HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, March 17, 2021)

The last time the gelding Petronius won came last May at Warwick Farm Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, and his trainer, John Moore, was in his final months of a decades-long career as a trainer in Hong Kong.

Moore, 70, was not allowed to renew his license in Hong Kong when the 2019-20 season ended there in July because of age limitations. Moore, the all-time leading trainer in Hong Kong, returned to his native Australia and joined his brother Gary in a joint training operation.

For the second consecutive year, a late setback will prevent the star steeplechaser Altior from running in the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham Racecourse in England on Wednesday.

Last year, Altior missed the two-mile race because of a minor injury. Monday, trainer Nicky Henderson announced that Altior will miss the Queen Mother Champion Chase because of a cough. The popular 11-year-old won the race in 2018 and 2019.

Nearly all handicap races in Hong Kong are open to a range of horses, a floor and a ceiling defining the space of eligibility, but not the co-features on the Sunday card at Sha Tin.

These two Class 1 handicaps -- race 2 over 1,600 meters, race 7 at 1,200 meters -- have a bottom but no top, open to any horse rated 95 or higher.

Australia horsemen occasionally fret about the growing influence of European-breds in the famous Melbourne Cup each November.

Horses bred in Great Britain, Germany, or Ireland have won eight of the last 10 runnings of the Melbourne Cup, which was worth $5.55 million in 2020.

The same concerns have not been expressed about European influences on the $96,957 Yarra Valley Cup, which will be run at the small venue in wine country northeast of Melbourne on Sunday.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup steeplechase on March 13, 2020, was the last sporting event of the year before a full audience in Great Britain – and just about anywhere else.

The track announced a crowd of 65,859 attended the seven-race program. When the race is run this Friday, the official attendance will be 0.

The four-day event, which brings together many of the best hurdlers and chasers from Great Britain and Ireland, will be conducted similar to so many thousands of racing and other sporting events worldwide in the last year – behind closed doors because of the pandemic.

Paul Lally:

R1: 6-2-8-3

R2: 2-7-1-4

R3: 5-3-1-10

R4: 3-8-1-4

R5: 1-3-8-2

R6: 11-2-5-7

R7: 7-9-8-1

R8: 2-1-11-9

R9: 3-7-9-11

R10: 2-9-12-1

Best Bet R8 N2 Vukan

Longshot R1 N6 Easy Fortune

Play R1 QQP 6-2-8

Mark McNamara:

R1:  8.2.1.14

R2:  1.2.4.3.

R3:  5.1.3.11

R4:  8.13.3.12

R5:  3.1.8.6

R6:  5.2.7.11

R7:  8.9.1.7

R8:  14.1.2.12

R9:  3.9.7.1

R10:  12.2.1.4

Best Bet – R2 N1 Ka Ying Star

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Saturday, March 13, 2021)

Brookspire is one of the most lightly-raced fillies in Friday’s Group 3 Kembla Grange Classic at Kembla Grange Racecourse in Australia, and a starter with ample promise.

Brookspire has had three starts, winning a maiden race in her second outing on the Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse in December. In her lone start this year on Feb. 17, again on the Kensington course, Brookspire finished with interest to be third in a seven-furlong handicap against fillies and mares by 3 1/2 lengths.

Tacitus has sustained what appears to be a relatively minor injury but one that will keep him from racing March 27 in the Dubai World Cup.

Tacitus finished seventh, beaten more than 15 lengths, in the Saudi Cup on Feb. 20 and was shipped shortly thereafter to Dubai to prepare for the World Cup, which, at 1 1/4 miles around two turns rather than the one-turn 1 1/8 miles in Saudi Arabia, was thought to better fit his capabilities.