Three races into his 2022 season in Australia, the 4-year-old gelding Namakwa is back at marathon distances he clearly prefers. Namakwa won for the first time this year in the Stawell Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Stawell Racecourse on April 17 and starts at the same distance in a turf handicap at Ballarat Racecourse on Sunday.
Overmatched in Hong Kong’s lucrative series for 4-year-olds earlier this year, Ima Single Man is better suited to sprints, such as a seven-furlong Class 2 handicap at Sha Tin Racecourse on Saturday. All he needs now is a clean trip.
September Run is a slight favorite to garner her third Group 1 victory in Saturday’s $356,095 Robert Sangster Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Saturday, May 7, 2022 at Sha Tin.
Of the 15 runners in Friday’s Wagga Wagga Gold Cup at the racecourse of the same name in Australia, two starters have experience over the track – the outsider Roman, and the intriguing longshot Spirit Ridge, who was second in the same race last year.
Two days after they finished first and second by a head in the $105,500 Brierly Chase at Warrnambool Racecourse in Australia, Vanguard and Britannicus are back in the longer and more lucrative Grand Annual Chase at the same venue on Thursday.
Hong Kong Selections for Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at Sha Tin.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Wednesday, May 4, 2022 at Sha Tin.
In New Zealand and Hong Kong, the 4-year-old gelding Money Catcher has been second or third in five stakes in 13 starts, all on turf. His career will shift in a slightly different direction when Money Catcher starts on dirt for the first time on the infield course at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Coming into Wednesday’s $140,800 Wangoom Handicap at Warrnambool Racecourse, Showmanship has an active six-race winning streak that began in May 2020 and includes his stakes debut in the Bendigo Bank Stakes at Moonee Valley Racecourse in September 2020. Showmanship has not raced since the Bendigo Bank Stakes, and will start for a new trainer in Danny O’Brien.
