HONG KONG - The 2017-18 Hong Kong season is winding down at the wrong time for Pakistan Star, who won Sunday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse.
Pakistan Star ran the best race of his career in the $3.059 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf. He stalked the pace while racing in third, and rallied in the final furlong to score by a convincing three lengths over a field that includes two Japanese shippers and a strong cast of locally based runners.
HONG KONG - Beauty Generation completed a sweep of Hong Kong’s two leading mile races with a win in Sunday’s Champions Mile at Sha Tin. His victory on Sunday, and in the Hong Kong Mile on the prestigious international program last December, may lead to a Horse of the Year title.
HONG KONG - On his best behavior, Pakistan Star won the most important race of his career in Sunday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse.
On April 8, Pakistan Star landed on the Hong Kong steward’s list for an incident in the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy at Sha Tin when he pulled himself up midway through the race, only to resume running in the latter stages of the race. Pakistan Star finished fourth.
HONG KONG - Ivictory is a young horse getting better fast.
Showing his ability in an international race, Ivictory won his group stakes debut in Sunday’s Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin Racecourse over the proven stakes winners Mr Stunning and Beat the Clock.
The first three finishers are trained by John Size.
HONG KONG - Beauty Generation gave jockey Zac Purton a scare in the first strides of Sunday’s Group 1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin Racecourse.
Typically, Beauty Generation is reliable away from the gate, but on Sunday the 5-year-old gelding was not as sharp.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Purton said.
Within a furlong, Purton had Beauty Generation in front. By then, the chasing field of seven locally based runners was overmatched.
HONG KONG – Al Ain, the Japanese Grade 1 winner, had a somewhat routine training session at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Saturday. After his antics on Thursday, a quiet day was considered progress in his preparation for Sunday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
On Thursday, Al Ain was out of the quarantine stable for nearly an hour for a training session that could be politely described as a debacle. He was reluctant to gallop on several occasions – first on the exterior turf course and later on the infield dirt track.
HONG KONG – About 12 hours after he was withdrawn from the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan Racecourse on March 31 because of blood in a nostril, Blue Point was back in action at trainer Charlie Appleby’s base in Dubai.
Blue Point was favored to win the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint and was scratched behind the gate at seemingly the last minute. The setback has resulted in Blue Point being sent to Hong Kong for Sunday’s Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at six furlongs on turf.
HONG KONG – By mid-April of 2017, Joao Moreira had ridden 134 winners during the Hong Kong season, an amazing 64 victories more than closest pursuer Zac Purton.
A year later, there is quite a competition between the two.
Approaching Sunday’s 10-race program at Sha Tin Racecourse, which includes three seven-figure Group 1 turf races, Moreira has won 97 races, seven more than Purton.
The standings tightened Wednesday when Purton won five of eight races at Happy Valley Racecourse. The jockey title may not be decided until the Hong Kong season ends in July.
In the last two years, Cheval Grand has finished third and second in the Grade 1 Tenno Sho at two miles at Kyoto Racecourse in Japan, losing both times to Kitasan Black. Sunday, Cheval Grand will be favored to win the $2.66 million Tenno Sho, a race that conveniently will not include his rival, who is now at stud.
The two met as recently as December, when Kitasan Black and Cheval Grand were first and third in the Grade 1 Arima Kinen, the final big race in Japan each year.
