Favorites won the three group stakes for 2-year-olds Saturday at Newmarket Racecourse in England – Wise Approach in most dramatic fashion.
Wise Approach clipped heels and stumbled about two strides into the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, spotting his rivals some five lengths, but still surged to win by three-quarters of a length.
Paul Lally:
R1 8-7-3-12
R2 1-9-13-3
R3 10-8-2-3
R4 1-7-6-10
R5 4-6-2-8
R6 1-4-8-5
R7 3-7-4-12
R8 8-12-6-9
R9 2-4-8-5
R10 14-7-5-2
R11 5-4-14-8
Best Bet R6 N1 Blazing Wukong
Longshot R7 N3 Triumphant More
Play Race11 QQP 4-5-14
By Paul Ryding
Light Years Charm (125lb) steps into rarefied air at Sha Tin on Sunday (28 September) when he competes in Pattern company for the first time in a mouthwatering feature race, the G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m).
The gelding has reached a career-high rating of 100 after a debut campaign in 2024/25 that saw him win four times.
Trainer David Eustace is confident the five-year-old Australian import can give a good account of himself in the biggest race of his young career.
The well-traveled 6-year-old horse Satono Reve can solidify his status as Japan’s leading sprinter against a familiar cast of rivals in Sunday’s Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse.
Satono Reve won the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs at Chukyo Racecourse in Japan in February, beating Namura Clair and Mama Cocha, who are part of the field for the $2.19 million Sprinters Stakes.
Juvenile racing headlines the European scene on Saturday, with Newmarket hosting a pair of Group 1 sprints, the Cheveley Park and the Middle Park. Also carded is the Group 2 Royal Lodge over one mile, a race that regularly has produced Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runners.
Royal Fixation, general antepost favorite at just less than 2-1 as of Thursday, looks like the right filly for the Cheveley Park, the filly-restricted companion race to the Middle Park and, on paper, a stronger heat this year.
By Leo Schlink
Mark Newnham is optimistic My Wish can make a triumphant start to an ambitious 2025/26 campaign when the rising star resumes in the HK$4.2 million G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (28 September).
Newnham orchestrated My Wish’s stunning advance last season when the diminutive gelding progressed from a rating of 54 and Class 4 company to a mark of 105 and standing as a genuine Group 1 contender with four wins, two seconds, two thirds and a fourth from nine starts.
By Declan Schuster
Lucky Sweynesse’s preparation for Sunday’s (28 September) G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) saw the four-time Group 1 winner gallop gracefully over Nakayama’s turf course under beaming sunshine this morning (Wednesday, 24 September) in Tokyo, Japan.
In light of the approach of Super Typhoon Ragasa and the latest forecasts issued by the Hong Kong Observatory, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has decided that the Happy Valley race meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 24 September 2025, will be cancelled.
This decision has been made in the interest of public and equine safety, and to support the operational needs of stakeholders across the racing industry.
By Paul Ryding
An abridged Sha Tin race meeting on Sunday (21 September) was cut short due to the deterioration of the track in torrential rain, but not before Hugh Bowman secured an imposing double that took him to five wins for the season.
The Australian got off to the best possible start after landing the opener in yielding conditions, the Class 5 Kowloon Tsai Handicap (1800m), aboard Hakka Radiance (130lb) for trainer Danny Shum, who moved level with Caspar Fownes at the top of the trainers’ rankings.
