Dances With Dragon has fine chance to repeat

Dances With Dragon beat Enrichment by a head while giving him seven pounds in a Class 2 handicap over 1,800 meters on April 15 at Happy Valley and will try to handle him again giving even more weight over a shorter trip in the featured ninth race Wednesday at Happy Valley.

This race, like the one Dances With Dragon won three weeks ago, is a Class 2 for horses rated 100-80, but it’s carded at 1,650 meters, and after his exciting win at the level last time, Dances With Dragon picks up five more pounds off a six-point ratings bump that has him up to 97, the highest of his three-season Hong Kong career. That makes Dances With Dragon the top-rated horse in the Wednesday feature, where he must tote 133 pounds, giving as much as 17 pounds to 11 rivals.

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Enrichment picks up two pounds after a three-point ratings bump but carries only 123 pounds Wednesday after losing by a head to Dances With Dragon last out following a stretch-long duel, leading riders Joao Moreira on Enrichment and Zac Purton on Dances With Dragon going head to head in a furious finish.

It’s what transpired before the homestretch that makes Dances With Dragon, even with all the weight, seem like the stronger prospect Wednesday. Breaking from post 12 last month, Purton could only drop to the tail of the field around the first turn, and sensing that the race would be lost if he merely waited for live cover, Purton peeled three wide midway down the backstretch as his mount launched an early attack. Dances With Dragon was forced closer to four paths off the fence with no cover around the second bend as he whizzed past rivals, and even after making a sustained middle move he was able to outfinish Enrichment.

Down near the bottom of the ratings, at 82, is a potentially live runner named Solar Wai Wai. Solar Wai Wai comfortably won a Happy Valley Class 3 over 1,650 meters on March 4, his most recent start, and went through a solid training race April 23 at Sha Tin. He’s just a 4-year-old, has run competitively in his last five starts, and carries just 118 pounds.

The feature is the last race on a card that starts at 6:45 a.m. Eastern.

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Chefano targets Chater Cup

After easily winning the Group 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup on Sunday at Sha Tin, Chefano is likely to make his next start against Exultant, one of Hong Kong’s top horses, in the Group 1 Champion and Chater Cup later this month.

The 5-year-old South African import stretched out to 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) for the first time in his Hong Kong career Sunday, controlled a slow early pace, and came back after being headed into the far turn to draw away and post a 2 1/4-length victory. Chefano was geared down in the late stages by jockey Matthew Chadwick, who rode for trainer John Moore.

Favored Helene Leadingstar made a three-wide move alongside Eagle Way into the far turn as those two tried to wrest command from Chefano, who held his ground along the fence and had swept back in front before the 400-meter mark. Chefano is by Silvano, who won the 2001 Arlington Million.