Lady Luck has certainly been smiling on Hong Kong racing so far this season.
As anyone who has been here will know, wet weather has been a recurring feature of the last month but things have cleared up beautifully on raceday and this week was a classic case in point.
The sky above Happy Valley was ablaze with lightning by the time our usual Wednesday night meeting would have got under way. That in itself would have made racing difficult but a Black Rainstorm signal was hoisted soon after which would certainly have resulted in racing being suspended or more likely abandoned.
Happily, the 87mm of rain and over 3200 lightning strikes that occurred between 7pm and midnight were replaced by sunny skies as Thursday’s National Day Cup card got under way and, for the second meeting in a row, we saw a glimpse of the future as Computer Patch ran away with the feature under Joao Moreira.
Hong Kong’s famous sprint division has room at the top – with former champion Mr Stunning retired and current champ Beat The Clock now seven – and Tony Cruz’s gelding is clearly improving fast judged on the way he powered clear.
Tony recorded his 1300th Hong Kong winner when Circuit Hassler won later on, which represented another major milestone in his amazing career, while Caspar Fownes needs one more for 900 after Sky Field continued his progression.
Thursday was also another highly significant day for Conghua, with five winners in total and Mighty Giant leading home a 1-2-3 for our Mainland base in the finale, and it is also good to report another positive step on the attendance front with around 1000 extra fans set to take the number of people at Sha Tin to 4000 or so this weekend.
The Class 2 Chek Lap Kok Handicap over 1800m is Sunday’s final race with the simulcast of the Prix de l’Arc Triomphe to follow in the evening from Paris. The pace will be slow in the Chek Lap Kok with Reliable Team, Northern Superstar and Glorious Artist the likely leaders.
Excellent Proposal will be closer to the pace than usual and comes into the race off an eye-catching win over a mile two weeks ago. Trainer John Size has elected to step up in trip again and this looks like an ideal opportunity as he is racing fit and in career best form. Excellent Proposal will secure a perfect position from his good draw under Joao Moreira and is a win and place chance to become the first three-time winner of the young season.
Amazing Beats did not possess the speed to keep pace when first up over 1400m one month ago but will benefit from the added distance. He will be midfield in the run and is a place chance, along with the lightly weighted last-start winner Tianchi Monster and in-form Savvy Nine.
Reliable Team will be in the mix from the start and won his last start four months ago when adding blinkers but may be a better horse at Happy Valley.
Our first Simulcast race on Sunday is the Sprinters Stakes from Nakayama, due off at 2.40. This is one of only two Group 1 sprints in the Japanese calendar and Hong Kong horses have won the race twice thanks to Silent Witness and Ultra Fantasy.
This year the main contenders look to be the mares Gran Alegria and Mozu Superflare. Gran Alegria has her first run since winning the Yasuda Kinen over a mile. She has the highest international rating of 119 based on that effort but has also run very well in G1 sprint company. She will be ridden by Christophe Lemaire, while Mozu Superflare ran second in this race last year and is fresh from a second at G3 level in August.
Heavy rain has also been in the news in Paris this week and a further storm has hit this year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting with news that Aidan O’Brien has withdrawn his four runners due to what is believed to be a contaminated feed issue.
Testing conditions will play an important role as Enable bids to become the first horse to win Europe’s most famous race for the third time as the first of six Simulcast races from Longchamp at 10.05 on Sunday night.
Frankie Dettori has a wonderful relationship with John Gosden’s star mare, who lines up as favourite in a reduced field of 11 that also includes champion stayer Stradivarius, last year’s French Derby winner Sottsass and German Derby winner In Swoop.
The pace is unlikely to be overly strong given the conditions, with few proven front runners, and Enable should secure a perfect stalking position. Stablemate Stradivarius is set to be held up with Sottsass and In Swoop also likely to be ridden patiently.
Enable was unlucky when second to Waldgeist last year as she pressed a hard gallop from a long way out but she has retained all her enthusiasm in a light 2020 campaign and is a win and place chance again in a race where so many of Europe’s best are absent for one reason or another.
History shows that champion stayers can go close in the Arc and Stradivarius, who was caught out in a very slowly-run trial, will be much better suited by this bigger field. He is a place chance under Olivier Peslier, while last year’s Arc third Sottsass has been working very well according to trainer Jean-Claude Rouget and is also a place chance under Christian Demuro.
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