Pick Number One fresh for Tsuen Lok Handicap

Dirt racing places a distant second to turf in Hong Kong, but the featured ninth race on a relatively rare Saturday card at Sha Tin will look like a vast number of American races – six furlongs on dirt.

The Tsuen Lok Handicap, a Class 2 for horses rated 100 to 80, is contested around one bend at 1200 meters and drew 12 entrants. California Fortune is top-rated at 96 but lacks dirt credentials and is far from the most likely winner over the surface.

That distinction could go to Pick Number One or Ugly Warrior. Pick Number One faded badly when last seen racing in June, but before that step back the gelding had won four straight, all on the Sha Tin dirt, while rising from Class 3 to Class 2 with relative aplomb.

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Ugly Warrior races for the first time since April and gets his first look at the Class 2 level after posting four wins and a second, all on dirt, in Class 4 and Class 4 handicaps last Hong Kong season.

Two other horses with dirt form, but more exposed, are Calculation and Beauty Prince. The Tsuen Lok goes as race 9 of 10, post time 5:10 a.m. Eastern, and has as a supporting feature race 8, another Class 2 Handicap, this one carded for 1600 meters on turf.

Moreira fails Japan jockey test

Hong Kong champion jockey Joao Moreira won’t be eligible for a full-time jockey’s license in Japan after failing to pass a written test earlier this week regarding Japanese racing history. The written test is followed by an oral exam evaluating a prospective rider’s Japanese-language skills, but if the first test is failed, the second isn’t administered. Moreira must wait a year to be tested again.

Moreira, who shocked many in Hong Kong when he announced last summer he’d be leaving the jurisdiction to try his luck in Japan, still has six weeks remaining on his temporary Japanese license. Since moving his tack to Japan, Moreira has been winning races at a frenetic rate, but there is speculation that he might apply with the Hong Kong Jockey Club licensing committee to resume riding in Hong Kong this season.