The holiday season is well and truly upon us now and I wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas.
We have some very strong racing coming up over the next few days and Sunday’s meeting at Sha Tin is well worth reflecting on before we move on to Wednesday’s Happy Valley card.
The weather was far from kind, as anyone who was at the races will testify, but a couple of winning performances shone through the gloom with real star quality.
The first came from Dark Dream, who showed a sparkling turn of foot to turn what looked a very strong Class 2 handicap over the Derby distance of 2000m into a procession for Frankie Lor and Silvestre de Sousa.
Of course, there is still a long way to go until next year’s BMW Hong Kong Derby, but Dark Dream was a Queensland Derby winner in Australia and clearly has an exceptionally bright future in Hong Kong now.
He has clearly adapted to racing here very quickly and the same can also be said of Silvestre. In fact, I believe that if he would decide to ride here on a permanent basis he would be a serious contender for the jockeys’ championship.
Dark Dream is going to be a very interesting horse to follow and I look forward to seeing how the rest of an exciting new Derby crop develop over the coming weeks and months.
The other striking performance on Sunday came from Styling City in another strong Class 2 handicap, this time over 1000m.
John Moore’s gelding is still just a three-year-old but you would never have known that from the way he overcame a series of major traffic problems under Douglas Whyte.
It is great to see these young horses coming to the fore and the one thing we can be sure about in Hong Kong is that there will be many more new recruits aiming to make their mark once 2019 arrives.
Wednesday’s meeting at the Valley will take place on the C+3 course instead of the A course due to a cracked irrigation pipe and there are several good handicaps in store.
The Class 2 Mercury Handicap at 1650m is the final race of our Boxing Day race meeting with Turin Redstar, Stimulation and Land Grant all expected to roll forward from their outside gates to set a good pace. Good Standing adds blinkers and has a good draw which will have him in the early mix.
Four of the 12 runners are in search of a belated Christmas present in the form of an $850,000 High Achievement Bonus and there is a good chance one will bring it home. Good Omen and Red Warrior are two of the four and are both sons of Holy Roman Emperor. Good Omen is in with a low draw and a low weight on the C+3 track. He is a win and place chance coming from the back as he is likely to benefit from the good pace.
Red Warrior was narrowly beaten in the same class over 1800m earlier this month and comes into the race in top form. He is working well from his Conghua stable and is a solid place chance from a midfield position.
No horse might deserve the big money bonus more than Turin Redstar, who has run second in four consecutive Class 2 races while chasing the prize. This is his last opportunity as a horse must achieve the Class 2 win before turning the age of 5, which will be the case for Turin Redstar on New Year’s Day. He is a place chance, coming into the race in career-best form and proven over the course and distance.
Winning Faith is a three-time winner over the course and distance, and has been freshened up at Conghua. He is a place chance but needs an alert beginning to deliver his best effort.
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