A trio of Class 3 handicaps top a nine-race card on Wednesday at Happy Valley Racecourse, but the Hong Kong circuit this week revolves around a trio of Group 1 races Sunday at Sha Tin.
This is the last major card of the Hong Kong racing season, featuring the $3.22 million QE II Cup over 2,000 meters, the $2.58 million Champions Mile, and the $2.32 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize over 1,200 meters.
Shibli, a maiden race winner in France in 2020, will have his second start in Australia in a handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park in Sydney on Wednesday after a promising debut in that country earlier this month.
Trained by Chris Waller, Shibli finished fifth in a six-furlong handicap at Canterbury on April 7, closing from seventh in a field of 10 to miss by about three-quarters of a length.
Deep Monster is the unexposed runner to fear in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas at Nakayama Racecourse.
Danon the Kid, the champion 2-year-old male of 2020, and the undefeated Efforia are expected to dominate the betting, but there is much to like about Deep Monster, a winner of 3 of 4 starts.
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There’s nothing in his form or pedigree suggesting Kurpany is a dirt horse, but Caspar Fownes, vying for leading trainer this Hong Kong season, sees fit to try Kurpany in the dirt feature Saturday at Sha Tin and leading rider Joao Moreira is set to ride the horse.
The Australian colt Heart of Puissance was given an ambitious assignment in the $3.5 million All-Star Mile in March 2020, predictably finishing last of 15 at 90-1.
The goals are more realistic this year, and the success rate is higher. Heart of Puissance, a Southern Hemisphere 4-year-old, won for the third time in his nine-race career in a handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Warwick Farm on March 31.
Paul Lally:
R1 11-8-4-1
R2 8-2-1-4
R3 10-2-9-3
R4 2-8-3-4
R5 7-10-2-5
R6 8-3-10-7
R7 9-10-7-11
R8 5-6-4-8
R9 5-1-3-7
R10 4-3-11-1
Best Bet R10 N4 Juneau Park
Longshot R5 N7 London Luckystar
Play R10 QQP 3-4-11
Tom Wood:
R1: 1-8-4-6
R2: 8-2-1-4
R3: 6-5-4-1
R4: 2-3-4-1
R5: 1-10-2-8
R6: 3-10-4-7
R7: 9-10-7-4
R8: 1-5-4-8
R9: 5-1-3-4
R10:1-4-10-3
The fourth Group 1 showdown between the English gelding Addeybb and the Australian mare Verry Elleegant in Saturday’s $3.09 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse may favor the visitor.
In March and April of 2020, Addeybb beat Verry Ellegant in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the same distance.
If a horse based in Japan wins the Belmont Stakes, the horse’s connections will earn a $1 million bonus, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
This same bonus had been in effect from 2017 through 2019 but was not offered last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
