Time rarely stands still in Hong Kong and horse racing is clearly no exception to the city’s fast-paced lifestyle. It is incredible to think that last Saturday’s meeting was the 70th in an already fascinating season and a cursory glance at the trainers’ championship indicates there is much more to play out yet.
With just 18 meetings left before the 14 July finale at Happy Valley, the battle for overall training honours shapes as one of the most exciting in memory with just six wins separating five stables.
John Size, the 11-time champion, shares the lead with triple champion trainer Caspar Fownes with 59 wins each. Clustered behind John and Caspar is Danny Shum who, with 54 victories for the season, has already matched his career-best mark set in 2015/16, when he finished second overall to John Size.
Frankie Lor, runner-up to John in 2017/18, shares fourth place on 53 wins with Francis Lui, who finished third in the championship last season, just four wins shy of Ricky Yiu.
With approximately 168 races left before the end of this season, the possibilities are endless – and the battle lines are clearly drawn.
Caspar remains the ‘King Of The Valley’ with 32 of his victories coming at the city circuit, with Danny and Francis next best with 25 each at Happy Valley. John holds sway at Sha Tin with 45 winners, ahead of Frankie (32), Danny (29), Francis (28) and Caspar (27).
After tonight’s meeting, there will be 10 more race-days at Sha Tin and seven at Happy Valley.
Joao Moreira is heavily favoured to secure a fourth jockeys’ championship with a 14-win lead over Zac Purton – 119-105 – but, as we have seen in previous seasons, Zac makes a habit of producing late charges.
The Australian overcame a 15-win deficit late in the 2017-18 season to snatch the title away from Joao and trailed for much of last season, too, before securing his fourth championship.
The respective battles will continue on Wednesday when the Class 3 Kat O Handicap over 1200 metres on the All-Weather track is the final race of a rare Sha Tin mid-week meeting and it promises to be an interesting race from the jump with many horses keen to go forward.
The lightly-raced Trader (Keith Yeung) dons blinkers for the first time for his first start on the surface. He has trialled well on the dirt and will go forward under a light weight to make the running. Golfman Star (Zac Purton) will need to use his speed from the outside gate along with Sky Show (Vincent Ho) and Good View Clarico (Alfred Chan). The pace will be good.
California Concord (Joao Moreira) and Moeraki (Dylan Mo) should both occupy spots inside of midfield. Moeraki has finished in the top three in each of his last four starts and enters the race in career-best form. He handles the track and distance, and is a win and place chance in a very competitive race.
Sky Show is a place chance from his good draw, while Harmony Spirit (Jerry Chau) will have to come from the back but is also a place chance. California Concord is back in good form and is a two-time winner over the track and distance. He is also a place chance along with Man Star (Karis Teetan).
A pair of smart three-year-olds face off in the Class 3 Grass Island Handicap, a rare opportunity to see a 1000 metre turf race under the lights at Sha Tin. It is carded as the third race of the evening.
Winner Method, unbeaten in three starts, will go forward to prompt the pace under Zac Purton and Carroll Street will do his running from the back with five-pound apprentice Jerry Chau.
Winner Method impressed in his trial last week when he led through easy sections and then sprinted strongly with a final section in 21.6 seconds to beat a good field. Carroll Street returned from a three-month break to win his last start and I believe he can do it again but will need to bring his very best to do so.
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