World traveler Magic Wand in top form for Hong Kong Cup

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Cup, the Group 1, $3.58 million anchor of the Hong Kong International Races on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse, was supposed to be the playground of superstar Japanese filly Almond Eye, who got as far as quarantine in Japan before a brief fever scrapped Hong Kong travel plans. Her absence leaves the Cup a shell of the race it might have been. Only eight horses are slated to start; none will be confused with Almond Eye.

Still, the Cup must go on, and it goes as race 8 on a 10-race program that kicks off at 11 p.m. Eastern Saturday night. The Cup (post time 3:10 a.m.) is the last of four Group 1’s following the Vase (race 4), the Sprint (race 5), and the Mile (race 7). It’s contested over 2,000 meters, about 1 1/4 miles, and encompasses one circuit around this right-handed course. Thursday brought cold drizzle to Hong Kong, but skies clear Friday and the Sha Tin course will be good to firm Sunday.

American race fans will find one very familiar name in the Cup, Magic Wand, and another, Edisa, who won the inaugural edition of the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational in September at Belmont Park. Edisa gets a seven-pound weight break from the older males, appears to have traveled well from France, and might have a bright future, but she’s in deep water Sunday.

Four-year-old filly Magic Wand carries four pounds fewer than the older males, and despite a 2019 campaign that began in January and has seen her travel more than 65,000 miles while racing three times in America, once in Dubai, and thrice this autumn in Australia, carries herself like a fresh, willing racehorse.

“I actually think she’s getting better,” said Ryan Moore, who has the mount in the Cup, a race he won in 2010 with Snow Fairy and in 2016 with Maurice.

:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis

Magic Wand can stay 1 1/2 miles but has three performances at 1 1/4 miles this year good enough to give trainer Aidan O’Brien his first Hong Kong Cup – a last-out win in the Group 1 Mackinnon and second-place finishes to Magical in the Irish Champion and to Bricks and Mortar in the Arlington Million.

Hong Kong-based Rise High ended his 2018-2019 season on a high note and started his current campaign by beating Hong Kong champion Beauty Generation and rising star Waikuku on Oct. 20 in the Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy. He was pushed out wider than ideal before turning for home last month in the Jockey Club Cup, his second-out prep for Sunday’s start, finishing fourth while racing at 1,114 pounds, about 50 pounds more than he carried in his best races last season. Rise High had a strong Nov. 29 training race and could be set to peak at a price.

The full brothers Time Warp, who wired this race in 2017, and Glorious Forever, who did the same thing a year ago, aren’t in the form to contend right now but should ensure a fair pace for closers like Rise High.

The Japanese 5-year-old horse Win Bright set a 2,000-meter Sha Tin course record when he won the Group 1 Champions Mile here last April. Win Bright was a 48-1 shot that day and has not come close to producing a similar performance before or since.

Furore captured the Hong Kong Derby last spring and finished second to Rise High’s fourth in the Jockey Club Cup three weeks ago, but Rise High is the preferred runner Sunday.

Aethero heavily favored in Sprint

Karis Teetan, one of Hong Kong’s top riders, has a live mount in Hot King Prawn for the Group 1, $2.55 million Hong Kong Sprint. But listening to Teetan talk Thursday morning, one wonders how much of a chance Hot King Prawn really has.

Teetan rode Aethero to a course-record-setting victory Nov. 11 in the Jockey Club Sprint (1,200 meters in 1:07.58) and was left awed.

“He could be the best I’ve ever sat on,” Teetan said. “He had so much energy, so much petrol . . . he’s just so far beyond the others, I think. To beat him, we’ll need a few things to go wrong for him.”

No 3-year-old has won the Hong Kong Sprint, run around one bend at about six furlongs, but maybe there’s never been a Hong Kong 3-year-old as fast as Aethero, who gets a seven-pound weight allowance from his older rivals.

It’s Aethero’s youth and lack of seasoning that’s his soft spot. Trainer John Moore likes Aethero’s outside draw in post 10, but Aethero isn’t brilliant out of the gate and needs a clean run.

“He’s shown a lot of raw natural ability, but that only gets you so far,” said Zac Purton, who rode Aethero in his first four starts and is back aboard Sunday. “Mentally, he’s still got a bit to learn. When he flies the gate and he’s out in front and rolling, he’s perfectly fine. When he gets around other horses, he’s a little bit wary of them.”

Hot King Prawn finished ninth as the favorite in the 2018 Sprint and had colic surgery last February, but his second-place finish to Aethero last month, his first start in 11 months, was encouraging, as was a Nov. 29 training race.

Mr. Stunning is the two-time defending Sprint champion but was scratched lame from a race last April and finished a flat eighth in the Jockey Club Sprint making his first start since.

D B Pin and Beat the Clock, John Size-trained stablemates of Hot King Prawn, also have high-level sprint form on their best day. High enough to reach Aethero? Probably not.