Hong Kong: Everyone's Delight gets in with a feather at Sha Tin
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLEMidweek racing in Hong Kong pops up at Sha Tin rather than the standard venue of Happy Valley this Wednesday, but the eight-race card has a very Valley feel.
Highlighting the action are a trio of Class 3 handicaps for horses rated 80-60, standard Happy Valley race fare. Race 3 will be contested over a straight 1,000 meters, race 7 over 1,400 meters, and race 8 at 1,200 meters.
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In race 7, Everyone’s Delight, an apparently improving 4-year-old, sneaks into the entries at a feathery 117 pounds after lugging 132 to a Class 4 victory in his most recent start. Trained by Frankie Lor Fu Chuen, Everyone’s Delight, a New Zealand-bred, won his Hong Kong debut last October at the Class 4 level but subsequently took six defeats as his trainer tinkered. Lor alternated racing Everyone’s Delight over 1,200 and 1,400 meters, tried cheek pieces and took them off, added and removed blinkers, and experimented with a visor and a tongue tie, which are still in place for Wednesday’s race. Everyone’s Delight seems to have found his niche racing 1,400 meters while being held well off the pace to make one run, and at the favorable weight Wednesday, a second straight win isn’t out of the question.
First post for the program is 7:15 a.m. Eastern and you can catch all the action at DRFBets.com.
* Only nine horses were made early entrants into the last Group 1 of the Hong Kong season, the May 23 Standard Champions and Chater Cup over 1 1/2 miles, but one of them is Hong Kong’s best horse, Golden Sixty. Winner of 14 straight races, Golden Sixty already has captured the Stewards Cup over 1,600 meters in January and the Hong Kong Gold Cup over 2,000 meters in February, so a win in the Champions and Chater Cup would make him Hong Kong’s second Triple Crown winner, joining River Verdon, who managed the triple in 1994. There’s been no official word, however, from Golden Sixty’s connections whether he’ll start in the race, which is a full half-mile longer than his optimal trip, or be given a break to prepare for the 2021-2022 racing season.