High-class group assembled for Sha Tin's Premier Bowl

A pair of Group 2 races, one for sprinters and one for milers, brings out some of the best horses in Hong Kong on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse.

First up, as race 7 on a 10-race card (first post 1 a.m. Eastern) is the Premier Bowl Handicap over 1200 meters. Race 8 is the Oriental Watch Handicap over 1600 meters. Both races are worth about $512,250. The going Sunday at Sha Tin is expected to be good.

The Premier Bowl has a roster of big-name Hong Kong sprinters: Mr. Stunning, Thewizardofoz, Lucky Bubbles, Peniaphobia, Notlistenin’tome, and Amazing Kids all are rated between 133 and 129. Mr. Stunning and Thewizardofoz are co-highweighted Sunday at 128 pounds.

Thewizardofoz is the ratings-riser among that elite group, his official mark up 5 points following a 3 1/2-length Group 3 score on June 25 to cap his 2016 – 2017 Hong Kong Season. That sharp win, however, came over 1400 meters (about seven furlongs), and Thewizardofoz has run no better than fourth in five Hong Kong starts over Sunday’s 1200-meter trip. Jockey Joao Moreira and his mount figure to be coming late, but will the finish come before they make the front?

John Size trains the top-weights as well as Amazing Kids and D B Pin. Mr. Stunning finished sixth over a straight-course 1000 meters in his lone start this Hong Kong season, and while he has won before at that Sha Tin distance, moisture in the course might not have suited Mr. Stunning. His dramatic improvement through the last Hong Kong season culminated in a close second-place finish to Lucky Bubbles in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize on May 7.

Lucky Bubbles began his season a year ago in the Premier Bow and rallied from 10th to post a narrow win over Amazing Kids, and besides winning the Chairman’s Sprint Prize he finished second by a nose in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint last December. Lucky Bubbles never strayed too far from his baseline form last year and would be no surprise to repeat in the Premier Bowl.

Add Peniaphobia and Notlistenin’tome to the mix, and what comes out is about the highest-class sprint race one will find in Hong Kong outside the Hong Kong Sprint itself.

Beauty Only, the 2016 Hong Kong Mile winner, makes his second start of the season in the Oriental Watch, a race in which 12 oppose him and in which he carries co-topweight of 133 pounds. Beauty Only came from 12th over good-to-yielding ground while toting 133 pounds to finish fifth last out in his seasonal debut. On a firm course and with the comeback run under his belt, Beauty Only should get better on Sunday.

Helene Paragon was second to Beauty Only in the Hong Kong Mile, and subsequently won a pair of Group 1's later in the season. Helene Paragon carries a lot of weight first time back and needed a few starts last season to reach top form.

Also in the field is the multiple Group 1-winner Werther, as well as Beauty Generation. The latter got a six-point ratings bump on the strength of a 1 1/2-length win in the Group 3 Celebration Cup to start his season, but still gets a 15-pound break in the weights from Beauty Only and Helene Paragon.