Paul Lally:
R1: 7-6-5-4
R2: 7-3-1-10
R3: 2-4-3
R4: 3-4-1-2
R5: 2-1-8-4
R6: 2-11-3-4
R7: 1-11-12-5
R8: 8-1-5-7
R9: 11-2-10-7
R10: 1-3-4-2
R11: 12-1-3-2
Best Bet R6 N2 Massive Action
Longshot R8 N8 Victory Park
Play Race8 QQP 1-5-8
Tom Wood:
R1: 7-4-1-6
R2: 3-7-5-10
R3: 2-1-3-5
R4: 3-4-1-2
R5: 2-1-8-5
R6: 2-3-11-7
R7: 11-10-1-12
R8: 1-5-2-7
R9: 7-2-1–6
Short fields are rare in Hong Kong racing, but Sunday’s Group 3, $370,000 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap at Sha Tin lured only five entrants.
There’s a reason for the lack of interest: The Queen Mother Memorial is run over 2,400-meters, about 1 1/2 miles, and there just aren’t true many 1 1/2-mile horses in Hong Kong.
Safe Secret, who will start favored in a sprint handicap at Bendigo Racecourse in Australia on Sunday, is hardly the same gelding this year as he was in 2021.
In his lone start last year, Safe Secret finished 10th of 12 in a maiden race at Bendigo in his career debut. On April 10, Safe Secret returned after a layoff of nearly a year to win a five-furlong maiden race at Echuca Racecourse by an easy 3 3/4 lengths as the 3-4 favorite.
Winning Group 2 or Grade 2 races has not been an issue for the Japanese 5-year-old Deep Bond in the last two years, with victories in four such races.
The Group 1 or Grade 1 races have been more elusive, with two second-place finishes in six attempts.
Last May, Deep Bond was second in the Grade 1 spring running of the Tenno Sho at two miles at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan, finishing three-quarters of a length behind World Premiere, who set a track record of 3:14.70.
Five times in the last six years trainer Aidan O’Brien has won the 1000 Guineas in England, and on Sunday at Newmarket a filly named Tuesday could make it six for seven.
O’Brien has two for the 1000 Guineas, a straight-course mile, and his other runner, Tenebrism, held fixed-odds market favoritism with British bookmakers as of Friday. Tenebrism makes her first start as a 3-year-old after ending her 2-year-old campaign winning the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes over a straight six furlongs at Newmarket.
Through a current four-race winning streak, the Australian filly My Whisper has raced at increasingly longer distances.
A maiden race winner at six furlongs at the start of the streak in February, My Whisper won her stakes debut in the Group 3 Auraria Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, Australia, on April 9, closing from seventh of 11.
Charlie Appleby has driven a global Godolphin resurgence the last several seasons. Two of the last four years, with Masar in 2018 and Adayar in 2021, Appleby trained an English Derby winner for Godolphin. In North America last year, Appleby went 15-8-2-1 in graded stakes, culminating with three Breeders’ Cup winners.
For all the success, Appleby never has won the English 2000 Guineas, a hole in his résumé expected to be filled Saturday on the Newmarket heath.
Yibir, the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, will be heavily favored to win the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on Friday at Newmarket in England.
The Jockey Club apparently is a stepping-stone race for Yibir, who was a fast-closing second in the Group 1 Sheema Classic on March 26 at Meydan and whose connections have said since that time they’re aiming him for the $700,000, Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes on May 14 at Belmont. Yibir won the Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes last Sept. 18 at Belmont in advance of his BC Turf victory.
The Australian filly Audette won her first three starts in rapid succession from mid-March to mid-April in sprints ranging from five furlongs to about 6 1/2 furlongs.
Even with the success, her official handicap rating has risen modestly, putting the filly in a good position for a fourth win in a handicap for fillies and mares at 7 3/4 furlongs at Muswellbrook Racecourse on Friday.
