Admirable is unbeaten in three starts since early May, rising through the ranks in Japan from a maiden race winner to a graded stakes winner.

The rapid success leaves Admirable as the expected favorite in a field of 18 colts in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese Derby at Tokyo Racecourse. Admirable drew the outside post for his first start since a win in the Grade 2 Hai Aoba Sho at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Tokyo on April 29.

“He’s had three races in fairly quick succession,” trainer Hidetaka Otonashi told Japan Racing Association publicity earlier this week.

The filly Winter won the English 1000 Guineas over her favored stablemate, Rhododendron, at odds of close to 10-1 but won’t sneak up on anyone Sunday at The Curragh, where Winter bids for a second classic victory in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.

Werther was one of three horses on the finish line together in the Group 1 Champions and Chater Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong last May. The problem for Werther was that he was third, beaten noses by Blazing Speed and Victory Magic.

A year later, Blazing Speed and Werther are back for Sunday’s $1,283,416 Champions and Chater Cup at 1 1/2 miles on turf, the final Group 1 race of the 2016-17 Hong Kong season.

It was not the eminently quotable Winston Churchill who first noted that “discretion is the better part of valor,” but that is the sentiment guiding the management of the excellent 3-year-old colt named after him.

As soon as Churchill – the horse – won the English 2000 Guineas on May 6, there was widespread assumption that the colt would go on to the Epsom Derby. But as another statesman, contemporary and not historical, might say: “Wrong!”

 SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, May 28, 2017)

RACE 1: #3 Volitation, #2 Green Dispatch, #6 Lotus Strikes Back, #4 Jolly Gene

RACE 2: #1 Gallant Rock, #7 Indigenous Star, #5 Zero Hedge, #4 Nice Fandango

RACE 3: #4 Happy And Healthy, #2 Ambitious Pins, #1 Vara Pearl, #9 Gold Velvet

RACE 4: #2 Sunny Way, #10 Sir Redalot, #1 Mighty Maverick, #13 Wushu Champion

RACE 5: #4 My Darling, #1 Midnight Rattler, #10 Baba Mama, #8 Hang's Decision

R1 - 3-8-1-9
R2 - 1-4-3-9
R3 - 10-3-9-11
R4 - 2-6-3-9
R5 - 2-1-10-7
R6 - 3-4-6-2
R7 - 1-2-4-7
R8 - 3-11-2-5

Best - R8 N3 Convicible
Longshot - R1 n8 Optimism
Best Play - R1 Q/QP 1,3,8

John Blance

R1) 3-4-2-8
R2) 8-10-4-3
R3) 11-10-9-12
R4) 6-3-10-12
R5) 1-6-2-7
R6) 3-6-1-9
R7) 4-1-7-9
R8) 1-3-2-11

Best: R7 No. 4 Circuit King
Longshot: R2 N8 Enchanted Feeling

Andrew Le Jeune - Selections

The soccer star Diego Costa and the racehorse Diego Kosta have been winners this spring.

Diego Costa plays for Chelsea of London in the English Premier League. Chelsea was the champion of the 2016-17 season that ended Sunday.

Half a world away, Diego Kosta is doing his part to keep up winning ways at Hong Kong’s racecourses. Diego Kosta won for the first time in his seventh start during the current Hong Kong season in a five-furlong handicap on turf at Happy Valley on May 3.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, May 24, 2017)

RACE 1: #1 Born To Race, #3 Aeroluminance, #12 Perfect Timing, #9 Telecom Boom

RACE 2: #10 Sky Treasure, #4 Bond Elegance, #2 Carefree Let Go, #8 Enchanted Feeling

RACE 3: #11 Clever Spirit, #10 Confucius Spirit, #5 Multigogo, #3 Wild Boy

RACE 4: #6 Contribution, #11 Polymer Luck, #7 Raging Bull, #3 Go Go Win

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, May 21)

Brett Davis 

Race 1: 3-4-9-6

Race 2: 5-2-6-12

Race 3: 2-13-4-9

Race 4: 8-3-1-2

Race 5: 2-3-5-9

Race 6: 6-8-3-5

Race 7: 10-2-8-5

Race 8: 1-3-11-9

Race 9: 12-9-14-2

Race 10: 6-2-1-7

Best Bet - Race 1: #3 Jumbo Luck  

Longshot - Race 9: #12 Smiling Charm

Best Play - Race 9: Q/QP   9,12,14

Andrew Le Jeune

Race 1: 3-4-2-6

Race 2: 6-5-1-7

Reine Minoru was a 40-1 outsider when she won the Grade 1 Japanese 1000 Guineas at Hanshin Racecourse on April 9, beating a field that included Soul Stirring, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2016 in Japan.

Reine Minoru and Soul Stirring meet again in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Tokyo Racecourse. Reine Minoru can prove that her win in the 1000 Guineas was not a fluke. Soul Stirring must show she is as good in major stakes this year as she was in 2016, when she won the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies to secure the championship.