International stars take centre stage again this weekend, with Pinatubo bidding to confirm himself a champion at Newmarket and Almond Eye the leading lady for the Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo.
All the action will be live as part of our summer simulcast programme and the domestic action continues at Sha Tin in a week of surprises.
Doubles was the theme of Wednesday’s Happy Valley card but it was another quiet night for the two riders chasing the championship, Joao Moreira drawing a very rare second consecutive blank and Zac Purton taking until the nightcap to extend his lead to five.
Married life is clearly agreeing with Karis Teetan, who celebrated his 30th birthday by scoring twice and has now ridden at least one winner at all our last eight meetings, while Vincent Ho also snagged a double to take him past last season’s personal best of 56 winners.
Vagner Borges continued his good run with two winners for John Moore and Ben So stole the show by springing a pair of major surprises including Top Military’s 283-1 success, which made him the longest priced winner at our famous city track in over half a century.
Ben heads into retirement at the end of the season, which leaves a vacancy in the riding ranks, but the fact that non-residents are not permitted to enter Hong Kong at the moment makes for a challenging situation.
The Club’s Licensing Committee have rewarded two of our newer riders for their recent success – with Vagner and Antoine Hamelin both having their contracts renewed for next season – but we are always keen to bring high-class riders to Hong Kong and the door will be open for the right candidates once the current immigration situation changes.
The Class 2 Butterfly Handicap is the Sunday finale with Perfect Match expected to stride forward from the inside gate to set a moderate pace in the 1400m test. Morethanlucky and Beauty Rush will use their speed to cross over from wide barriers to take up a prominent position.
Perfect Match had substantial blood in the trachea in his last start but has since trialled well and is a five-time winner over course and distance from seven attempts. He has genuine speed to either lead or box seat and is a win and place chance.
Glorious Spectrum enters the race in top form and just missed on the line in his last start in a very tight photo. He will do his running from midfield. He is winless from seven starts in Hong Kong but has moved up 11 points in the ratings by virtue of four narrow defeats, finishing second on each occasion. He is also a win and place chance.
Dan Control showed noticeable improvement in his first try over this trip last month and will be running on late along with Star Shine. Both are place chances.
UK racing has resumed behind closed doors and Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas provides a chance for Pinatubo to maintain his unbeaten record in a field of 15 on what promises to be fast ground despite predicted showers.
Shamardal has already sired one Classic winner this week after Victor Ludorum’s French 2000 Guineas win and Pinatubo is the clear form pick to give him another after winning all his six races – including two Group 1 contests – by a combined 24 lengths in 2019.
Only the race will tell whether he is still dominant after an eight-month break but the gallop reports are positive and Newmarket holds no fears judged on his emphatic defeat of Aidan O’Brien’s Arizona and Wichita in the Dewhurst Stakes on his final start last year.
Ryan Moore rides Arizona as he bids to give Aidan a remarkable 11th Guineas win, leaving Frankie Dettori to partner Wichita, but Pinatubo’s trainer Charlie Appleby also saddles more than one runner and Al Suhail appeals as an interesting place candidate after showing progressive form in high-class company as a two-year-old.
Sunday’s 70th running of the Yasuda Kinen provides Almond Eye with a chance to become the first Japanese horse ever to win eight Group 1 contests and also an opportunity to make up for a luckless run in this race 12 months ago. Indy Champ took advantage of the fact that Almond Eye was badly bumped at the start last year and should go well again along with Danon Kingly.
Admire Mars is also a place candidate on his first run since beating Waikuku and Beauty Generation in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile last December but Almond Eye looked back to her best when running away with the Victoria Mile recently and she sets a very high standard under Christophe Lemaire.
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