Sky Darci continues march forward in Premier Cup at Sha Tin

Only eight programs remain in the long Hong Kong racing season, and Sunday’s card at Sha Tin is a good one.

Two Group 3 handicaps – the Premier Plate over 1,800 meters and the Premier Cup over 1,400 meters – highlight a 10-race card that includes a competitive Class 2 handicap and an appearance by the very promising 3-year-old Killer Bee in a Class 3 handicap.

The Premier Cup merits top billing and probably has as a favorite the unusual 4-year-old Sky Darci, one of 12 horses that trainer Caspar Fownes has entered Sunday at Sha Tin. Sky Darci began his ongoing campaign last fall racing in modest Class 3 handicaps at Happy Valley but wound up winning the Hong Kong Derby in March and now seeks his second straight Group 3 success.

Rated 71 to start the season, Sky Darci now boasts a Hong Kong rating of 113, up six points after his May 30 victory in the 1,600-meter Lion Rock Trophy Handicap. Sky Darci, the mount of Joao Moreira, carried 115 pounds last time, 18 fewer than the race’s top-rated runner, but now must tote 126 pounds, getting weight only from top-rated Mighty Giant. While Sky Darci won the Hong Kong Derby over 2,000 meters the cut back to 1,400 Sunday shouldn’t trouble him since he has solid form in races as short as 1,200 meters.

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Sky Darci won by only a nose in the Lion Rock Trophy, just getting up over fellow 4-year-old Healthy Happy, who had set the pace and faded to sixth in the Derby. In Sunday’s race, Healthy Happy gets four pounds from Sky Darci, though Sky Darci is more tactically versatile and has a better turn of foot than his rival.

Mighty Giant truly is a giant, weighing in at a field-high 1,223 pounds for the Premier Cup, and perhaps he can carry 133 pounds to victory. He’s dropping in class from Group 1 and Group 2 competition and cuts back from 1,600 meters to 1,400, which is his best trip.

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The Premier Cup is race 7. The Plate is race 5, and the 1,800-meter contest has the admirable Southern Legend carrying 133-pound top weight. Southern Legend has run at least decently in all nine of his starts this season, and while winless, hasn’t been worse than fourth, and giving nine rivals between 11 and 20 pounds Sunday, this might not be the right spot for a breakthrough.

Rated 94, Charity Fun is among those getting 20 pounds from Southern Legend, and he looks capable of outrunning his odds. A 4-year-old with only eight starts – six in Hong Kong following two in Ireland – Charity Fun had one hiccup, regressing in a Feb. 28 start, but otherwise has steadily improved this season. He comes off a second-place finish behind Plate starter Butterfield in a Group 3 going 2,400 meters at Sha Tin and might be a better horse at 1,800 meters.

Killer Bee, trained by Fownes and ridden by Moreira, starts in race 8, which is for horses rated 100-80 and contested at 1,200 meters. Killer Bee’s only loss in four starts came by a nose and he exits a 1 1/2-length score in a race like Sunday’s. The Hong Kong sprint division could use a talent infusion and this gelding is one of several rising sprinters who could turn into stakes horses during the 2021-22 season.

First post for this program is 11 p.m. Pacific on Saturday night. Catch all the action at DRFBets.com.