Starlight finds ideal spot in Perfect Gear Handicap

The Perfect Gear Handicap on Wednesday at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong is the ideally named race for the 5-year-old gelding Starlight.

Starlight, the 131-pound topweight, has a late rally that has carried him to victories in three of his last four starts. The $167,948 Perfect Gear Handicap at six furlongs on turf is a race Starlight can win with a similar run.

Trained by Dennis Yip, the champion trainer in Hong Kong in the 2012-13 season, Starlight will be ridden by Zac Purton who has been aboard for two of the recent wins. Starlight had a busy September, the opening month of the current Hong Kong season, winning two of three starts, all at Happy Valley.

In his career, entirely in Hong Kong, Starlight has won 4 of 17 starts. He tends to race from about three or four lengths off the pace before launching a run. In a six-furlong handicap on Sept. 27, Starlight closed from fifth to win by two lengths as the favorite.

There were 13 entries for the Perfect Gear Handicap, the final race on an eight-race program that begins at 7:15 a.m. Eastern, or 4:15 a.m., Pacific. The Perfect Gear Handicap, which will be limited to 12 starters, has a post-time of 10:50 a.m., Eastern. Wagering is available on DRFBets.com.

Starlight will be in pursuit of Good Companion, a 5-year-old Australian-bred gelding who has had an even busier start to the Hong Kong season with two wins in four starts so far. Good Companion was the half-length winner of a six-furlong handicap on turf at Happy Valley on Oct. 11, racing close to the front throughout after a wide trip. He will carry 124 pounds.

Grace Heart has chased Starlight and Good Companion in recent starts in the last month, and can be a factor in this field. A 6-year-old Australian-bred gelding, Grace Heart will carry 118 pounds, thanks to the seven-pound apprentice claim of jockey Matt Poon.