Delightful Laos showing upward mobility

In Hong Kong racing, sometimes being at the bottom can help you get to the top.

That’s the intention of a racing jurisdiction functioning under a handicap system: Create competitive races by weighing down the more accomplished horses in a given contest.

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Featured race 8 Wednesday at Happy Valley, the Class 2 Chater Handicap for horses rated 100-80 over 1,650 meters, drew 11 entrants, and two down near the bottom merit win consideration.

Delightful Laos, in particular, appears to have a solid chance here. Rated 82 and carrying 120 pounds, 10 fewer than the highweights, Delightful Laos is a lightly raced 4-year-old who made three starts in Ireland while known as Now the King before being sent to Hong Kong. Trained by Tony Cruz, Delightful Laos was a sharp winner of his Hong Kong debut last April 29 and failed to progress in three subsequent starts last racing season and his first three races this term. But something recently clicked for Delightful Laos, who won a Happy Valley Class 3 over this 1,650-meter trip Dec. 16 and, picking up six pounds, came back Jan. 13 to finish second by a nose under the same conditions.

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Delightful Laos has some desirable attributes, but positional pace is not among them. He is strictly a hold-up horse who will be positioned at the field’s tail around the first turn, but post 2 Wednesday allows him to save ground, and there are several potential pace players in the lineup.

At 80, The Rock occupies the bottom rung of the ratings ladder in the Wednesday feature but has top connections, trainer Caspar Fownes and jockey Joao Moreira, behind him. The Rock, a 5-year-old by Dutch Art who was known as Vasiliev when he made four 2019 starts in England, has a 7-1-2-1 record in Hong Kong with only two of those starts coming at Happy Valley. The more recent one of them was Dec. 16, when The Rock turned in a fine performance finishing second to none other than Delightful Laos. The Rock turned in a dull Sha Tin showing Jan. 1 but can bounce back and will get first run on Delightful Laos.

General’s Delight is the top-rated runner at 92 and must tote 130 pounds while racing for the first time at Happy Valley. Another late runner, General’s Delight, has failed to make a major impact in four starts this season but has been facing salty Class 1, Class 2, and group stakes competition his last eight starts.

Sunshine Warrior has a solid chance at a high placing, as well, having won a Happy Valley start at this class level and distance two races ago, though that outing came more than two months ago. Sunshine Warrior comes off a moderate dirt try at Sha Tin and should be back to more suitable circumstances Wednesday.

Post time for the feature is 9:15 a.m. Eastern; first post for the nine-race program is 5:45 Eastern. You can watch and wager at DRFBets.com.

Three rise in ratings

Three horses that started during the last Hong Kong racing week got a nine-point rating rise in the updated official Hong Kong ratings released Monday. Three-year-old Winner Method, making his career debut, won a Class 4 by 1 1/2 lengths and is up to a mark of 61. Lucky Patch set the pace and finished fourth in the Hong Kong Classic Mile but surpassed his previous Class 2 handicap form to the extent his rating went from 86 to 95. And, most notably, Sight Success now is rated 81 following a two-length, front-running Class 3 score Sunday at Sha Tin. Trained by John Size, 4-year-old Sight Success has started his career 3 for 3, his first two starts yielding 1 1/2-length wins.