Hong Kong kicks off 2022-23 racing season

After roughly a two-month break, racing returns to Hong Kong on Sunday with the start of a 10-month 2022-23 season.

A 10-race card at Sha Tin features a Class 1 handicap, race 4, and starts at 1 a.m. Eastern.

Hong Kong Jockey Club race weeks, with a few deviations here and there, cleave to the usual schedule, with afternoon cards at Sha Tin on Sundays and evening cards at Happy Valley on Wednesdays. Happy Valley, the so-called “city track,” features a smaller course and lower-level racing, with all the major Hong Kong events staged at the larger Sha Tin oval. The most important card of the Hong Kong season, the Hong Kong International Races featuring four international Group 1s, is set for Dec. 11 this year.

Sure to be featured on that program is the great Golden Sixty, one of the best horses in Hong Kong history and a winner of two Hong Kong Miles on the HKIR card. Golden Sixty is expected to make his first start of the season in the Jockey Club Mile on Nov. 20 as a prep for the Hong Kong Mile.

Zac Purton will be out to win his sixth Hong Kong jockey championship, while his longtime rival Joao Moreira is expected to miss the first four programs of the season as he recovers from an injury. Silvestre de Sousa is back riding in Hong Kong for the first time in about three years.

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Two trainers, Pierre Ng and Jamie Richards, are new to the tightly controlled Hong Kong roster this season, while Paul O’Sullivan no longer is training in Hong Kong.

Most Hong Kong races are run under handicap conditions, with five classes – Class 5 the lowest, Class 1 the highest – helping to properly match horses. Handicappers at the HKJC update ratings every week.

The Sunday feature, carded for 1,200 meters, is for horses rated 90 and above and drew 10 entrants, Sky Field the highest-rated among them at 120. Sky Field, winner of the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint last December, carries top weight of 135 pounds, giving as much as 18 pounds to the lowest-rated runners.

American bettors can tap into the vast Hong Kong pools wagering at DRFBets, which broadcasts every Hong Kong card beginning with Sunday’s program.