Both our rookie trainer Frankie Lor and Champion Jockey Joao Moreira reached some seasonal milestones when claiming doubles at Sha Tin on Wednesday. Frankie reached the half-century mark and he is just seven wins away from matching his former mentor John Size’s record in his first season in 2001/02. For Joao, he scored a century of wins for the fourth consecutive season and there is every chance the two will have plenty more before the season is out.
Our local football fans also had an exciting midweek, especially for those staunch supporters of Real Madrid and Liverpool, as their beloved teams progressed to the finals of the UEFA Champions League later this month. As a German, it was a tough champions Bayern Munich fail to get the all-important extra away goal in Spain, as they succumbed to a 3-4 defeat in aggregate to Real, who will be try to win this tournament for the third consecutive year.
Tonight we will enjoy simulcast action from both South Africa and England. Three G1 races will be offered from Turffontein while six races in total, headlined by the 2000 Guineas, will be beamed in from the Rowley Mile at Newmarket. Quite a number of the South African horses running at Turffontein were in action during our Met simulcast earlier in the year. Legal Eagle is the favourite in the Champions Challenge, but is often better known for his 1600m performances and 2000m might stretch him to his limit. I will be following along closely tonight.
Over in England, the 2000 Guineas will go off just after 10:30PM and the two powerhouses in racing, Coolmore and Godolphin, each have a few main challengers in this race. Gustav Klimt and Saxon Warrior lead Aidan O’Brien’s charge, while Masar, an impressive winner of the Craven last out, is the ride of our APQEII Cup winning jockey William Buick for Charlie Appleby. You will notice that Ryan Moore is not riding at Newmarket today because he is in America for the Kentucky Derby where he will ride Mendelssohn in that great race, looking to be the first European-based winner of that race in its 144-year history.
Some of the possible runners in the Champions & Chater Cup will also test their mettle in an important step-up race for that event, the G3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup at Sha Tin tomorrow. The field of eight for this mile and a half race included Eagle Way, who just ran third behind Pakistan Star in the APQEII Cup last weekend.
The pace is expected to be good to slow. Goldfield went forward over 2200m at Happy Valley and while he is well out of the handicap, seems a likely chance to go forward and hope to last as long as possible in this event. Rickfield could also show some speed, with Prawn Baba tracking. Eagle Way is likely to settle midpack with Savvy Six not too far behind in the short field. Doyeni should be near the rear with Exultant.
This Group 3 is run under Handicap Conditions and with Eagle Way being rated 118 and having to carry topweight of 133 pounds, pushes all of the starters out of the handicap besides Exultant and Prawn Baba.
The top three rated horses all work very well and are all in good form which makes them the best chances to be placed. My first choice is Exultant, who will meet Prawn Baba four pounds better off. He was inconvenienced in his last start at the 250m when he was closing off strongly and he continued to work home to grasp second close to the finish. He should have not a problem with the additional 200m and is, according to Zac Purton, a real stayer.
Eagle Way ran a very good race in the APQEII Cup when working to the line to finish a distant third. He is a former Group 1 winner in Australia over 2400m, as well as course and distance winner in Hong Kong, which makes him a win and place chance. Prawn Baba won convincingly in his last start over 2200m beating Exultant, Doyeni and Savvy Six, but was beaten over 2400m in his only attempt, but should have a place chance.
Doyeni is coming back in shape and form, and stayed on well in his last start to finish third. I still can see him as a place chance. As an outsider, I would not be surprised that Savvy Six could run into the placings because he needs every metre more than 2200m. He is a typical German stayer which needs 2400m to show his best and a softer surface would help him too.
Comment
