Hop Sing a cut above his competition – and condition
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For a horse who posted Beyer Speed Figures between 84 and 97 in all seven starts last season, it’s hard to believe Hop Sing is still eligible for the nonwinners-of-two allowance condition. But that is the type of race in which Hop Sing will kick off his 2026 campaign as the likely favorite against six rivals going a mile on the main track in Friday’s featured $70,000 allowance at Gulfstream Park.
Trained by Jose D’Angelo, Hop Sing earned a 90 Beyer winning a maiden race going a mile early last spring at Aqueduct. He then earned a career-best 97 when finishing second to No Bien Ni Mal stretching out to 1 1/8 miles under entry-level allowance conditions nearly three months later at Saratoga. That performance was further flattered when the winner returned to win the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at Parx in his next start.
Hop Sing also gave Navajo Warrior all he could handle before dropping a three-quarter-length decision last fall at Churchill Downs. The win was the fifth in a row at the time for Navajo Warrior, who most recently proved a popular and very impressive winner of the Grade 3 Pimlico Special on Preakness weekend at Laurel Park.
Hop Sing has not started since finishing a tiring fourth in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race at Churchill on Nov. 16.
“He ran some huge races last season and got beat by some very nice horses,” D’Angelo noted. “We gave him a rest after his last race at Churchill Downs because he had run very hard all year round. It’s always tough to come back off a layoff like this, but he is doing great and I think a mile is the perfect place to start him back. I believe the time off has done him well and hopefully he will be able to show off his true potential this year.”
Hop Sing’s competition will include the Chilean-bred duo of Mogul and The Thor, both of whom are trained by Amador Sanchez.
Mogul won seven of his last eight starts in his native Chile at distances ranging from a mile to 1 1/4 miles and has been training forwardly for his U.S. debut. Seven-year-old The Thor remains winless in eight starts since coming to this country a year ago and has been idle since finishing fourth against lesser allowance opposition here on Oct. 19.
The remainder of the field consists of Nothingsubtle, Manor House, and the Victor Barboza Jr.-trained pair of Roar Ready and Skellig Michael.
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