We head back to Sha Tin on Sunday for a 10-race card that gets underway at 6:00am UK time. The quality on show seems to improve as we head through the card, culminating in the first group race of the season, the G3 Celebration Cup at 9:20. Chiu Chow Spirit is likely to be a realtively short price to win the feature, but Taj Dragon could be a class above this if he is ready to go and Golden Scenery has a good record at this time of year, so it was hard to form a strong opinion at this stage. Instead, I have had a decent look through the earlier races on Sunday’s card and found 3 horses to get behind before the better horses take centre stage.
Race 2 6:30 – Go Go Go did well to win here a fortnight ago when he was very well backed. He ended last season with a string of placed efforts, so he certainly wasn’t winning out of turn, but the combination of a 6-point rise, the switch to the all-weather and the fact that his recent success was his only win in 19 starts in Hong Kong, makes him worth opposing. Zac Purton has been in sparkling form, so he might be able to galvanize his mount from stall 1, but his previous efforts on the artificial track were average at best and I much prefer the chances of Precision Goal.
He also has a patchy record on the all-weather, but his poor form on this surface has always coincided with him being drawn wide and he did run perfectly well when 2nd over this course and distance back in December. He tried to make all the running on his seasonal return at Happy Valley last week and was only caught in the final strides and he should strip fitter for the benefit of that run. Zac Purton does prefer Go Go Go, but the booking of Jerry Chau to ride negates the 1-point rise in the weights and leaves him very well handicapped on last seasons form. He should be able to race prominently from stall 2 and is unlikely to get too many better chances than this to double his tally in Hong Kong.
Race 4 7:30 – This is a restricted handicap and there is quite a bit of guesswork involved with so many unexposed horses, but despite that, I do like to look for horses with experience and Santorini stands out on that front. He hit the frame in all 5 starts last season, including when getting his head in front in a Griffin race on 6th July, but he shaped like a horse who has a lot more to come and he should be able to put his experience to good use under Karis Teetan. He has produced some reasonable track work and was pushed out to work all the way to the line to finish 3rd in a Barrier trial at Sha Tin last week. He looked fairly straight for that run, and this does look to be a reasonably good spot by his trainer Frankie Lor. By the end of the season, he is unlikely to be the best of these, but at this stage of the campaign, he may be able to get the better of this inexperienced field.
Race 6 8:30 – I will take one further shot at this Sha Tin card with Turin Starspangled for Zac Purton and Pierre Ng in this Class 3 handicap over a mile. He was a winner of a Naas maiden for Donnacha O’Brien in May 2023, when he was known as Devious and although he is yet to win in Hong Kong, it is worth noting that he has been sent off at huge odds on his 4 starts to date and an opening mark of 72 looked harsh based on his Irish form. He ended the season with a more promising 5th over course and distance in July. He is down to a mark of 66 now and after some promising trackwork, I’d say that he produced his most interesting piece of form when he finished 2nd to Sovereign Fund in a Barrier trial last week. Zac Purton is onboard for the first time and having been given time to acclimatize to racing in Hong Kong, he looks ready to make his mark.
Advised Bets:
6:30 – Precision Goal – 1pt Win
7:30 – Santorini – 1pt Win
8:30 – Turin Starspangled – 1pt Win
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