SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, June 23)

:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis

Brett Davis

R1: 4-12-8-5

R2: 8-11-2-4

R3: 8-1-6-4

R4: 8-6-9-11

R5: 3-5-4-6

R6: 6-1-12-5

R7: 1-11-9-2

R8: 4-1-7-3

R9: 10-1-2-11

R10: 7-13-14-9

Best Bet – R10: #7 Silver Fig   

Longshot – R5: #4 Super Eighteen

Best Play – R5: Q/Qp 3,4,5

Paul Lally

R1: 1-5-3-8

R2: 2-8-11-12

Blue Point became the first horse since Choisir in 2003 to win the Group 1 King’s Stand and the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee in the same Royal Ascot meeting.

A 1 1/4-length winner of the five-furlong King’s Stand on Tuesday’s opening card of the meeting, Blue Point wheeled back four days later and held on to win the six-furlong Diamond Jubilee by a head over Dream of Dreams. Third place Kachy tore off to a big early lead, Blue Point chasing from second, taking the lead with a furlong left to race, and lunging for the wire just ahead of onrushing Dream Of Dreams.

Without reigning Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye in the field, Sunday’s Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse is wide-open and an excellent betting race with ramifications for major stakes in the fall.

The winner of the $2.7 million Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf will receive a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, provided the horse is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program. More likely, the winner will be rated as a contender for the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on Nov. 24.

Advertise gave Martyn Meade his first career win at Royal Ascot in Friday’s Group 1 Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds at six furlongs, a reprieve from a difficult spring for the trainer based in the countryside west of London.

For jockey Frankie Dettori, Advertise was his 67th career win at the famous flat-racing festival. Through Friday, Dettori had won seven races in the first four days at Royal Ascot, making him well positioned to claim the riding title after Saturday’s final day.

Rise High, the 5-year-old French-bred gelding, got within 1 1/4 lengths of winning his first group stakes in Hong Kong when he finished second in the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse on May 26.

Sent off at 44-1, Rise High rallied from last of nine in the race at 1 1/2 miles to be closest to winning favorite Exultant at the wire.

Stradivarius’s second straight win in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup was jockey Frankie Dettori’s fourth straight win on the Royal Ascot card Thursday.

That’s a photo finish for remarkable accomplishments, though Dettori might have won the head bob. Winning mounts at Europe’s most prestigious race meeting are a precious commodity and four during the entire five-day stand is a good haul. To win four on a day, all in succession, is all but impossible – 449-1, in fact, just in terms of the sheer number of entrants.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, June 23, 2019)

Race 1: #14 Cour Valant, #8 Adonis, #6 Exponents, #5 Starlot

Race 2: #8 Dor Dor, #4 Ho Ho Feel, #6 Sangria, #2 London Hall

Race 3: #8 Flying Thunder, #6 Styling City, #4 Time To Celebrate, #7 Dragon General

Race 4: #8 Supreme Plus, #7 Phenomenal, #11 My Winner, #6 Ezra

Race 5: #5 Chicken Dance, #12 Lightning Treasure, #2 Super Lucky, #3 Sun Sun Fa Fa

Closing day at Royal Ascot could be a big day for Godolphin.

The global racing and breeding powerhouse starts favored Blue Point in the featured Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes, while Masar runs in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes, his first race since winning the 2018 Epsom Derby. Charlie Appleby trains both horses.

A driving rainstorm could not deter Crystal Ocean from recording his first win in a Group 1 race in Wednesday’s $944,475 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England.

Ridden by Frankie Dettori, Crystal Ocean stalked pacesetter Hunting Horn for the first mile and held off a late threat from the favored Magical to win the richest race of the prestigious five-day meeting by 1 1/4 lengths.

The filly Hermosa and colt Ten Sovereigns may give Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien a sweep of the two Group 1 races at Royal Ascot on Friday.

As of Wednesday, Hermosa was even-money in early betting to win her third consecutive Group 1 race in the $631,150 Coronation Stakes at a mile for 3-year-old fillies.