HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, December 16, 2020)

Paul Lally:

R1 6-2-11-3

R2 5-12-9-1

R3 10-11-13-12

R4 7-1-4-3

R5 6-2-1-5

R6 5-7-12-9

R7 2-3-6-10

R8 7-1-3-4

R9 3-6-5-1

R10 5-6-12-9

Best Bet R6 N5 Lucky Patch

Longshot R5 N6 Tower Of London

Play QQP Race5 1-2-6

Tom Wood:

R1: 6-2-3-11-10

R2: 5-9-12-1

R3: 8-10-11-13

R4: 1-7-4-3

R5: 2-1-6-4

R6: 7-1-12-5

R7: 2-3-6-10

R8: 2-4-7-1

R9: 3-6-1-5

R10: 12-5-7-9

Aside from looks, the race record of the Japanese 2-year-old filly Sodashi merits attention.

A rare white Thoroughbred, Sodashi is unbeaten in three starts, including two Grade 3 races in September and October. Sunday at Hanshin Racecourse, Sodashi will be favored to win her Grade 1 debut in the $1.2 million Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at a mile on turf.

The race essentially serves as the championship race for the division, and has drawn a full field of 18.

Forgotten Jewel was undefeated in three starts from February to July, racing at tracks in Western Australia.

How that form translates to tougher races in tracks around Melbourne in the state of Victoria will be better known on Sunday when Forgotten Jewel starts in a seven-furlong handicap at Bendigo Racecourse.

Criaderas ran largely to bettors’ expectations with an eight-place finish in the $5.26 million Golden Eagle Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 4-year-olds at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Australia on Oct. 31.

Criaderas was 20-1 in a field of 18 and closed from 15^th to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind winner and stablemate Colette, a filly who has won three stakes. Criaderas had his stakes debut in the Golden Eagle and can win his first race at that level in Saturday’s Group 2 Villiers Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

Win Bright is zero for his last four in Japan, his home base, finishing seventh, eighth, ninth, and 10th in those starts, but when Win Bright has left Japan for Hong Kong, he has been awesome.

He has won the last two major 2,000-meter Hong Kong races that permitted international shippers – the 2019 QE II Cup and the 2019 Hong Kong Cup, both important Group 1’s – and he is back for a repeat bid in the $3.61 million Hong Kong Cup on Sunday at Sha Tin.

Championship-leading jockey Joao Moreira is riding at the peak of his powers with 51 wins this term - 20 clear of his nearest rival - and this Sunday (13 December) at Sha Tin the Brazilian ace will leave no stone unturned in his bid to replicate the heroics which saw him capture two of last year’s four G1 contests at the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races.

“It’s once a year only and even more it’s special now as we can’t travel for other international races so we, as jockeys, have to make sure we do our job at home the best we can,” Moreira said.

By Leo Schlink

David Hayes will attempt to emulate the career-ending Cox Plate glories of retired Australian warhorse Fields Of Omagh when Beauty Generation attempts to annex a third HK$25 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin on Sunday (13 December).

Hayes famously sent Fields Of Omagh into retirement after the nine-year-old snared Australia’s premier G1 weight-for-age contest – the Cox Plate – at Moonee Valley in 2006 to cap his career in a blaze of glory.

By Leo Schlink

Classique Legend will have to defy LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) history after the joint world’s top-rated sprinter drew barrier one in the HK$22 million G1 feature at Sha Tin on Sunday (13 December).

In 14 previous editions of the race, the inside alley on Sha Tin’s “A” course is yet to produce a winner.

The former Australian galloper typically settles midfield – or worse – and, as he demonstrated in the AU$15 million The Everest (1200m) at Randwick Racecourse in October, his best results have come from middle gates.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, December 13, 2020)