The $249,603 Hoi Ha Handicap at about a mile and 50 yards at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong on Wednesday will be the longest race Fat Turtle has run in.

The 4-year-old gelding may have a silly name, but he has a fine race record with four wins from 10 career starts, all in Australia and Hong Kong. There are clues the distance will suit Fat Turtle.

Coronet lost the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud one year ago by a nose, but in Sunday’s 2019 renewal of this Group 1 fixture at Saint-Cloud racecourse she won it by a head.

Touched off at the finish by Waldgeist last summer, Coronet was up late under Frankie Dettori, catching longshot Ziyad just before the finish with Lah Ti Dar, Coronet’s John Gosden-trained stablemate, just a nose farther back in third.

Rising 3-year-olds Thanks Forever and Big Party at the most interesting entrants in the featured Hong Kong Reunification Cup on a rare Monday card at Sha Tin.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Monday, July 1)

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

Brett Davis

R1: 1-5-9-12

R2: 3-9-13-4

R3: 9-1-2-7

R4: 10-1-14-12

R5: 4-3-11-2

R6: 8-2-6-12

R7: 5-7-3-8

R8: 10-13-7-2

R9: 12-4-2-9

R10: 7-10-3-4

Best Bet – R3: #9 Excel Delight  

Longshot – R4: #10 Hurricane Hunter

Best Play – R8: Quin 10 / 7,13

Paul Lally

R1: 1-2-8-5

Sovereign appeared to be a pace-maker for his superior Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemates Anthony Van Dyck and Broome but instead led from start to finish posting a major upset in the Group 1 Irish Derby on Saturday at The Curragh.

It could be ladies’ day Sunday at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in France, where the featured Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud sports a trio of females who might have a better chance than the four males entered in the 1 1/2-mile fixture.

Trainer John Gosden has sent two horses for the race, 5-year-old Coronet and 4-year-old Lah Ti Dar, while French trainer Andre Fabre has the streaking Morgan Le Faye entered.

Iridessa, soundly beaten in two Group 1 races for 3-year-old fillies at a mile earlier this year in England and Ireland, won the longest race of her career and first start against older fillies and mares in Friday’s Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh Racecourse in Ireland.

Ridden by Wayne Lordan for Joseph O’Brien, Iridessa (8-1) was third in a field of five for the first mile and took the lead in the final furlong of the $341,550 race at 1 1/4 miles to win by 2 1/4 lengths over 9-2 Magic Wand.

Among trainer Aidan O’Brien’s six winners of the Derby at Epsom before this year, four returned to capture the Irish Derby, and on Saturday at The Curragh, Anthony Van Dyck, winner of the 2019 Derby, will try to follow Galileo, High Chaparral, Camelot, and Australia with an O’Brien Derby double.

Rival connections will hope Anthony Van Dyck instead emulates Ruler of The World, who was fifth in the Irish Derby after winning the English Derby, and Wings of Eagles, who scored a massive upset at Epsom before coming in third at The Curragh while suffering a career-ending injury.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Monday, July 1, 2019)

Race 1: #1 Victoriam, #5 Master Galaxy, #2 Lucky Guy, #6 Max Glenealy

Race 2: #3 Keep Winning, #9 Mi Blanco, #4 Above, #6 Whampoa Star

Race 3: #2 Dancing Fighter, #10 Holee Money, #1 Super Junior, #11 Iron King

Race 4: #2 Home Run, #8 Shamport, #4 Gracious Ryder, #1 Beauty Loyal

Race 5: #3 Touch Of Luck, #4 Enfolding, #12 Deal Maker, #6 Hay Run

Wild Illusion and Magic Wand, second and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs last November, meet for the first time this year in Friday’s Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes for fillies and mares at The Curragh Racecourse in Ireland.

The $341,550 Pretty Polly Stakes is run at 1 1/4 miles and is the leading race for older females at The Curragh. The race could have ramifications for the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.