Highland Fortune went winless during a 10-start 2020-21 Hong Kong racing season but has found a good spot in the featured ninth race Wednesday at Happy Valley to break a losing streak.
One of a dozen runners entered in a Class 2 handicap over 1,650 meters, Highland Fortune has a recency edge on most of his rivals, positional pace to work out a favorable trip from a good draw, and a very manageable impost of 116 pounds.
Agrimony will have his Australia debut in a handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney on Wednesday.
Agrimony won a maiden race at about a mile in his third career start at Gowran Park in Ireland in May. Later that month, Agrimony was ninth of 11 in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh later and then seventh of eighth in the Nijinsky Stakes at Leopardstown in his final start in that country on June 3.
A colt by Pivotal, Agrimony is one of three runners in the Rosehill Gardens handicap trained by Chris Waller and a well-regarded starter.
Pixie Knight, a well-beaten sixth in his Grade 1 debut at a mile earlier this year, won the richest and most prestigious race of his career in Sunday’s Grade 1 Sprinters’ Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan, easily beating a field of prominent older horses.
In the $2.27 million Sprinters’ Stakes, Pixie Knight ($13.10 in American pools) stalked the pace to the final quarter-mile before pulling away to win by two lengths over 7-5 favorite Resistencia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2019 in Japan.
The Enzo will have his 42nd career start in a seven-furlong handicap at Mildura Racecourse in Australia on Tuesday.
The small track in the state of Victoria is a relatively new venue for a veteran such as The Enzo, who has won four times in a career that began in 2017.
The 5-year-old horse Space Blues is based with trainer Charlie Appleby in England but has done much of his best work in France, where he was an impressive two-length winner of the Group 1 Prix de la Foret on Sunday.
Held up by William Buick near the back of a 15-runner field, Space Blues came smoothly into contention with a wide homestretch move, bursting into the clear in the final furlong and going on to a two-length victory over Pearls Galore.
Rougir won the tightest of photos over Grand Glory to win the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera on the Arc undercard Sunday at Longchamp.
Tepidly favored Audarya, winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, made the lead in hand past the quarter pole but had no final punch over a heavy course, fading to fourth. Eudaimonia finished third.
Race favorites Tarnawa and Hurricane Lane ran to form in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday at Longchamp. The German 4-year-old Torquator Tasso did not, storming past those two in the dying strides to post a 71-1 upset in the 100th Arc.
Saffron Beach notched her first Group 1 success Saturday at Newmarket with a sharp victory in the Sun Chariot Stakes.
Going straight to the lead under William Buick, Saffron Beach poured it on through the final furlong to post a three-length win over favored Mother Earth, the 1000 Guineas winner this past May, in this one-mile contest.
