Hong Kong: Explosive Witness tries to extend win streak at longer distance in Mercury Handicap

Eighteen of trainer Caspar Fownes’ season-leading 31 training wins have come at Happy Valley Racecourse, and eight of those – more than at any other distance – have come in 1,200-meter races. Explosive Witness has accounted for two of Fownes’ Happy Valley winners during the 2020-2021 racing season, scoring both times at 1,000 meters, and in the featured ninth race Wednesday night, Explosive Witness tries to stretch his winning streak to three while stretching out to 1,200 meters.

Explosive Witness is one of a dozen entrants in the Mercury Handicap, a Class 2 for horses rated 100-80. He drew post 6, a favorable starting position, and will have Christophe Soumillon in the irons for the first time. Soumillon, based most of the year in France, has moved his tack to Hong Kong for a winter spell.

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Explosive Witness picks up three pounds off his most recent win and must tote 127 Wednesday night, but his win two starts ago in Class 3 competition came under a 133-pound impost. The concerning thing, however, is that Fownes has kept this 6-year-old Aussie-bred gelding to 1,000 meters in all 11 of his Hong Kong grass races. It’s fair to wonder if he can race as effectively over an additional furlong.

Poor Hong Kong Win, rated 96 an under a 131-pound burden, has gotten stuck at the top of Class 2 competition, running well enough to win in two of his last five starts, but undone, perhaps, by giving weight. He, too, has been fed a steady diet of 1,000-meter races, and last out it was Explosive Witness who nipped him by a nose while getting eight pounds.

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Top-rated Will Power is a complete unknown under Wednesday’s circumstances since he has done nearly all his Hong Kong work on the dirt track at Sha Tin.

Golden Dash and Racing Fighter both exit very narrow victories that seem unlikely to be repeated but Shining Gem has to rate a big chance. He had a strong 2019-2020 Hong Kong season, winning four times and rising from the bottom of Class 3 to become a solid Class 2 performer. He started his present campaign in a race like Wednesday’s and rallied strongly to finish second, beaten a nose, on Nov. 8.

First post for this card is 5:45 a.m. Eastern. Live video and wagering is available at DRFBets.com.