On form and in the betting markets, Minnie Hauk is a lock to give trainer Aidan O’Brien his eighth victory in the Irish Oaks.
Winner of the Oaks at Epsom last month, Minnie Hauk faces six foes Saturday at The Curragh in this 1 1/2-mile fixture. Offered at roughly 1-5 on Friday by English betting houses, Minnie Hauk apparently would have to take a wrong turn into the Irish countryside in order to lose the Oaks.
An extraordinary 2024/25 Hong Kong racing season drew to a close at Happy Valley on Wednesday (16 July), concluding one of the greatest chapters in Hong Kong racing history.
The individual and collective feats of Hong Kong’s equine titans – Ka Ying Rising, Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble – elevated Hong Kong’s world-class racing onto an even higher plane during a record-breaking and historic season.
By Leo Schlink
Matthew Poon has withstood an inspired season finale push from Derek Leung to claim his first Tony Cruz Award as Hong Kong’s leading homegrown jockey in dramatic circumstances at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (16 July).
With Leung’s wins on Me Tsui’s Vulcanus in the Class 4 Let Me Fight Handicap (1200m) and Frankie Lor’s Regal Gem in the Class 3 Sun Jewellery Handicap (1200m), officials reverted to a countback based on third placings after both Poon and Leung finished the season with 36 wins and 38 seconds.
Mark Newnham’s stable is home to one of Hong Kong’s most exciting horses and the trainer, a superb winner of 43 races in his second campaign, heads into the Season Finale at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (16 July) already keen on what 2025/26 may have in store.
Newnham said: “As long as I built on last year, I was always going to be happy. I would say it’s probably exceeded expectations as far as being able to win a feature race with My Wish.
The current 2024/25 racing season concludes with Happy Valley’s Season Finale on Wednesday night, 16 July. On the night, racegoers may witness the crowning of the season’s Tony Cruz Award winner and the Champion Griffin award. A Jockeys’ Parade on the night is where fans have the chance to get up close to their favourite riders.
By Leo Schlink
John Size secured a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers’ championship at Sha Tin on Sunday (13 July) as the master trainer embarked on a familiar coronation march with a treble, further burnishing an extraordinary career.
Size sealed the championship with the wins of Sight Dreamer, Raging Rapids and Bundle Award to leave the Australian with 69 wins for the season – beyond the reach of compatriot David Hayes (60) – with only nine races left to be run at Wednesday night’s (16 July) Season Finale at Happy Valley.
Seventeenth last out in the Prix du Jockey Club, Leffard was first past the post Sunday at Longchamp in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris.
Longest shot among six runners on the American tote board, Leffard returned $31.80 after his narrow victory over heavily favored Trinity College in a 3-year-old restricted race.
Six 3-year-olds are entered in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris on Sunday at Longchamp Racecourse, but if established form holds, the race comes down to New Ground and Trinity College.
Trinity College figures favored on the North American tote, in great part because he has run two strong races, but also because Ryan Moore rides him for trainer Aidan O’Brien. New Ground figures a more appealing bet, in great part because he’s already proven to stay the Grand Prix de Paris’s 1 1/2-mile distance.
