By Michael Wrona, International Racing Expert

Happy Valley Selections
(Sunday, October 27, 2024)

Mark Newnham is rolling through his second season in Hong Kong with flying colours and on Wednesday night (23 October) the trainer saddles five runners at Sha Tin’s eight-race all-dirt programme.

Following a 31-win debut campaign, Newnham has made an immediate impression this term with 11 wins from 59 starters across the initial 13 fixtures of 2024/25 – a tally bettered by only David Hayes (14) and Pierre Ng (12), while Caspar Fownes also has 11 wins.

Tom Wood:

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

BEST: R4 N1 GALVANIC (WIN)
VALUE: R3 N8 MILES AWAY (EW)
PLAY: R5 QQP 1,4,7

Paul Lally:

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

Best Bet R7 N5 Talents Ambition
Longshot R8 N8 Heroic Master
Play R6 QQP 1-8-11

Mark McNamara:

Sha Tin Selections
(Wednesday, October 23, 2024)

By Leo Schlink

Clocking one of the fastest 1200m times ever recorded at Sha Tin, Ka Ying Rising continued a relentless march towards the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) in December with imperious victory in the G2 Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (20 October).

Urban Chic has displayed significant improvement in Japan in recent weeks, just in time for a potential start against older horses in the final months of the year.

After winning the Grade 2 Asahi Hai St. Lite Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Nakayama on Sept. 16, Urban Chic won the most prestigious race of his career in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese St. Leger at 1 7/8 miles at Kyoto Racecourse.

Anmaat did not run like the 38-1 shot he was on Saturday at Ascot, bursting between horses in deep stretch to take the measure of favored Calandagan in the Group 1 Champion Stakes.

Hopelessly buried behind a wall of horses with not much more than a furlong of this 1 1/4-mile contest remaining, Anmaat bravely squeezed between rivals under Jim Crowley to outkick Calandagan by a half-length.

In her 55th start, the 7-year-old mare Bella Nipotina overcame a wide trip to win the world’s richest sprint in Saturday’s Group 1 Everest Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia.

Bella Nipotina, who paid $13.70 in American pools, fought through the stretch to win the $13.3 million Everest Stakes by a short head over Giga Kick, the winner of the 2022 Everest.

Bella Nipotina, on Saturday, and Giga Kick, in 2022, had another thing in common – both were ridden by veteran jockey Craig Williams.

Ramón Brito is a handicapper with more than 25 years of experience who is part of the DRF en Español team as a commentator, handicapper, editor, and columnist.

Below are Brito's picks for the most important races on Friday’s Everest Day card at Royal Randwick.