SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, October 26, 2022) 

Ask Victor More struggled in the first two races of the Japanese Triple Crown in the spring, but gave a record-breaking performance in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese St. Leger at Hanshin Racecourse.

Ask Victor More ($9.90) ran 1 7/8 miles in course-record time of 3:02.40, finishing a nose in front of 12-1 Boldog Hos. Justin Palace (10-1) finished third, while 6-5 favorite Gaia Force could finish only eighth in a field of 18.

The previous course record was 3:02.50. The stakes record for the Japanese St. Leger is 3:01 from when the race was held at Kyoto Racecourse in 2014.

Walkin’talkin’ is the sort of gelding handy enough to lead or race near the front.

Those tactics will help apprentice jockey Julia Presits when she rides the 4-year-old Walkin’talkin’ in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at Hawkesbury Racecourse near Sydney, Australia, on Monday evening across American time zones.

Walkin’talkin’ won from a stalking position in a similar race at Hawkesbury on Sept. 22 in his first start in three months, racing near the front and winning by about a neck.

Anamoe won his fifth Group 1 race of 2022, and by far his most important, in Saturday’s $3.13 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, the country’s leading weight-for-age race.

Second in a controversial running of the 2021 Cox Plate, there was no drama this year that needed attention from track stewards.

It took a few starts, and a key barn change, before Visinari was successful in Australian racing earlier this year.

Visinari lost his first two races in the country last year when trained by Sam Kavanagh, but has won 4 of 6 starts this year for trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr. The current successful campaign includes Visinari’s Australian stakes debut in The Headquarters Stakes at seven furlongs at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Oct. 1.

When the first two races of the Japanese Triple Crown were run in April and May, Gaia Force was only a maiden race winner. When the third race in the series is run on Sunday, Gaia Force will be the center of attention.

The $2.22 million Japanese St. Leger, run at 1 7/8 miles at Hanshin Racecourse, will be the Grade 1 debut for Gaia Force, who has won 3 of 5 starts. The colt, by Deep Impact, reached prominence with a win in the Grade 2 St. Lite Kinen at 1 3/8 miles at Nakayama Racecourse on Sept. 19, his graded stakes debut.

Saturday stakes racing in England and France is all about 2-year-olds as the European flat racing season winds to a close.  

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, October 23, 2022)

The last time the Australian gelding Raoul returned from a layoff, he won a maiden race at Scone Racecourse in September 2021.

Raoul will race at Scone for the first time since that race in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs on Thursday evening across American time zones. This time, Raoul will be returning from an 11-month layoff at a track he knows and at a distance that should work for his return.

Anamoe had a rough outing in the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Australia last October, losing by a short head after being carried out by winner State of Rest in the final strides.

A 25-minute objection did not change the outcome in what turned out to be Anamoe’s final start of a 2021 season that included two Group 1 wins.

This year, Anamoe has four Group 1 wins in Australia and will be favored to secure a fifth in Saturday’s $3.13 million Cox Plate at 1 1/4 miles in Melbourne. The Cox Plate is Australia’s leading weight-for-age race.