Rise High, Doctor Geoff meet in Sha Tin Trophy Handicap
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
The $254,801 Sha Tin Trophy Handicap headlines an 11-race card Sunday at Sha Tin, closing day of the Hong Kong racing season.
A Class 1 race open to horses rated 90-105, just on the cusp of group-stakes class, the Sha Tin Trophy is contested at 1,600 meters (about one mile) around one bend. It’s race 8 of 11 on a card that starts at 12:30 a.m. Eastern and ushers in a dark period of about three months before the 2018-19 Hong Kong season commences.
The two most interesting horses in the Sha Tin Trophy, Rise High and Doctor Geoff, should be better next season than they were this year. Both are 4-year-olds, and Rise High in particular looks promising.
A French import by Myboycharlie, Rise High was slow to come around last fall, showing only the briefest of sparks in his first five Hong Kong races. But the proverbial light bulb went on earlier this year, and after a second-place finish three races ago, Rise High has won two in a row, both at the Class 2 handicap level going 1,600 meters at Sha Tin. His official rating has rapidly risen from 82 to 99, but Rise High, because he is up to the Class 1 level for the first time now, still gets plenty of weight from the top-rated horses Sunday. Zac Purton rides for trainer Caspar Fownes.
Doctor Geoff also has run three solid races in a row, but his breakout win last out came going 1,800 meters around two turns at Happy Valley. He did, however, finish a close second two starts ago in a Class 2 race over Sunday’s trip at Sha Tin.
Beauty Generation named Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year
Beauty Generation was named the 2017-18 Hong Kong Horse of the Year this week by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Beauty Generation, trained by John Moore for Patrick Kwok Ho Chuen, was a five-time winner from eight starts this season and was named champion miler. A 5-year-old by Road to Rock out of Stylish Bel, by Bel Esprit, Beauty Generation notched three Group 1 wins, capturing the Hong Kong Mile, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, and the Champions Mile.
Ivictory was named champion sprinter, Time Warp the champion middle-distance horse, and Pakistan Star the season’s champion stayer.
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