Hong Kong: Will Nervous Witness stand up under pressure in Happy Valley Class 2?

It’s obviously a step down from Sunday’s card at Sha Tin with three Group 1 races, but the nine-race card Wednesday at Happy Valley, which ends with a salty Class 2 handicap, is pretty good in its own right.

The nightcap, for horses rated 100-80 and to be run around one turn over 1,000 meters, about five furlongs, drew a dozen entrants, many of whom are very, very fast.

Start with top-rated Nervous Witness, who carries 130 pounds seeking his fifth win this Hong Kong season. Nervous Witness, trained by David Hayes, came into the season an unraced 4-year-old bred on Southern Hemisphere time in Australia, starting his career in a Class 4 handicap with a Hong Kong rating of 54. Nervous Witness won his debut by three lengths, moved up to Class 3 and won by nearly four, and comes into Wednesday’s tilt rated 98. He has only raced over 1,000 meters in his seven starts but has handled both the straight course at Sha Tin and Happy Valley’s one-turn configuration. Nervous Witness two starts ago began wearing a crossed noseband in his races and, coincidentally or not, won both of them.

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Nervous Witness breaks from post 3 and will try for the lead; if he doesn’t go clear and takes sustained pressure, he’ll be vulnerable late carrying so much weight. Three starts ago, in another Class 2 at Happy Valley, Nervous Witness tussled on the pace with Voyage Warrior and Classic Unicorn, both of whom are in Wednesday’s contest, in a race upset by late running 83-1 shot Grateful Heart, also part of this field. Grateful Heart got a dream trip closing up the fence but can’t be discounted Wednesday. He likes the 1,000 meters at Happy Valley and during his 2020-21 campaign his rating, back to 97 after the last-out victory, rose to 98.

Mclucky, who gets 11 pounds from Nervous Witness, wasn’t lucky at the draw, landing post 11, but his connections surely feel fortunate to see the talented 5-year-old back racing for the first time since last June. Mclucky, an Australian import, had nicely knocked off a pair of 1,200-meter, Class 3 handicaps at Happy Valley when he suffered a leg injury that took him out of action.

First post for the card is 6:45 a.m. Eastern. Catch all the action at DRFBets.com.

* Trainer Francis Lui said plans for Golden Sixty to travel to Japan for the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen on June 5 will be set or mooted within 10 days, according to a Monday report in the South China Morning Post. Lui said he, jockey Vincent Ho, and Golden Sixty’s owner would have to be allowed to travel in order for the horse to make the trip. The trainer also expressed concerns about COVID-19 quarantine keeping him from attending to his string at Sha Tin.