No shortage of contenders in Happy Valley features

After an exciting edition of the Hong Kong Derby on Sunday, Wednesday’s card at Happy Valley marks a return to the workaday version of the Hong Kong racing season.

The highest-class fare on an eight race card is a trio of Class 3 handicaps for horses rated 60-80, which in American terms would translate to a lower allowance class. Races 5 and 8 are a one-turn 1,200-meter sprints, while race 7 is carded for 1,650 meters, one circuit around the oblong Happy Valley course. All three races go with full fields of 12.

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Race 8 seems especially inscrutable. The top-rated pair of Jade Theater (79) and Breeders’ Star (78) each is decent enough at this level, and Jade Theater won in a similar spot two races ago, but it’s entirely possible neither is sufficiently superior to mitigate the weight they give the others horses. Brave Legend (73) and Shanghai Master (67) both had journeys last out that that were less than ideal, and they, like Jade Theater, are 4-year-olds with upside. But speaking of upside, no horse in this race sufficiently impressed the handicapper to be rated any higher than they were going into their previous start.

In the other sprint, race 5, the top-rated horse at 80 is Storm Soldier, who is difficult to figure off a Hong Kong debut in which he never really picked up his feet racing 1,000 meters down the straightaway at Sha Tin. Gamechangers is trained by John Size, who sent out Hong Kong Derby winner Ping Hai Star on Sunday, and while Gamechangers is no Ping Hai Star, and has failed to win in his Hong Kong career, he probably is more capable than his seventh-place finish in his most recent start.

A better chance for a Size win might come in race 7, the 1,650 meter race, where he sends out the memorably named Big Bang Bong. Big Bang Bong was as solid Class 2 sort early this season, and two of his four tries down at the Class 3 level have come on the Sha Tin dirt track, which Big Bang Bong doesn’t seem to dig. Big Bang Bong drops a couple pounds since his most recent turf start, and might have landed in a winnable spot Wednesday night.

The festivities begin at 7:15 p.m. Hong Kong time, which is 7:15 a.m. Eastern.