By Paul Ryding
Caspar Fownes needs a strong showing from one of the leading lights of his stable in Sunday’s (12 October) feature race at Sha Tin, as he looks to stop Mark Newnham pulling away in the trainers’ championship race.
The 58-year-old handler fields two runners in the Class 2 Shing Mun Handicap (1200m): Dancing Code (130lb), owned by Cantopop icon Aaron Kwok, and Sky Trust (121lb), a last-start winner.
Gewan rebounded from a disappointing fourth in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse on Sept. 13 to record a 24-1 upset in Saturday’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes for 2-year-old colts and fillies at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
Gewan was always near the front in a field of nine in the seven-furlong race. Ridden by James Doyle, Gewan (who paid $51.30 in American pools) took the lead with a quarter-mile remaining on the straightaway course and won by three-quarters of a length over Gstaad, the 7-5 favorite.
Jockey Christophe Soumillon knew exactly what he had underneath him in the filly Precise. Riding patiently from the back of a 10-runner field, Soumillon subtly brought Precise into contention with less than three furlongs remaining in the Group 1 Fillies' Mile on Friday at Newmarket, and when Soumillon asked, Precise went off with a bang. Drawing quickly clear, Precise won the straight-course mile at Newmarket by 3 1/4 lengths over longshot Venetian Lace.
Saturday’s action at Newmarket is exciting, with some of the best two-year-olds taking each other on and a historic handicap in the shape of the Cesarewitch.
Race 1 | G3 Darley Stakes
Kicking off with the Darley Stakes, where Karl Burke’s Liberty Lane sets a good standard.
He won the Cambridgeshire here last year and is a winner at Listed level, and I think he should be up to winning in this grade too.
He’s possibly not open to further improvement, as we know where he is, but he is the most solid and goes well over this course and distance.
By Leo Schlink
Derek Leung soared into elite company during a meeting of milestones at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (8 October) by becoming only the fourth homegrown Hong Kong, China jockey to reach the 500-win landmark.
Leung, 37, joined Tony Cruz (946), Vincent Ho (612) and Matthew Chadwick (569) as the city’s only homegrown riders to post 500 or more wins when Frankie Lor’s Regal Gem (128lb) triumphed by a short head over Never Too Soon (121lb).
Two weeks after a commanding win in a Group 3 at seven furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse in England, the promising 2-year-old colt Distant Storm returns to the same course for a more prestigious race in Saturday’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.
Distant Storm, trained by Charlie Appleby for Godolphin, was the 6-5 favorite in the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes on Sept. 25, winning by 4 3/4 lengths from off the pace.
The 2-year-old filly Precise, favored in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile on Friday at Newmarket, is already a Group 1 winner. Fellow 2-year-old filly Legacy Link has atop her résumé a win in a minor Haydock Park contest from two career starts. But that Haydock performance stamped her as potential Group 1 material, and Legacy Link can take down Precise and nine others in the Fillies’ Mile.
Paul Lally:
R1 2-9-3-8
R2 6-5-2-1
R3 7-2-5-4
R4 10-4-8-1
R5 1-5-7-4
R6 5-1-6-3
R7 2-8-3-9
R8 7-11-8-12
R9 2-6-5-4
Best Bet R7 N2 Denfield
Longshot R3 N7 Know At Heart
Play R9 QQP 2-5-6
Mark McNamara:
R1: 4.1.2.3
R2: 1.6.2.9
R3: 5.2.1.7
R4: 8.4.1.10
R5: 1.8.3.7
R6: 6.3.1.8
R7: 5.2.1.6
R8: 7.5.4.2
R9: 5.2.7.3
Best Bet: R8 N7 Regal Gem
