Happy Valley: Size looks to stay hot with Hong Kong Win in Class 2 handicap

John Size, one of the leading trainers in Hong Kong, won the featured race Sunday at Sha Tin and has the top-rated runner in the featured race Wednesday at Happy Valley.

Hong Kong Win at 94 tops the ratings for a Class 2 handicap over 1,000 meters for horses rated 100-80, the highest-class fare and the last of eight races Wednesday. The Happy Valley card, first post 7:15 a.m. Eastern, is broadcast with wagering available at DRFBets.com.

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Hong Kong Win totes 130 pounds, including jockey Antoine Hamelin, who takes over from leading Hong Kong rider Joao Moreira. Five-year-old Hong Kong win had a progressive 2019-20 Hong Kong season, notching four wins and three seconds while rising from Class 4 races to Class 2. Races over 1,000 meters, be they at Happy Valley or Sha Tin, are his game, and he’s likely to improve on a seventh-place finish in his Sept. 13 season’s debut.

Allied Agility, rated 82 and carrying 118 pounds, is the only entrant with any meaningful ratings rise, up three points after a near miss in a Sha Tin Class 2 on Sept. 6.

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Meanwhile, Size was obviously pleased with the performance put forth Sunday by Excellent Proposal in the featured Chep Lak Kok Handicap, a Class 2 over 1,800 meters. Imported from Australia, Excellent Proposal lost his Hong Kong debut by a nose but now has reeled off three straight wins, carrying 131 pounds in a Class 3 and now twice in Class 2 competition. He comfortably stayed the roughly 1 1/8-mile trip Sunday and is on course for the Hong Kong 4-year-old Championship Series next year, Size said.