Ertijaal has been all but unbeatable running straight-course 1000-meter turf races at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, and he won another such start Thursday, beating Blue Point by a head in the Group 2, $175,000 Meydan Sprint.

Still, it would have been difficult to come away from Thursday’s race believing the winner is the top local hope for the Group 1, $1 million Al Quoz Sprint on the March 31 Dubai World Cup undercard. Ertijaal had a recency edge on Blue Point, while Blue Point was racing over the Meydan course for the first time while racing a distance short of his best.

The 2,000-meter rematch between Werther and Time Warp on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse in the Hong Kong Gold Cup holds interest in its own right. Adding intrigue is the appearance of Season’s Bloom, who won the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup over 1,600 meters in his most recent start and tries 1 1/4 miles Sunday for just the second time in his Hong Kong career.

All that is appealing enough, but the Group 1, $1.28 million Hong Kong Gold Cup also marks the first start since June 25 for the infamous Pakistan Star.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, February 25, 2018)

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

RACE 1: #4 Hong Kong's Folks, #10 Harbour Century, #13 Winner St Paul's, #12 Formula Galore

RACE 2: #2 Easy Go Easy Win, #3 Simply Invincible, #4 Lockheed, #6 Spicy Sure

RACE 3: #8 Sweet Bean, #7 My Gift, #2 Savannah Wind, #1 Rock The Tree

They’re not waiting around to shoot the fireworks Thursday night at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, where the highlight of a seven-race card is the program opener, the Group 2, $175,000 Meydan Sprint.

Only six are entered, but the 1,000-meter (about five furlongs) straight-course turf sprint still presents a compelling matchup between Ertijaal and Blue Point, with Hit the Bid also in with a chance.

Later on the program come the Group 3, $200,000 Dubai Millennium Stakes over 2,000 meters on turf  and the Group 2, $250,000 Zabeel Mile at 1,600 meters on turf.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, February 21)

Brett Davis
Race 1: 2-4-5-1
Race 2: 2-1-5-3
Race 3: 2-11-12-3
Race 4: 7-8-1-2
Race 5: 9-5-1-10
Race 6: 5-2-1-4
Race 7: 4-11-12-6
Race 8: 4-2-3-7
Race 9: 10-9-5-2
Best - Race 5: #9 Enjoy Life  
Longshot - Race 7: #12 Sangria
Best Play - Race 3: Quin 2/11,12

The purses of seven Group 1 Thoroughbred races in France have been raised for 2018, according to a statement released earlier this year by the country’s organizing body, France-Galop.

The Prix Jacques le Marois-Haras de Fresnay le Buffard for turf milers at Deauville on Aug. 12 will be worth approximately $1.24 million, or 1 million euros, an increase from a purse of 700,000 euros last year. This is the first time the race has been worth seven figures.

Group-level stakes have been too difficult in recent starts for Hong Kong veterans Packing Dragon, Sichuan Dar and Winner’s Way. A retreat to a lesser race – Wednesday’s $319,629 Shan Kwong Handicap at Happy Valley Racecourse – could put one of them back in the winner’s circle.

The Shan Kwong Handicap is run at about a mile on turf and is the second of nine races on a Happy Valley program that begins at 5:45 a.m., Eastern.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday February 21, 2018)

Nonkono Yume earned a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November, and Sumahama earned a place in the Kentucky Derby on May 5 with their stakes wins at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan on Sunday.

Nonkono Yume (9-1) won the Group 1 February Stakes at a mile for his fifth stakes win. The $2,031,984 February Stakes is the first race in the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth for the BC Classic to the winner.

There will be no sweep of the 4-year-old Classic Series this year in Hong Kong.

Singapore Sling got a perfect trip under Chad Schofield and won the $1.278 million Hong Kong Classic Cup, the second leg of the series, by 1 1/4 lengths Sunday at Sha Tin. Singapore Sling had finished second in the first leg, the Hong Kong Classic Mile, while that race’s winner, Nothingilikemore, blew the break Sunday, raced last for much of the trip, and could only finish fourth.