Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at Happy Valley.
webmasterMar 06, 2023
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at Happy Valley.
For the first time in their careers, the gelding King Kikau and mare Moon Over Alice are on two-race-winning streaks in Australia.
The Australian gelding Iknowastar was no factor in five starts in sprints at distances ranging from five to six furlongs from last March to early February. In a longer sprint and in a one-mile race later in February, Iknowastar won the first two races of his career. The winning streak will be tested when Iknowastar races at 1 1/4 miles for the first time in a handicap at Wagga Wagga Racecourse on Sunday evening.
Everything seemed to happen in twos Saturday in Dubai on a Meydan card featuring Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge. Salute the Soldier won the Group 1, $450,000 Maktoum Challenge for the second time, adding Saturday’s score to his 2021 tally. His trainer, Fawzi Nass, and jockey, Adrie de Vries, made it a double in the Super Saturday feature one race after landing the $170,000 Al Bastakiya with progressive Go Soldier Go.
Cairo, an Irish-bred Quality Road colt trained by Aidan O’Brien, moved to the fore of the European-based hopefuls for the Kentucky Derby with a two-length win in his 3-year-old debut in Friday’s $42,300 Patton Stakes at a mile on the all-weather surface at Dundalk Racecourse in Ireland.
It helps to race near the front at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne, with a stretch slightly shorter than a furlong. Mamaragan has a forward style that led to a win at Moonee Valley earlier this year, and that is one of the reasons the 5-year-old gelding is favored to win the $85,400 Summer Sprinters Series Final at six furlongs on Saturday evening.
Jacquinot has solidified his reputation as one of Australia’s leading 3-year-olds with two Group 1 wins at seven furlongs since late September. The colt’s ability at a mile will be tested in the Group 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Friday evening.
Super Saturday, preview day for the March 25 Dubai World Cup Day, includes eight Thoroughbred races, and chances are, if you don't closely follow winter racing in Dubai, you're unfamiliar with most of the horses.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Sunday, March 4, 2023, at Sha Tin.
A winner of 5 of 11 starts, Cross Talk was third in a Group 3 at seven furlongs in September, but only eighth of 10 in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap at a mile in his final start of the year in October. The prospects for a breakthrough win are promising for Cross Talk in the Group 3 Newcastle Stakes at seven furlongs at Newcastle Racecourse on Thursday evening.