Hong Kong: Beauty Fit can handle increase in distance, rise in class at Sha Tin

With any luck, Beauty Fit would be on a two-race winning streak in advance of a start in a one-mile handicap at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Sunday.

Beauty Fit never seemed comfortable when fourth by 1 1/4 lengths in a seven-furlong handicap at Sha Tin on March 12. Beauty Fit raced on the inside throughout, lacked room at one point in the stretch, and finished in tight quarters under jockey Vagner Borges.

In Sunday’s race, which drew a field of eight, Beauty Fit will be ridden by Joao Moreira, who was aboard the Australian-bred 5-year-old gelding for a win in a seven-furlong handicap at Sha Tin on Feb. 3. The most significant differences from that race and Sunday’s handicap are the distance and class level. The Feb. 3 race was a Class 3 handicap, while Sunday’s race is a Class 2 race, for higher-rated horses.

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Beauty Fit may be good enough to handle this tougher group. Trained by John Size, Beauty Fit will break from post 4, which should give Moreira a chance to place the gelding in a stalking position in the $306,500 race.

Beauty Fit will carry 120 pounds, 11 fewer than topweight Beauty Joy, who will be ridden by leading rider Zac Purton. Approaching Sunday’s program, Purton had 94 wins at the current Hong Kong season, four more than Moreira.

Beauty Joy won a Class 2 handicap at about a mile and 50 yards at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong on Jan. 19, but was third by three-quarters of a length in a similar race on Feb. 23, closing well after a poor start.

Last December, Beauty Joy won a seven-furlong handicap in the Class 3 division at Sha Tin.

Charity Go, a 7-year-old Irish-bred gelding, rates as a contender following consecutive third-place finishes in Class 2 handicaps at 1 1/4 miles and 1 1/8 miles since Feb. 20. He has won at a mile and is likely to be closing from off the pace under jockey Vincent Ho.

Sha Tin has a 10-race program beginning at 12:45 a.m. Sunday Eastern or 9:45 p.m. Saturday Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.