A pair of Class 2 handicaps, one at about one mile, the other at about six furlongs, headline a 10-race card Saturday at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong.

Eastern Express barely scrapes into race 6, the race over 1600 meters (about one mile), with a rating of 100 in a handicap restricted to horses rated 80-100. Making his first start of the Hong Kong season, Eastern Express packs top weight of 133 pounds, including jockey Zac Purton, in what trainer John Size might or might not be using as a stepping-stone to targets later this fall and winter.

Trainer Michael Stoute hasn’t won the Dewhurst Stakes since 1986, but if Expert Eye turns in the performance most expect, Stoute should win it again Saturday.

The Group 1 Dewhurst, for 2-year-olds over a straight seven furlongs, is the Saturday feature at Newmarket, and its winner often is proclaimed the winter-book favorite for the English 2000 Guineas. That surely is a position Expert Eye will occupy if he runs his record to three wins from three starts for Stoute and owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Saturday, October 14, 2017)

RACE 1: #10 Furious Pegasus, #11 Supernatural, #2 Brave Knight, #3 Go Sandy Go

RACE 2: #4 Empire Star, #7 Let's Take It Easy, #10 Sunny Orient, #3 Diamond Legend

RACE 3: #9 Hit A Home Run, #6 Je Pense, #1 Industrialist Way, #2 Fancy Music

RACE 4: #1 Elite Spirit, #2 Strathclyde, #7 I’m The Won For U, #12 Fantastic Fabio

The Group 1 Fillies Mile on Friday at Newmarket could offer some clues for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf next month at Del Mar.

It also offers trainer Aidan O’Brien another chance to creep closer to Bobby Frankel’s record 25 Group or Grade 1 stakes victories in a calendar year. As of Wednesday, O’Brien had 23 such wins, and in the Fillies Mile, for 2-year-old fillies, he has the three top antepost betting choices in Happily, Magical, and September.

The focus Saturday at Royal Randwick falls squarely on the Everest, but the 10-race card includes nine other stakes, among them three worth $388,700 each.

Headlining the undercard is the Sydney Stakes, which, at six furlongs, is something of a consolation prize for sprinters not quite up to Everest snuff. Directly preceding the Everest as race 7, the Sydney has a full field of 14 entrants plus four also-eligibles, but even in that bulky group In Her Time appears to stand out.

Australia produces the best turf sprinters in the world, and whoever wins the inaugural running of the Everest Stakes on Saturday at Royal Randwick undoubtedly will be on top of the world.

The Everest is worth $7,774,000 and thus carries the highest purse of any turf race. The race, however, is modeled after the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream, and the connections of the entrants must pay an entry fee of almost $470,000 that secures a slot in the race for a three-year period.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11)

Brett Davis                                                            
Race 1: 3-8-2-4
Race 2: 3-2-1-11
Race 3: 2-1-4-6
Race 4: 2-5-3-1
Race 5: 2-11-7-6
Race 6: 1-10-3-5
Race 7: 6-2-3-5
Race 8: 1-10-5-11
Best Bet - Race 1: #3 Rugby Diamond  
Longshot - Race 8: #5 Jolly Convergance
Best Play - Race 8: Q/QP 1,5,10

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, October 11, 2017)

RACE 1: #2 Forever Fun, #4 Show Mission, #8 Seven Luck, #7 Sakura Fighter

RACE 2: #3 Sangria, #2 Merrygowin, #12 Happy Fiery Dragon, #1 Bond Elegance

RACE 3: #1 Perfect Choice, #4 Love Chunghwa, #6 Letsgofree, #10 Great Toplight

RACE 4: #8 Ho Ho Feel, #2 Heroic Guru, #7 King Of Mongolia, #9 Rule Thee

A recent win by Premiere in a five-furlong handicap on turf at Sha Tin Racecourse will make the 4-year-old gelding a popular choice in Wednesday’s $238,305 Kwoon Chung Bus Cup Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong.

Premiere is the only entrant in a field of 12 with a win in the current Hong Kong season, which began in early September. Trained by John Size, Premiere led throughout a five-furlong race Sept. 16 to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the favorite.

Roly Poly can take her racing. Eight-times started last year at age 2, the eighth start of her 3-year-old season Saturday at Newmarket Racecourse produced a strong win in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes.

It was Roly Poly’s third Group 1 victory of the year following wins in the Prix Rothschild and the Falmouth Stakes. For trainer Aidan O’Brien, the Sun Chariot marked Group 1 win number 23 during 2017, leaving him just two short of Bobby Frankel’s record of 25 Group or Grade 1 victories in a calendar year.