Mon, 02/16/2026 - 09:40
Sha Tin Selections
(Thursday, February 19, 2026)
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DRF Past Performances
Reef Runner has reached millionaire status since he was gelded last spring.
On Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Reef Runner won the richest race of his career in the Group 2, $2 million 1351 Turf Sprint at about 6 3/4 furlongs.
The victory was worth $1.2 million and increased Reef Runner’s earnings since last summer to $1,516,675. He has finished first in five of six starts since he returned to racing in August after being gelded.
Sat, 02/14/2026 - 11:38
By Paul Ryding
Caspar Fownes became only the fourth trainer in Hong Kong racing history to reach 1,200 wins at Sha Tin on Saturday (14 February), a milestone achieved as he landed a double to move level at the top of the 2025/26 trainers’ championship.
On the day Fownes joined an elite group of trainers to pass the 1,200 mark, which includes John Moore, John Size and Tony Cruz, he now sits level at the top of the 2025/26 trainer standings with Mark Newnham on 35 wins. David Hayes is one back on 34.
Al Haram closed from near the rear of a 14-runner field to run down game pacesetting American shipper Obliteration and win the Saudi Derby by 1 1/4 lengths on Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.
Saudi-based Al Haram, an Ireland-bred son of Iffraaj and Liberamente, by Tagula, now is unbeaten after four starts having won his two previous outings by about 12 combined lengths. Thamer Aldaihani trains Al Haram and Ricardo Ferreira piloted him to victory in Saturday’s $1.5 million contest.
Sat, 02/14/2026 - 10:57
A tardy start could not keep the California-based Imagination from a brilliant win in Saturday’s Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia.
Ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Bob Baffert, Imagination (who paid $3.60 in American pools) closed with a wide rally to win the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint by three-quarters of a length over the Florida shipper Just Beat the Odds, a 20-1 chance.
The Riyadh Dirt Sprint, at six furlongs, was the first start for Imagination since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar in November.
By Paul Ryding
The trainers’ championship battle intensifies at Sha Tin on Saturday (14 February), where leader Mark Newnham seeks to maintain his advantage as the leading rivals for the handlers’ crown close in at the top.
Newnham has celebrated winners at the past two Sha Tin meetings, but just four wins separate a quartet of leading trainers currently, and Newnham’s lead over David Hayes has been reduced to just one win (35-34) after a stellar opening to 2026 for last season’s championship runner-up.
Forever Young hard to knock in any way
I’ve had a fairly quiet winter, so it’s nice to get out to Riyadh for five rides at The Saudi Cup meeting.
There’s a lot of prize money at stake and some good international competition. Fingers crossed we can get amongst it.
King Abdulaziz | Race 5: G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint
DON AMITIE was disappointing on his last start and will have to run a career best to challenge in this.
If you put a line through that then he could run respectably, but it still looks a fairly big ask.
Thu, 02/12/2026 - 13:09
By Paul Ryding
David Hayes calls the legendary Silent Witness “the first great sprinter” and “the best he ever saw”, and delights in having a horse that has equalled his incredible feat of 17 straight victories.
The Australian Racing Hall of Fame trainer said it would be a “great thrill” to surpass the Hong Kong hero as his charge, Ka Ying Rising, enters final preparations in the bid to claim a Hong Kong record 18th consecutive win in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) on Sunday, 22 February.
The world’s richest horse race doubled as last year’s most exciting horse race.
Forever Young, the Japan-based standout who wound up as North America’s champion older-male dirt horse of 2025, fought back in deep stretch to nail the Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior, who had sailed to the lead at the head of the homestretch, the winner’s share of $20 million on the line.
The chances of a second straight spine-tingling Saudi showdown? Not great. The chance that Forever Young wins another Saudi Cup on Saturday? Very strong.
The rapidly-improving Tentryis, a Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old, meets older horses for the first time in Saturday’s Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia.
Tentryis was the 7-5 favorite in early betting on Wednesday, and will start against seven others that include the seven-time stakes winner Giga Kick, the Group 1 winner Baraqiel and another leading 3-year-old in Beiwacht.
All of those runners will start for the first time this year in the $713,100 Lightning Stakes, run on a straightaway five-furlong course.