Sky Darci, winner of the 2021 Hong Kong Derby, makes his 2021-22 season’s debut Sunday at Sha Tin in the Group 3, $480,000 Celebration Cup Handicap.
Emissary was a 40-1 outsider when he beat one rival in a field of 16 in the Group 1 English Derby at Epsom Racecourse in July 2020. More than a year later, Emissary is on the other side of the world, with a different status in racing. Sunday, Emissary will be favored to win his second start in Australia, and third race of his career, in the Benalla Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Benalla Racecourse.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 5 gained a potential international starter when Hello You recorded a mild upset in Friday’s Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at seven furlongs at Newmarket in England.
Short-priced favorites are expected to dominate Group 1 Australian races in Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday.
After finishing second by a head in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket in July, Masekela won the Denford Stakes at seven furlongs at Newbury on Aug. 14. Those results will leave Masekela a slight favorite in Saturday's Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at a mile at Newmarket. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 5.
Michael Wrona previews the Golden Rose at Rosehill.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong Selections and Analysis for Sunday, September 26, 2021 at Sha Tin.
Profiteer, unraced since a seventh in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds in March, will be favored to win Friday’s Group 1 Moir Stakes at five furlongs at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne.
Majestic Glory can earn a fees-paid trip for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf if she obliges as the favorite in Friday's Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at seven furlongs at Newmarket.
Apprentice jockey Jasper Franklin has had a pair of three-win days – at Murwillumbah on Aug. 20 and Lismore on Sept. 9. Franklin rode Macchina Volante to a win in a handicap at 1 5/16 miles at Lismore that day and is back aboard the 5-year-old gelding in Thursday’s Lismore Cup at the same distance.
