By Declan Schuster
Trainer Pierre Ng believes Sagacious Life’s proven stamina will play a decisive role across the remaining legs of the three-race Four-Year-Old Classic Series, with Sunday’s (1 March) HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) at Sha Tin preceding the HK$26 million 149th BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) on 22 March.
Costa Nova cruised to the front in the final sixteenth to win the Grade 1 February Stakes at a mile on dirt at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, becoming the third horse to win Japan’s leading wintertime dirt race for the second time.
With the win, Costa Nova earned a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
The 5-year-old New Zealand-bred, Hong Kong-based gelding Ka Ying Rising won his career debut on Dec. 3, 2023. Back for a second race about a month later, Ka Ying Rising lost by a nose, and 20 days later, Jan. 21, 2024, he was defeated by a similarly narrow margin. Not only has nobody beaten him since, no one has come especially close, and none of his 9 rivals Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse stood anything close to a chance.
By Paul Ryding
Francis Lui saddles three runners in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (22 February) as he attempts to challenge Ka Ying Rising in his bid to win an 18th consecutive race and set a Hong Kong record.
Lui’s in-form stable boasts 14 winners from the last 10 meetings, and a post-New Year surge has seen him climb to fifth in the trainers’ rankings for 2025/26.
By Paul Ryding
Karis Teetan is excited to renew his partnership with Galaxy Patch in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (22 February), almost two years since he last rode the Pierre Ng-trained gelding.
Teetan, one of the most sought-after riders in the jurisdiction, has 23 winners this season and will become the fourth jockey to ride Galaxy Patch in five races this term. Ng will also reapply blinkers to his stable star as he continues his efforts to unlock the eight-time winner’s potential.
By Declan Schuster
Trainer David Hayes takes his chance at history on Sunday afternoon (22 February) at Sha Tin when Ka Ying Rising attempts to win an 18th consecutive race – the most by a Hong Kong-trained horse – in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m), which is carded as Race 8 and will be run at 4.35pm.
There is no clear favorite in Saturday’s Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds at Caulfield Racecourse in Australia just as there no standout in the next race for some of the same runners, the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes on March 21.
The $1.4 million Blue Diamond Stakes is run at six furlongs, the same distance as the $3.51 million Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney, the world’s richest race for 2-year-olds.
In the ninth instalment of The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Road to the Derby series, we look at Mark Newnham’s strong 2025/26 Four-Year-Old Classic Series hand with a focus on HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) runner-up Infinite Resolve.
