby, and he trialled really well recently. He is a place chance in my view. Raghu, with a good form as third in the New Zealand Derby, has not yet shown enough in the trials to make him a place chance and should come on from this race.


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