Not Unusual Talent starting season in Green Luck Handicap

Not Usual Talent finished the 2018-19 Hong Kong season with consecutive wins in handicap races at Sha Tin and Happy Valley racecourses, victories that have propelled the New Zealand-bred gelding to a more prominent role on that circuit.

Wednesday, Not Usual Talent will have his first start of the 2019-20 season in the 267,744 Green Luck Handicap at about a mile and 50 yards at Happy Valley.

In the summer, Not Usual Talent was the beneficiary of receiving weight from rivals in his two handicap wins. In Wednesday’s race, Not Usual Talent shares topweight of 133 pounds with Helene Charisma, the winner of a handicap at 1 1/8 miles at Happy Valley on Sept. 25.

Both Not Usual Talent, who will be ridden by Zac Purton and Helene Charisma, the mount of Grant van Niekirk, are closers. The field of nine does not have a confirmed frontrunner although Ruthven, who will carry 132 pounds, set the pace before fading to finish third in the Sept. 25 race won by Helene Charisma.

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The 118-pound low weight is Playa Del Puente, who was fifth and seventh in his first two starts in Hong Kong. Trained by Danny Shum, Playa Del Puente won the Patton Stakes for 3-year-olds on the all-weather track at Dundalk, Ireland, in March in his final start in that country.

Playa Del Puente is considered a candidate for the Hong Kong Derby for 4-year-olds in March.

The final race on the nine-race program is the $267,744 Ivictory Handicap at six furlongs. Yee Cheong Baby, the winner of his first two starts in Hong Kong in April and May, is the 133-pound topweight, but has something to prove against 11 rivals.

Yee Cheong Baby was fifth in a six-furlong handicap on the infield dirt track at Sha Tin on Sept. 8, but was found to have “substantial blood in his trachea” after the race, according to the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s website. Yee Cheong Baby has had five workouts since Sept. 8, including a six-furlong training race from the gate on Oct. 11, known in Hong Kong as a barrier trial.

Yee Cheong Baby led throughout the barrier trial against lesser rivals and won by 14 lengths. Purton was aboard for the training race and has the mount on Wednesday.

Waldorf, the winner of three consecutive handicap at six furlongs at Happy Valley from late March to late May, should be a factor from off the pace. Waldorf was third by a neck in a six-furlong handicap at Happy Valley in July. This is his first start of the current season, which began in early September.