Three Class 3s top Happy Valley Wednesday card

A trio of Class 3 handicaps at varying distances caps an eight-race card Wednesday at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong.

All are for horses rated 80-60 with race 6 carded at 1,000 meters, race 7 at 1,800 meters, and race 8 at 1,200 meters.

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First post for the card is 7:15 a.m. Eastern. You can bet and watch at DRFBets.com.

Hong Kong’s leading trainer so far this season, Caspar Fownes, hit 30 winners for the term over the weekend at Sha Tin but starts a horse only in one of the three Class 3s. That runner is Propice, an Australian-bred who makes his Hong Kong debut in race 6, the 1,000-meter dash. Racing as Ilovemyself in Australia, Propice won his debut going 1,000 meters last February before finishing unplaced in a Group 3 over 1,200 meters at Rosehill.

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Propice had a barrier trial (training race) over the Happy Valley turf on Nov. 13 and, kept in the center of the course while racing from the rear of the field, finished much the best for second, albeit against a group of horses rated no better than 52. Karis Teetan rides Propice from post 4.

Tashdilek, a winner in both his starts this season, is top rated at 79 in race 8, the 1,800-meter, two-turn race, and carries 133 pounds, giving 18 pounds to the very interesting Murray’s Partners. Murray’s Partners raced above the Class 4 level for the first time in his Hong Kong career but has won four of his last five starts since he began racing in a visor, a type of blinker.

Mig Energy is the big rating riser in race 8, up seven points to 79 after a one-length Class 3 win over this 1,200-meter trip Nov. 18 at Happy Valley, but Scores of Fun is the pick to win. Joao Moreira rides for trainer John Size and Scores of Fun was beaten a nose last out racing at this same class level and distance while starting for the first time at Happy Valley.

* Trainer Aidan O’Brien withdrew from consideration over the weekend two horses that had been invited to the Hong Kong International Races of Dec. 13. Lope Y Fernandez won’t come for the Hong Kong Mile, where O’Brien still intends to start Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Order of Australia, while Peaceful is out of the Hong Kong Cup. O’Brien still has Magical for the Cup and Mogul an intended runner in the Hong Kong Vase.