With less than 24 hours to the 2025/26 season-opening meeting at Sha Tin, excitement continues to build ahead of what promises to be an outstanding day of world-class racing and entertainment as we celebrate the return of the world’s top-rated sprinter Ka Ying Rising in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup (1200m).
The start of a new season is always an exciting time, filled with optimism and expectation over what might unfold across 88 captivating meetings and, as we reflect on the towering achievements last season of KA YING RISING, VOYAGE BUBBLE, ROMANTIC WARRIOR, John Size, Zac Purton and Matthew Poon, there is so much to anticipate in the coming weeks and months.
While the return of KA YING RISING against fellow Group 1 winners LUCKY SWEYNESSE and VICTOR THE WINNER shapes as the sporting highlight, we have curated an exciting entertainment programme to complement the sport, headlined by the appearance of popular singer MC Cheung, whose remarkable vocals will help set an uplifting tone for the day.
With the Sha Tin gates to open at 11am, the season-opening ceremony at 11.40am will also feature some of Hong Kong racing’s most cherished traditions with lion dancing, the eye-dotting of a ceremonial lion and a gong-strike by our Guest of Honour, the Honourable John KC Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR.
In addition, our star roster of jockeys will be on hand to usher in the new season. I encourage racegoers to arrive early and enjoy every moment of the spectacle.
Racecourse attendees have the chance to win prizes from a Lucky Draw with prizes with a total value of HK$880,000, a 2025/26 season calendar while enjoying a tremendous array of quality themed food and beverages and striking one of the many ceremonial gongs around the racecourse.
With such a sense of anticipation, I look forward to sharing the day with our passionate supporters, Members and Owners. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our participants – particularly Owners, jockeys and trainers – and our staff the very best of luck for a successful season.
At Sha Tin on Sunday (7 September), the competitive highlight is the HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup, which is carded as Race 3 and will be run over 1200m at 2pm. The pace should be strong.
The race marks the long-awaited return of Hong Kong Horse of the Year KA YING RISING (Zac Purton), who goes into the race having won his last 12 starts and was unbeaten in eight starts last season, winning four Group 1s.
At his most recent outing in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize on 27 April, he defeated SATONO REVE and HELIOS EXPRESS. KA YING RISING was very impressive in his grass trial last Saturday (30 August) and he has become even stronger and more relaxed, especially in the starting gate.
His effortless stride and extraordinary ability to accelerate is like poetry in motion and I look forward to seeing him. He is the world’s best sprinter and will be very difficult to beat despite giving nine pounds to LUCKY SWEYNESSE (Derek Leung) and 20 pounds to BEAUTY WAVES (Alexis Badel), who has improved significantly since joining Tony Cruz.
BEAUTY WAVES is working well and is the main danger. He is likely to lead from gate three for Alexis and Zac will likely have KA YING RISING in second position, shadowing BEAUTY WAVES and, although he must give significant weight to his rivals, KA YING RISING is my win and place selection.
HARMONY N BLESSED (Karis Teetan) has early speed and led last year from an outside gate, while BOTTOMUPTOGETHER (Matthew Poon) will be prominent from barrier seven along with VICTOR THE WINNER (Harry Bentley) and MAGIC CONTROL (Matthew Chadwick). LUCKY SWEYNESSE showed encouraging improvement last season and has since produced a trial win. He is a place chance.
Hong Kong is represented at the Korea Cup meeting in Seoul tomorrow by SELF IMPROVEMENT in the G3 Korea Sprint, which is carded as S1-1 and run over 1200m at 2.25pm and CHANCHENG GLORY in the G3 Korea Cup, which is carded as S1-2 and run over 1800m at 3.45pm. Both horses will be ridden by Jerry Chau.
While our horses have a chance based on their ratings, I am sceptical that our horses can handle this kind of track condition. Our All Weather Track is very different to the deep sand track in Korea with the significant kickback which is similar to Japanese dirt tracks and therefore I favour classy Japanese contenders SUNRISE HAWK (Kohei Matsuyama), TAGANO BEAUTY (Shu Ishibashi) and CHIKAPPA (Yutaka Take) in the Korea Sprint, while Korean sprinter VINCERO CAVALLO (Jo Jae Ro) – who is thriving with recent G2 and G3 successes on this track – will be hard to beat.
In the G3 Korea Cup, Japan also has a strong hand with RAMJET (Kosei Miura), DURA EREDE (Kohei Matsuyama) and DIKTAEAN (Takayuki Yano) while local hope SUCCESS BAEKPA (Jin Kyum) was impressive winning at Group 2 level.
Tomorrow night, our focus moves to Germany for the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, which is carded as S2-1 and run over 2400m at 9.25pm at Baden-Baden. The track conditions are currently Good to soft.
With the scratching of REBEL’S ROMANCE and HOCHKONIG due to unsuitable track conditions, two top internationals familiar to Hong Kong racegoers – DUBAI HONOUR (Tom Marquand) and GOLIATH (Clement Lecoeuvre) – are likely to fight out a high-class renewal of a race with a rich history.
GOLIATH and DUBAI HONOUR both appreciate rain-affected conditions and are win and place chances while three-year-old PATH OF SOLDIER (Andrasch Starke) is a place chance.
Finally, ParisLongchamp stages two Group 1 contests on its star-studded Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe trials day featuring the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and the Prix Vermeille. With the track rated very soft, I recommend monitoring the weather conditions.
The G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp is carded as S3-1 and will be run over 1600m at 9.50pm.
Aidan O’Brien is represented by THE LION IN WINTER (Wayne Lordan), HENRI MATISSE (Christophe Soumillon) and SERENGETI (Dylan Browne McMonagle) and previously won this race with ROCK OF GIBRALTAR and CIRCUS MAXIMUS.
HENRI MATISSE is a high-class three-year-old who has been very consistent this season and is a win and place chance along with ROSALLION (Sean Levey), who was slightly disappointing in the City Of York Stakes but beat HENRI MATISSE in the Sussex Stakes.
DANCING GEMINI (Rossa Ryan), LEAD ARTIST (Colin Keane), QUDDWAH (Callum Shepherd) and THE LION IN WINTER are place chances.
The G1 Prix Vermeille is carded as S3-2 and will be run over 2400m at 10.25pm.
Aidan is represented by WHIRL (Christophe Soumillon) and BEDTIME STORY (Wayne Lordan) and I make WHIRL, a dominant winner of the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, a win and place chance. AVENTURE (Maxime Guyon) ran second in this race last year and is the hardest to beat from GEZORA (Mickael Barzalona).
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