Hong Kong: Strong Sha Tin program includes two stakes

A pair of Group 3 handicaps highlight the best card of the young Hong Kong racing season, Sunday’s 10-race program at Sha Tin.

Race 6 is the Premier Bowl Handicap over 1,200 meters, which drew 12 entrants, and race 8 is the 1,600-meter Sha Tin Trophy Handicap, which also lured a dozen intended runners.

The races are stepping-stones toward the Hong Kong International Races in December. The Premier Bowl leads to the Hong Kong Sprint, the Sha Tin Trophy toward the Hong Kong Mile, and there are horses in both spots who could have a say in those Group 1s.

Waikuku, who makes his first start of the season in the Sha Tin Trophy, finished a strong second in the 2019 Hong Kong Mile and was fourth in the 2020 renewal while racing for the first time in nearly eight months. He went on to win the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee over 1,400 meters this past spring but probably is not worth a bet Sunday while making his first start since April under 131 pounds, among the highest weights in the field.

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The Sha Tin Trophy field includes the second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh finishers from the Group 3 Celebration Cup over 1,400 meters on Sept. 26. Tourbillon Diamond finished second in the Celebration Cup but it is third-place Sky Darci who rates the strongest chance from that group. Winner of the 2,000-meter Hong Kong Derby last season, Sky Darci has beaten lesser foes at distances as short as 1,200 meters but probably is best suited by Sunday’s one-mile trip.

Buddies went wire to wire winning the Celebration Cup but instead of stretching out to 1,600 meters he cuts back in trip to try the Premier Bowl, a tough ask for a horse who got things his own way last out while posting a 24-1 upset. Wishful Thinker won this race a year ago but there might be stronger contender than he in this edition.

Sky Field would have to overcome top weight of 133 pounds, a tall order, but ended his 2020-21 season on a high note and closed from 14th to finish second in his lone start this season, the Oct. 1 National Day Cup, run over a straight 1,000-meter trip short of his best distance. Super Wealthy beat Sky Field in the National Day Cup and comes back in the Premier Bowl but could struggle to produce a comparable race going a furlong farther and racing around a bend.

:: Download DRF's Guide to Betting Hong Kong RacingLook down at the very bottom of the weights and find another plausible winner, Naboo Attack, who carries a feathery 114 pounds. Trained by David Hayes, the 5-year-old Australian import won his Hong Kong debut last season but was scratched lame from his intended second outing and didn’t race between May and September.

In his comeback run, on Sept. 5, he won a 1,200-meter Class 1 at Sha Tin by a full length, and while beaten at the Class 2 level three weeks later, he rallied from 10th in midstretch to finish second, giving 16 pounds to the winner while scorching his final 400 meters in 21.97 seconds.

First post for the program is 1 a.m. Eastern and you can catch all the action at DRFBets.com.