HONG KONG – It’s not like the Breeders’ Cup, where a good deal of the assembled talent scatters to the four corners of the earth once the races are over. No, the Hong Kong International Races, moniker aside, bend much more to the local, and most of the best performers Sunday at Sha Tin went home to their stalls on the backstretch after jockeys dismounted and they were led off the track.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, December 13, 2017)

RACE 1: #3 Great Toplight, #9 Telecom Boom, #1 A Fast One, #6 Pearl Furu

RACE 2: #4 Gracious Ryder, #3 Zero Hedge, #9 Manful Star, #7 Clear Choice

RACE 3: #3 Raichu, #6 Scarborough Fair, #2 Otouto, #10 Catchmeifyoucan

RACE 4: #1 Great Joy, #11 Savannah Wind, #2 High Volatility, #9 Aeroluminance

RACE 5: #2 Enormous Honour, #3 Hinyuen Swiftness, #6 Polymer Luck, #9 Trendy Win

HONG KONG - The esteemed Hong Kong trainer and former jockey Tony Cruz does not go long without winning one of the Hong Kong International Races. And Sunday, in the featured Hong Kong Cup, it did not take long to see Cruz was going to win another.

Time Warp made an early lead under Zac Purton, set a walking pace while unchallenged, then flew away from his futilely chasing rivals at the top of the stretch to win the Group 1, $3,203,000 Hong Kong Cup by 2 1/4 lengths over favored Werther.

HONG KONG – New Zealand-bred Beauty Generation came to Hong Kong from Australia having run 10 and 12 furlongs in his last two starts, and in his first Hong Kong season he was stretched back to similar distances to participate in the Hong Kong classic series. But Beauty Generation has found his niche this season as a miler, and on Sunday he won the most important such race in this jurisdiction, taking the Group 1, $2,946,760 Hong Kong Mile by one length.

John Size is widely judged to be one of the top two trainers in Hong Kong, and his record in the Hong Kong International Races got closer to his general esteem after Mr. Stunning beat D B Pin by a neck in the Group 1, $2,370,220 Hong Kong Sprint on Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse.

Size trains both horses, as well as fifth-place finisher Amazing Kids and seventh-place Thewizardofoz. Not a bad haul for one race.

HONG KONG – Storybook endings don’t come often in horseracing, but Highland Reel wrote one Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse in the Group 1, $2.3 million Hong Kong Vase.

Making his final start, Highland Reel flicked away a midstretch challenge from Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Talismanic and added a second Vase victory to his 2015 win.

HONG KONG – The Group 1, $2.94 million Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin historically has been a race for the locals. It appears to be open to about anyone this year.

The Japanese shipper Maurice won the Mile in 2015, but a Hong Kong-based horse won the other 10 most recent editions dating to 2005.

Maurice was a star, and while there are no such standouts in Sunday’s race, neither is the home team especially formidable. Racing luck and sharpness on the day should tell the tale.

HONG KONG – The week of the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, Talismanic, a horse few Americans had heard of, much less seen, became famous for his looks. The BC Turf longshot has a thick slab of white pitched down the center of his face and bright socks pulled up over his knees. He looks more like a paint horse at a Texas rodeo than a French import from the legendary training yard of Andre Fabre.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, December 10, 2017)

RACE 1: #1 Circuit Hassler, #2 Victory Boys, #10 Bring It On, #4 Amazing Agility

RACE 2: #5 Simply Brilliant, #3 Bravo Watchman, #6 Storm Signal, #12 Starship

RACE 3: #6 Nothingilikemore, #9 Southern Legend, #5 Jolly Banner, #4 Dundonnell

RACE 4: #12 Kiseki, #1 Highland Reel, #2 Talismanic, #4 Chemical Charge

HONG KONG – The strange thing is that he still sweats.

After all this travel, so many countries and a panoply of racecourses, how could Highland Reel still get worked up when he first goes out to train after shipping from his home base at Ballydoyle, County Tipperary, Ireland? Is it nerves? Force of habit? Highland Reel is a notorious heavy sweater. Perhaps he is just reminding the cadre of international photographers and any assembled locals out for a peek, “I’m here!”