Gentle Breeze tops St. Andrew’s Challenge Quaich at Happy Valley
Gentle Breeze has played a pivotal role in jockey Matt Chadwick’s season in Hong Kong this fall.
Chadwick has won six races since the season began in early September, including two consecutive races on Gentle Breeze, a 5-year-old Australian-bred gelding.
The partnership will have a prominent role in Wednesday’s $185,251 St. Andrew’s Challenge Quaich at Happy Valley Racecourse. The five-furlong turf race is run on the same course and distance as Gentle Breeze’s wins on Sept. 25 and Nov. 6.
Gentle Breeze raced as a stalker on Sept. 25 and was near the front throughout on Nov. 6. For Wednesday’s race, Gentle Breeze will carry topweight of 133 pounds in a field of 12. The recent wins have increased his handicap rating by 18 points, from 62 to 80.
Wednesday’s race is for horses with ratings ranging from 60 to 80, with each point representing a pound in the handicap conditions. Trained by Ricky Yiu, Gentle Breeze has done well at Happy Valley throughout his career, winning 4 of 10 starts while rising in class. Yiu is the leading trainer in Hong Kong this year through the weekend, with 20 wins.
While Gentle Breeze is rising in class, Wednesday’s race is a drop in competition for Storm Signal, who has faced tougher rivals without success in five- and six-furlong handicaps at Happy Valley and Sha Tin in recent races. Winless in his last nine starts, Storm Signal did win a five-furlong handicap at Happy Valley in October 2018.
Storm Signal will carry 132 pounds and will be ridden by jockey Alexis Badel.
Leading rider Joao Moreira rides Special Stars, who was eighth behind Gentle Breeze on Nov. 6, but a game second by a neck in a five-furlong handicap at Happy Valley on Oct. 9. Special Stars will carry 124 pounds, a weight break against Gentle Breeze that could play a role in the outcome.