Helene Paragon looks for restart in Sa Sa Ladies

A well-matched field of 14 will run in the Group 3, $387,000 Sa Sa Ladies Purse Handicap at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Sunday.

The Sa Sa Ladies, carded for 1,800 meters or about 1 1/8 miles, is race 8 of 11 on a card that starts at 11:05 p.m. Pacific, and has a scheduled post time of 3:05 a.m. Pacific.

Helene Paragon is the Sa Sa Ladies highest-rated runner, but after a strong run last season in Hong Kong, Helene Paragon has been slow to come around this fall. One of four in the race trained by John Moore, Helene Paragon won four times during the 2015-2016 Hong Kong season. In June, Helene Paragon won a race much like the Sa Sa Ladies Purse, a Group 3 over 1,800 meters, but his two runs this season have produced an eighth- and a 10th-place finish, Helene Paragon failing to demonstrate much interest on either occasion.

Harbour Master, another among Moore’s quartet, has shown better recent form, but his last-start win came at Happy Valley, not Sha Tin. The Moore-trained Helene Super Star appears better suited to longer trips and almost certainly is using this weekend’s race as a stepping-stone to such a start.

And Basic Trilogy, the last of the Moore horses, has nothing obvious to recommend him in the Sa Sa Ladies.

The field also includes Gun Pit, who had a good run last winter racing on dirt at Meydan in Dubai, and whose best Hong Kong starts have come on an all-weather surface.

Romantic Touch and Eastern Express could be prominently placed in a race lacking pace, and 4-year-old Eastern Express holds some interest, though he might prove better suited to slightly longer distances.

The pick, if one must be made, is Secret Weapon, who should be a square price. Secret Weapon is a fairly dependable Group 3 type who almost certainly was using his seven-furlong comeback run Oct. 1 as a prep to shake off rust. He was brought back into action last season at the same distance, turned in a similar if slightly better performance, and proceeded to win his next two starts, and while those victories came at one mile, Secret Weapon also won a Group 3 later in the summer over Sunday’s nine-furlong trip.