2020-2021 Hong Kong racing season gets started

It’s been a rough year in Hong Kong – social unrest, COVID-19, unsettled governance – but racing goes on, and the 2020-2021 Hong Kong racing season begins Sunday at Sha Tin with a 10-race program.

The 88-day season runs through July, programs mainly taking place on Wednesday nights at Happy Valley, the city track, and on Sunday afternoon at Sha Tin, a prefecture outside Hong Kong’s urban heart. The season begins spectator-free because of COVID-19, though owners can attend with a guest, and Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said this week the club hopes to be able to welcome fans back to the courses, at least in some form, in October.

So much has changed around the world since late last winter; alas, for North American fans of Hong Kong racing, time zones remain unaltered. First post for the card is 1 a.m. Eastern. You can wager and stream live video at DRFBets.com.

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Another big change in Hong Kong racing: John Moore, one of foundational members of the Hong Kong training community, closed his stable after hitting the HKJC’s mandatory retirement age, returning to his native Australia. His stable has been spread around several other trainers, with star miler Beauty Generation now with trainer David Hayes. Hayes, an Australian, has just set up a Hong Kong stable for this season. Aethero, who is capable of being Hong Kong’s best sprinter, has been moved from Moore’s stable to trainer Caspar Fownes.

The Hong Kong International Races card, the most important day of racing in Hong Kong, featuring four Group 1’s, is set for Dec. 13. Just how international this year’s program turns out remains to be seen. COVID-19 restrictions could keep Japan-based horses, who have formed a bulwark for the card, from traveling this year.

Zac Purton edged Joao Moreira for leading rider during the 2019-20 season, and these two perennial rivals are set to lead the standings again. Moreira could see a boost if, as local pundits are suggesting, trainer John Size, one of his main clients, has a bounce-back season. Size has won multiple training titles but finished only sixth in the standings during 2019-20. Typically one to ease into a new season, Size has eight entrants on the opening card, including three in the featured eighth race, a Class 1 handicap for horses rated 90 and above to be contested over 1,200 meters.

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Size’s trio is Champions Way, rated 108; Beauty Legacy, rated 101; and Shining Ace, rated 100. Moreira rides Champions Way, who notched a second and a third in the 4-year-old classic series last season before finding the 2,000-meter Hong Kong Derby beyond his scope. Champions Way began his Hong Kong career early in 2019 with four straight wins over 1,200 meters. Beauty Legacy has talent to spare, but in several starts last season refused to settle early in his races, throwing his head wildly and failing to focus on his task. Size believes that at 1,200 meters, Beauty Legacy will be outrun during the early and middle stages and thus won’t be in a position to fight for his head. The race’s top-rated horses are Wishful Thinker (115) and Rattan (114), both of whom concede considerable weight to capable rivals.