Tom Wood:
R1: 3-2-6-5
R2: 12-2-1-7
R3: 2-4-5-8
R4: 6-2-9-12
R5: 3-6-9-5
R6: 1-12-3-4
R7: 1-3-11-6
R8: 2-1-3-7
BEST: R8 N2 CARROLL STREET (WIN)
VALUE: R4 N6 STAR OF WUYI (EW)
PLAY: R8 QQP 1,2,3
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Caspar Fownes and John Size battled for the 2020-21 Hong Kong training title, Fownes coming out on top with 79 winners, seven more than Size. The 2021-22 Hong Kong season is nearly two months old and this term Fownes and Size are tied for 13th in the training ranks; Fownes has gone 4 for 95 and Size is 4 for 87.
A significant weight break and the benefit of a recent start may help the 7-year-old gelding Skelm end a four-race losing streak in Wednesday’s $94,000 Kyneton Cup at Kyneton Cup Racecourse in Australia.
The Kyneton program comes at an interesting time in the Australian racing week. The Melbourne Cup is Tuesday at Flemington Racecourse. Thursday, the highlight of the nation’s racing is the Group 1 Kennedy Oaks at Flemington.
Efforia avenged a nose loss in the Grade 1 Japanese Derby in May with a victory in his first appearance against older horses in a tough running of the Grade 1 autumn Tenno Sho at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday.
Sent off as the favorite, Efforia ($5.50 in American pools) closed from sixth with a wide rally in a field of 16 to win by a length over the 4-year-old Contrail, a 2-1 chance who swept the 2020 Triple Crown in Japan. Gran Alegria, a five-time Grade 1 winner, finished third at 2-1, beaten 1 1/4 lengths.
The gelding was beaten 25 lengths in his first three starts. When he did win for the first time on a Sunday in April, at Sunshine Coast Racecourse near Brisbane, Australia, no one could have realized how much he would accomplish in the next six months.
Incentivise has won nine consecutive races in Australia, including three Group 1 races in the last two months, and was the 8-5 favorite on Sunday in a field of 24 for Tuesday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup at two miles at Flemington Racecourse.
Paul Lally:
R1 2-10-11-4
R2 1-3-7-4
R3 8-7-1-4
R4 1-5-9-2
R5 6-8-10-7
R6 10-2-12-1
R7 1-3-6-7
R8 9-6-11-2
R9 9-7-12-4
R10 7-3-2-4
Best Bet R6 N10 Ernest Feeling
Longshot R8 N9 Fortune Master
Play Race6 QQP 2-10-12
Tom Wood:
R1: 2-4-1-5
R2: 3-2-1-4
R3: 7-3-4-5
R4: 1-5-9-2
R5: 11-7-9-8
R6: 10-1-3-2
R7: 1-6-8-4
R8: 6-2-7-10
R9: 8-4-3-1
R10: 3-2-1-7
It took six races, but the Australian gelding Strad finally won a maiden race at Mornington Racecourse outside of Melbourne on Oct. 7.
The way Strad closed from off the pace to record a convincing win by 2 1/2 lengths in the five-furlong race suggests he can win consecutive races for the first time in his career in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at Ballarat Racecourse on Monday.
The Ballarat program is the most prominent card in Australia on Monday, a day before the famous Melbourne Cup program at Flemington Racecourse.
Art Cadeau is unbeaten in four starts in Australia this year, including in three lucrative restricted races.
Sunday’s $150,400 Goulburn Cup at Goulburn Racecourse is an open race, and will test Art Cadeau’s ability against a different group of horses at a seven-furlong distance the gelding has shown to like.
Bizarro week in Hong Kong racing continues with a Sunday card at Happy Valley.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club turned the standard racing schedule on its head this week, with the Wednesday program, typically run at Happy Valley, held at Sha Tin. And this Sunday’s card, nearly always hosted at Sha Tin, will be run at Happy Valley.
Featured is race 2, a Class 2 handicap for horses rated 100-80 and carded for five furlongs on turf, a one-turn race at Happy Valley.