A high weight assignment and a seven-race losing streak will prevent some bettors from supporting Dubai Nights in a six-furlong handicap at Lismore Racecourse in Australia on Thursday evening.
But a troubled trip last month, and an expected pace to follow at Lismore, can help Dubai Nights win for the second time in his ninth start in a race restricted to colts, gelding and horses.
An extraordinary 2022/23 Hong Kong horse racing season ended in remarkable fashion on Sunday, 16 July at Sha Tin Racecourse and reinforced Hong Kong’s world-class racing with history-making performances of outstanding horses, trainers and jockeys.
Following two subpar performances to begin her 4-year-old campaign, the filly Nashwa bounced back in a big way winning the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes on Friday at Newmarket in England.
Coming strongly between horses under Hollie Doyle with a furlong and a half to run in the one mile straight-course contest, Nashwa drew powerfully clear to post a five-length win over the the capable 3-year-old filly Remarquee, who got nine pounds from the winner. Heavily favored Via Sistina was no match for Nashwa while finishing third.
Shaquille gave Julie Camacho the first Group 1 win of her career when he captured the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and is the early favorite to provide the trainer with her second on Saturday at Newmarket in the July Cup.
Shaquille beat 12 fellow 3-year-olds going a straight six furlongs over good to firm going at Ascot winning the Commonwealth last month and will have eight rivals, including older horses, going a straight six furlongs over ground termed good to firm as of Thursday.
The Australian filly Vienna Princess will be a popular selection to win for the second time in three starts in a seven-furlong handicap at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Friday evening.
Vienna Princess won a handicap for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on June 17, closing from seventh in a field of 13. A similar closing style ended with a sixth-place finish by a length in a handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on July 1.
Nashwa, a two-time Group 1 winner last year at age 3, has not looked like the same horse in two starts this season, and she might not even be the best hope in her stable for the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes on Friday at Newmarket.
Nashwa runs for co-trainers John and Thady Gosden, as does the progressive 3-year-old Coppice, who gets nine pounds from her older female rivals in the one-mile, straight course Falmouth.
Smart Image has compiled an impressive record of six wins in seven starts against lower-level competition in Australia, since he was transferred to trainers Trevor and Peter Rowe late last year.
The string of appearances in modest races ends to an extent when, Smart Image runs in the Newmarket Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Mackay Racecourse in the far northeast of the country Thursday evening.
Zoumon has found his niche in marathon cup races in Australia in the last month.
Wins in the McKell Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Rosehill Gardens on June 17 and the Caloundra Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Sunshine Coast on July 1 have made Zoumon the favorite to record a third consecutive victory in the $133,000 Grafton Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Grafton Racecourse on Wednesday evening.
Zoumon will be favored in a field of 13 and is expected to take his customary position at the front of the field, a tactic that has worked in his last two starts.
