Sunday at Sha Tin was one of those days when practically every race seemed to have significance attached.
Exultant starred again under Zac Purton with a second Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup victory, showing all his famous courage to give Tony Cruz his seventh win in the last eight renewals of our final Group 1 of the season.
There was no hiding place with Time Warp going off hard and it’s interesting to note that Exultant, having pressured his stablemate again, recorded the slowest closing 400m of his 25-race career in Hong Kong.
It takes an extremely rugged horse to hold on when the pace is so demanding and, following on from his QEII Cup win and two more Group race victories this season, Exultant is clearly firmly involved in what promises to be a fascinating Horse of the Year conversation.
The Champions & Chater success made it four wins for Zac and three for Joao Moreira on the day and Joao struck back immediately with a superb ride on Defining Moment to leave our leading riders locked together on 123 winners with 14 fixtures left.
Zac and Joao have now ridden a combined 41 winners at their last ten meetings and it looking increasingly like 150 could be the magic number to decide who will secure a fourth championship in July.
A suspension for Joao leaves the door ajar for Zac this Wednesday but I truly believe this ongoing battle is one of the most gripping duels in world sport at the moment and both men are riding at the peak of their powers as we come to the last seven weeks of the season.
One of the most positive developments of recent weeks has been the chance to welcome an increasing number of members and guests back to the racecourse and Sunday’s crowd of 2,283 was another step in the right direction as we gradually ease coronavirus restrictions.
As ever, we will align with government before moving into the next phase. We cannot go above 2,400 people at the moment but we hope to make progress on this issue in the coming weeks and, as with all the challenges we have faced this season, it is very important that we remain agile and prepared to react swiftly and efficiently to whatever scenario presents itself.
The Class 3 Peacock Handicap is the final race of the Wednesday all-weather track meeting, to be run over 1650 metres. California Argent will set a good pace with Touch Of Luck, Ping Hai Treasure and Turin Redstar in stalking positions.
Unite Spirit gets in with a light weight under Matthew Poon and has shown steady improvement since arriving from South Africa. He is a win and place chance.
Touch Of Luck is a last-start winner at the class, track and distance when he was the beneficiary of a nice run just behind the leaders. He will get a similar trip here on his preferred surface and is a place chance.
London Luckystar comes off a troubled trip in his last start and will be taken back from his wide draw. He should be closing ground late as a place chance along with Ping Hai Treasure.
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