Friday’s Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket is a one-mile race open to fillies and mares age 3 and up, but the older set is little more than an afterthought this year. Five of the seven Falmouth entrants are 3-year-olds, and all get a nine-pound weight break from the two older horses entered, longshots Greta G and Opal Tiara.

Brett Davis - Selections

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

Best - R5 n2 Beauty Master
Longshot - R1 n2 Silver Spun
Best Play - R1 Q/QP 1,2,3

Paul Lally:

R1 1-9-4-3
R2 3-1-11-7
R3 6-3-1-4
R4 8-12-4-9
R5 10-2-4-3
R6 7-1-2-11
R7 5-1-2-3
R8 3-2-7-6

Purses for four Hong Kong Group 1 races will be higher for the 2017-18 season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Monday.

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf next spring will be worth $3.07 million, an increase of approximately $500,000 from this year. The Champions Mile, run in early May, will be worth $2.3 million, a gain of about $255,000.

The Chairman’s Sprint Prize at six furlongs on turf has been increased by about $255,000 to $2.04 million at Monday’s exchange rates. The race was run in early May this year.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS

(Wednesday, July 12, 2017)

RACE 1: #3 California Aspar, #4 Dr Race, #1 Ocean Roar, #9 Trendiful

RACE 2: #9 Seven Luck, #4 Speedy Wally, #3 Gold Talent, #8 Kim Glory

RACE 3: #3 Great Joy, #10 Ambitious Heart, #6 Pearl Warm Warm, #1 Giant Stars

RACE 4: #2 Good Companion, #4 Gracious Ryder, #7 Starlight, #6 Junzi

RACE 5: #2 Beauty Master, #4 Most Beautiful, #12 Triumphant Jewel, #5 Ace King

It’s a shame Thunder Snow threw a bucking fit and had to be pulled up just after the start of the Kentucky Derby, for the colt appears to be a cut above most if not all of the horses his owner, Godolphin, has brought over to America for Triple Crown races.

Thunder Snow offered a reminder of that Sunday at Chantilly when he led all the way to win the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat by 1 1/4 lengths over the previously unbeaten Trais Fluors.

Ulysses, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita last November, won the first Group 1 race of his career in a thrilling running of Saturday’s $647,500 Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, south of London.

Ulysses (8-1) won the Eclipse Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf by a nose over the 3-year-old Barney Roy, the 9-4 second choice.

Thunder Snow, the Godolphin colt who bucked just after the start and had to be pulled up  in the Kentucky Derby, has found a sweet spot to win his first turf race of 2017 in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat on Sunday at Chantilly.

Just five 3-year-olds are entered in the one-mile race. Lightupthenight and the maiden Turf Laurel are 20/1 shots in antepost betting, the Freddie Head-trained Gold Luck 10/1, with Trais Fluors a hot second choice behind favored Thunder Snow in the bookmakers’ markets.

Helene Charisma was supposed to be a major race winner in Hong Kong during the current season. In the summer of 2016, Helene Charisma won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France, which led to him being sold privately to Hong Kong owners a month later.

The 3-year-olds Barney Roy, Cliffs of Moher, and Eminent will race outside their age group for the first time in Saturday’s Group 1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Sandown Park, south of London.

Judging from their positions in the future-book market, they are more than ready for a new test in the $647,500 race.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS

(Sunday, July 9, 2017)

RACE 1: #11 Lucky Stryker, #8 Bingo, #1 Lucky Master, #2 Chater Thunder

RACE 2: #4 Hastily Feet, #5 Unique Joyful, #9 Plain Blue Banner, #11 Yourthewonforme

RACE 3: #1 Wushu Champion, #2 Jolly Bountiful, #3 Experto Crede, #5 Cool And Neat

RACE 4: #2 Star Superior, #1 High Energy, #6 Respect, #7 Giddy Giddy