Sha Tin Class 1 stakes draws Group 1 names

The featured fourth race Sunday at Sha Tin is a Class 1 handicap that could pass as a Group 1 stakes.

The 1,200-meter sprint drew only six entrants but among them are three of the top four rated sprinters in Hong Kong: Hot King Prawn, Mr. Stunning, and Full of Beauty.

On a level playing field Hot King Prawn, who nearly won the Hong Kong Sprint in December, would be this race’s most likely winner, but as the highest-rated entrant at 125, he carries 133 pounds, including jockey Jo Moreira, in the Sunday feature, giving as much as 20 pounds to his foes. Granted, the other heavyweights tote only a pound or two less, but a 4-year-old named Big Party, rated 107, carries only 115 pounds.

Big Party, an Australian-bred son of Exceed and Excel, has won half his 10 Hong Kong starts and comes into the Sunday fixture on a two-race winning streak, the first of those victories over 1,200 meters at Happy Valley in a Class 2, and most recently facing Group 3 competition in a straight-course, 1,000-meter race at Sha Tin. The move back to a race around a turn won’t hurt Big Party, whose trainer, Frankie Lor, praised a recent barrier trial (training race) turned by his charge.

Lor also trains Mr. Stunning, a 7-year-old former Hong Kong Sprint winner who has not been quite up to his high standard in three starts this Hong Kong season. Full of Beauty, who won his first five races last season, has won only once in five starts this season but has seen his official rating rise 20 points since October.

First post for an 11-race program is midnight Eastern, with the feature scheduled for 1:30 a.m. Eastern.