By Declan Schuster

Alexis Badel hopes an off-season riding stint in Japan has him well-placed to hit the ground running when the 2025/26 Hong Kong racing season begins this Sunday (7 September) at Sha Tin, where the Frenchman will reunite with trusted partner Beauty Waves for trainer Tony Cruz, aiming to spoil expected favourite Ka Ying Rising’s party in the HK$3.72 million Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m).  

The new racing season will kick off at Sha Tin Racecourse on 7 September, with the Club offering HK$28 million in jackpot prizes, alongside the first-ever HK$80 million Mark Six Season Opening Snowball draw. Customers* will have the chance to win prizes totalling an estimated HK$108 million.

By Declan Schuster

It was business as usual for Ka Ying Rising at Sha Tin this evening (Saturday, 30 August). Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year (2024/25) strode confidently through another eye-catching barrier trial ahead of his highly anticipated return to racing next weekend (Sunday, 7 September) at the 2025/26 Season Opener.

By Declan Schuster

Hong Kong Horse of the Year (2024/25) Ka Ying Rising breezed effortlessly through his first official barrier trial this morning (Friday, 22 August) on Sha Tin’s dirt course ahead of a return to racing on Sunday, 7 September followed by his historic bid to scale the world’s richest turf race in Australia.

Awesome Result, scratched from the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar after failing a vet check, runs for the third time this year in Thursday’s $358,900 Breeders’ Gold Cup in Japan.

Last year, Awesome Result won the Breeders’ Gold Cup by five lengths, a performance that propelled her into contention for the BC Distaff.

A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred mare by Justify, Awesome Result is part of a field of nine in the Breeders’ Gold Cup for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles at Mombetsu Racecourse in Northern Japan.

The 2-year-old filly Venetian Sun remained unbeaten and the 5-year-old mare Quisisana remained unbeaten this year, each winning a Group 1 race Sunday at Deauville Racecourse in France.

Venetian Sun got home by a head over favored Gstaad in the Group 1 Prix Morny, running her mark to four wins from four starts for England-based trainer Karl Burke. Venetian’s Sun jockey, Clifford Lee, scored his first Group 1 victory as Venetian Sun stepped up from Group 2 and Group 3 victories to capture the Morny, run over a straight six furlongs.

Wesley Ward does not mess around when it comes to the Prix Morny.

Ward has sent four runners to the Group 1 2-year-old fixture at Deauville: No Nay Never, Lady Aurlelia, and, most recently, in 2020, Campanelle all won. Hootenanny finished second in 2014, a year after No Nay Never’s tally.

Ward’s fifth try at the Morny, contested over a straight six furlongs at Deauville, comes Sunday, when Outfielder, a brilliant winner of his lone start, a May 23 turf sprint maiden at Churchill Downs, meets five rivals.

York | Race 4: G1 Nunthorpe Stakes

I’m looking forward to riding SAYIDAH DARIYAN. She’s an exciting filly and has already won at the course.

The step back to five furlongs (1000m) will hopefully suit her. She’s an improving filly in good form, and although she has to improve again, it’s an open division.

Via Sistina is a certainty to be named Australia’s Horse of the Year in a ceremony in Brisbane on Aug. 31.

She won seven Group 1 races through the season, beginning with the Winx Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse last August in a 10-1 upset.

Via Sistina will be about 8-5 to win Friday’s $643,000 Winx Stakes against 11 rivals in her first start since a commanding win in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Randwick in April.