Eagle Way gets ratings boost following BOCHK Jockey Club Cup win
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Eagle Way was the big mover in the latest set of ratings published Monday by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. HKJC handicapper and chief race planner Nigel Gray raised Eagle Way’s rating six points to 124 after the 5-year-old came from last behind a taxing pace and swept to victory in the Group 2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup.
Eagle Way’s Hong Kong career had gotten off to a promising start, but he struggled to progress last season. Trainer John Moore had been aiming Eagle Way at the 2400-meter Hong Kong Vase on the Hong Kong International Races card of Dec. 9, but Eagle Way’s performance at 2000 meters this past Sunday left Moore also contemplating the Hong Kong Cup over 2000 meters.
Hot King Prawn’s rating rose from 123 to 126 after he won the BOCHK Sprint Cup by a half-length on Sunday. Beauty Generation, Hong Kong’s highest-rated horse, held firm at a massive 137 rating.
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It is a long, long way down the ratings list to find Nordic Warrior at 62, but that is a seven-point rise from his previous rating, and now is the time for 3-year-olds about to turn 4 – like Nordic Warrior – to begin establishing a level on the Hong Kong circuit. Nordic Warrior, trained by Richard Gibson, went unplaced in a pair of Sha Tin class 4 handicaps to start his season but won at that level by 1 1/4 lengths last out in his Happy Valley debut, and on Wednesday’s eight-race card will try his luck in one three Class 3 handicaps at the so-called City Track in Hong Kong.
Nordic Warrior has an apprentice rider named and already was near the bottom of the ratings scale in race 7 over 1,650 meters, and therefore carries a feathery 115 pounds, 18 fewer than top-rated Mr So and So. Four-year-old Aussie import Mr So and So, from the powerful John Size stable, began his Hong Kong career in a pair of class 2 handicaps, failed to contend in either start, and was a more competitive third last out at Sha Tin in a race at this level.
The other class 3's on the card are races 5 and 8, both for horses rated 80 to 60 – a long way down from the Eagle Ways of the world.
