The New Year’s Day race meeting at Sha Tin holds a special place on the Hong Kong calendar and Thursday’s (1 January) Raceday was no exception with wonderful attendance, high-quality athletic performances and a great atmosphere.
With total attendance of 49,156 – an increase of 14 percent on the same meeting in 2025 – we hosted 8,250 visitors from the Chinese Mainland, double the previous year, which again underlines the growing strength of Hong Kong’s world-class horse racing.
As we prepare to celebrate the Year of the Horse, I was delighted with the excellent feedback of those who attended the New Year’s Day Races and it is clear our attendees very much appreciate the experiences available at our racecourses.
From a performance perspective, we saw several promising horses in action on Thursday, while STORM RIDER confirmed his talent under a brilliant ride by Karis Teetan to win the G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1400m) for David Hayes.
The Chinese Club Challenge Cup is one of Hong Kong’s oldest races, having first been contested in 1905, and it has provided some fabulous finishes in its history and, fittingly, Thursday’s race followed a familiar script with only a short head separating STORM RIDER from DANCING CODE, with last season’s winner PATCH OF THETA a nose away in third place.
The feature was one of several races on Thursday to be decided by the narrowest of margins with three decided by a short head and three others by a neck, evidence once again of the extremely competitive nature of Hong Kong racing.
With the Four-Year-Old Classic Series now less than a month away with the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) on 1 February, it was encouraging to see some promising four-year-olds perform strongly on Thursday, including SMART GOLF, JOY CAPITAL, ENDUED, RISING FORCE and INFINITE RESOLVE.
The competition for places in the Four-Year-Old Classic Series will be intense and several of Thursday’s winners will remain at sprint distances, but the displays of SMART GOLF (22.82s), RISING FORCE (22.83s) and INFINITE RESOLVE (22.64s) were impressive with strong final 400m sectionals.
On Sunday (4 January), the Leighton Handicap, which is carded as Race 7 as a Class 2 and run over 1600m at 3.35pm, will see a number of other talented four-year-olds attempt to enhance their chances of selection in the Four-Year-Old Classic Series.
The pace will be good and SAGACIOUS LIFE is one of the upcoming four-year-olds, who was second in a Group 1 over 1600m and a Group 1 winner over 2400m in Brazil and will try to repeat his first-up win in a Class 2 over 1600m in Hong Kong.
He is the choice of Zac Purton and should be well positioned in midfield but, in my opinion, needs longer distance now. He is still a place chance.
Another interesting four-year-old from Brazil is WINFIELD, who is a dual Group 1 winner, beating SAGACIOUS LIFE by over three lengths over 1600m, and subsequently winning his second Group 1 over 2000m, beating SAGACIOUS LIFE by over five lengths.
He will be ridden by Lyle Hewitson and had an unfortunate setback with a fetlock injury and one has to see if he has recovered but he seems to be in good form. He is likely to be positioned behind the pace and is a place chance, too.
TOP DRAGON is a four-year-old PPG and steps from 1400m to 1600m with Andrea Atzeni on board and was very impressive in his Class 3 wins and is working well. He is a win and place chance in my opinion when coming from the back of the field.
WINDLORD and DARYL FLASH complete the list of four-year-olds with WINDLORD by super sire DUBAWI. He is a Listed winner over 1990m in Great Britain, while DARYL FLASH is a Group 3 winner from Australia. They, in my opinion, will need this start to improve.
SOLEIL FIGHTER, under Hugh Bowman, will be well positioned behind the pace and, like KARMA, is a place chance for the elder brigade.
The Group 3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy Handicap is carded as Race 8 and will be run over 1000m at 4.05pm as the competitive highlight of the day.
The pace will be good. BABY CRYSTAL (Keith Yeung) has the pace to lead from BEAUTY WAVES (Alexis Badel), while STELLAR EXPRESS (Andrea Atzeni), WUNDERBAR (Hugh Bowman) and LADY’S CHOICE (Matthew Poon) should all be prominent, with COLOURFUL KING (Zac Purton) likely to be near the tail of the field.
COLOURFUL KING raced well at Happy Valley this season before running down the straight 1000m course at Sha Tin last start and was incredibly impressive coming from the back of the field, dashing between runners to win running away from CRIMSON FLASH and BABY CRYSTAL on 30 November. COLOURFUL KING rises in class, but he is my win selection.
MAGIC CONTROL (Jerry Chau) has a good record over this course, winning three times. MAGIC CONTROL finished third to FAST NETWORK and RAGING BLIZZARD in the National Day Cup, with several of his rivals in this race finishing behind him. Last start, he showed a return to form staying on late to finish second to SKY TRUST over 1200m. MAGIC CONTROL is a place chance.
John Size has two runners in WUNDERBAR and STELLAR EXPRESS and both have place claims. WUNDERBAR settled on the pace before fading to eighth behind KA YING RISING in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) on 14 December. WUNDERBAR has been in Conghua since and he will run well.
STELLAR EXPRESS is a three-time winner over this course and last start led throughout to beat FAST RESPONDER and LUCKY EIGHT and, from gate five, will also perform well.
CHATEAUNEUF (Harry Bentley) has drawn the grandstand side and will be prominent, while BABY CRYSTAL and LADY’S CHOICE are racing well enough to be competitive.
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