The Hong Kong racing circuit may have a new leading rider by the end of the weekend.
Leading rider Joao Moreira will miss the next two days of racing – Wednesday at Happy Valley and Sunday at Sha Tin – for causing interference in a race at Sha Tin on May 12. The stewards in Hong Kong often issue suspensions to be served several weeks after an infraction.
The Kentucky-bred colt Mozu Ascot scored an upset win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen for turf milers at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan, beating a field that included seven Grade 1 winners.
With the win, Mozu Ascot earned a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
A 14-1 chance, Mozu Ascot overcame a touch of trouble in the first half-mile to race in midpack entering the stretch. In the final furlong, Mozu Ascot rallied between horses to win by a neck over 9-1 Aerolithe.
The 3-year-old colt Study of Man has made quick study of the racing game. In just his fourth career start and first at the Group 1 level he captured the Prix du Jockey Club by a half-length on Sunday at Chantilly, beating 15 rivals and giving trainer Pascal Bary his sixth win in the French version of the Derby.
Masar in his young life already has traveled from England to California for the Breeders’ Cup and gone on to Dubai for a failed dirt experiment this winter at Meydan Racecourse. And on Saturday, back in England, he took Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the driving force behind Godolphin, to the pinnacle of the mountain, winning the Epsom Derby by 1 1/2 lengths.
There are 16 runners in Sunday’s Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen for turf milers at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan. Seven of them have won Grade 1 races and that list does not include all the leading contenders.
The Grade 1 winners Suave Richard and Persian Knight were first and second in the Grade 1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin Racecourse on April 1, but must contend with runners such as Western Express, who was second in the Group 1 Champions Mile in Hong Kong on April 29, and Sungrazer, the winner of the Grade 2 Yomiuri Milers Cup at Kyoto on April 22.
Olmedo is the mild favorite to win the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club, or French Derby, on Sunday at Chantilly, but there are 16 others in the race, several of whom appear to have decent claims.
Olmedo merits respect, having been first or second in all five of his starts. Group 1-placed at 2, he was nipped by Wootton in the Prix de Fontainebleau in his 3-year-old debut but avenged that defeat in winning the French 2000 Guineas, where Wootton went unplaced, in his most recent start.
Cracksman had to work to catch the longshot Salouen to record his fifth consecutive stakes win in Friday’s Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom Downs in England, while Forever Together benefited from a clean trip to win for the first time in the Group 1 English Oaks later on the program.
Aidan O’Brien’s bid to win the Kentucky Derby ended badly, with Mendelssohn beating zero of 19 rivals on the first Saturday in May. The first Saturday in June is a different story. O’Brien already has won the Epsom Derby six times and has five chances to win number seven in Saturday’s Group 1 race at Epsom Downs.
SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, June 3, 2018)
:: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis
RACE 1: #4 Viva Council, #1 Leisured Feet, #9 Magic Success, #6 Hinyuen Swiftness
RACE 2: #8 The Joy Of Giving, #7 Rock The Tree, #6 Sweet Bean, #4 Fortune Giggles
RACE 3: #6 Destin, #9 Blitzing, #7 Bellagio, #3 Goodluck Goodluck
