At the beginning of the year, the durable Australian-bred The Regiment would not have been considered for a race such as Sunday’s Stawell Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles.
The Regiment ended a busy 2020 campaign with a win in a minor handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Geelong Racecourse near Melbourne, but had been racing in lower-class campaign through a season that included two wins in 17 races.
It took a loss to a Horse of the Year to derail the unbeaten record of the Japanese star 3-year-old Contrail last year.
The winner of the 2020 Triple Crown in that country, Contrail was second by 1 1/4 lengths to Almond Eye in the Grade 1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse last November, his only setback in eight starts.
Sir Dragonet won the most prestigious race of his career in the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse on Oct. 24 in his Australia debut, a triumph the Irish-bred has yet to duplicate.
In four subsequent starts, all in high-profile races, Sir Dragonet was sixth in the famous Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse last November and is winless in three starts this year, the most recent of which was a fourth in a very good running of the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on March 27.
Last March, Kristalove won for the first time in her third start in a seven-furlong maiden race for 3-year-olds at Ballarat.
This year, the races have been longer and the results similar. After finishing third by less than three-quarters of a length in a one-mile race Feb. 17, Kristalove won her second start of 2021 in a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Canberra Racecourse on March 7, leading throughout.
Her front-running ability will be tested in a handicap at 1 5/16 miles on Thursday at Gosford Racecourse.
Paul Lally
Race1: 5-1-10-4
Race2: 2-8-4-5
Race3: 1-4-12-10
Race4: 2-9-8-4
Race5: 8-10-5-2
Race6: 2-11-8-3
Race7: 10-5-1-11
Race8: 10-5-1-12
Race9: 2-3-10-1
Best Bet Race8 10 Moeraki
Longshot Race3 1 Colonel
Play Race8 QQP 1-5-10
:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, analysis, replays, and live streaming
Tom Wood
This is not a standard Wednesday night’s racing in Hong Kong. The venue is not Happy Valley, the usual Wednesday site, and the surface is not turf, as this mid-week, nine-race program is hosted at Sha Tin, the entire card to be run on dirt.
The feature, a Class 2 handicap for horses rated 105-80, is carded for 1,650 meters, one lap around the course, and goes as the last of nine races. The race drew 11 entrants and looks competitive.
The addition of blinkers appeared to aid the 4-year-old filly Phemonoe when she won for the first time in more than 13 months in a handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Hawkesbury Racecourse in Australia on March 16.
A low weight assignment of 124.5 pounds in a seven-furlong handicap at Warwick Farm Racecourse in Sydney on Wednesday could give Phemonoe a fourth career win in her 12th start.
Mystic Guide came out of his Dubai World Cup win in good shape, heads back to the U.S. with the rest of the American shippers this week, and will be pointed toward a late summer and fall campaign, trainer Mike Stidham said Monday.
