Mark Newnham’s stable is home to one of Hong Kong’s most exciting horses and the trainer, a superb winner of 43 races in his second campaign, heads into the Season Finale at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (16 July) already keen on what 2025/26 may have in store.
Newnham said: “As long as I built on last year, I was always going to be happy. I would say it’s probably exceeded expectations as far as being able to win a feature race with My Wish.
The current 2024/25 racing season concludes with Happy Valley’s Season Finale on Wednesday night, 16 July. On the night, racegoers may witness the crowning of the season’s Tony Cruz Award winner and the Champion Griffin award. A Jockeys’ Parade on the night is where fans have the chance to get up close to their favourite riders.
By Leo Schlink
John Size secured a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers’ championship at Sha Tin on Sunday (13 July) as the master trainer embarked on a familiar coronation march with a treble, further burnishing an extraordinary career.
Size sealed the championship with the wins of Sight Dreamer, Raging Rapids and Bundle Award to leave the Australian with 69 wins for the season – beyond the reach of compatriot David Hayes (60) – with only nine races left to be run at Wednesday night’s (16 July) Season Finale at Happy Valley.
Seventeenth last out in the Prix du Jockey Club, Leffard was first past the post Sunday at Longchamp in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris.
Longest shot among six runners on the American tote board, Leffard returned $31.80 after his narrow victory over heavily favored Trinity College in a 3-year-old restricted race.
Six 3-year-olds are entered in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris on Sunday at Longchamp Racecourse, but if established form holds, the race comes down to New Ground and Trinity College.
Trinity College figures favored on the North American tote, in great part because he has run two strong races, but also because Ryan Moore rides him for trainer Aidan O’Brien. New Ground figures a more appealing bet, in great part because he’s already proven to stay the Grand Prix de Paris’s 1 1/2-mile distance.
Paul Lally:
R1: 1-5-7-4
R2: 1-2-5-8
R3: 9-8-2-1
R4: 8-10-12-1
R5: 10-7-5-6
R6: 9-8-14-6
R7: 5-6-10-9
R8: 2-6-5-4
R9: 6-5-11-2
R10: 13-6-3-1
R11: 5-7-4-8
Best Bet: R11 N5 Beauty Bolt
Longshot: R10 N13 We Can Party
Play R6 QQP 8-9-14
Ka Ying Rising’s outstanding performance during the 2024/25 racing season saw the record-breaking speedster earn the Horse of the Year title at a special presentation held at the Grand Ballroom of the Rosewood Hotel in Hong Kong tonight (Friday, 11 July). In addition, he was also named Champion Sprinter and Champion Four-Year-Old at the ceremony.
By Leo Schlink
Clinging to hopes of a late-season miracle, David Hayes has not conceded in the battle with John Size for the 2024/25 Hong Kong trainers’ championship, but admits his faint chances of landing a third title hinge on a string of favourable results at Sha Tin on Sunday (13 July).
Trailing Size by six wins with only two meetings and 20 races left in the season, dual Hong Kong champion trainer Hayes will saddle nine runners across nine races at Sha Tin this weekend, while 12-time champion Size has 12 starters engaged in 10 races.
