It has been the HK$24 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) that has proved the most fruitful opportunity at Sha Tin so far for Aidan O’Brien, who hopes the switch to a race he has won three times before will be an aid to the popular Luxembourg.
The five-year-old son of Camelot joins Coolmore Stud’s stallion ranks in 2025 so this will be a last hurrah in an exemplary career which has seen him claim a Group 1 in each season he has been in training.
Andre Fabre struck with his very first International Races runner in Hong Kong when Borgia and Olivier Peslier scraped the paint on their way to success in the 1999 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m), and it is the longest of the four Group 1s on the card which has remained the French training maestro’s touchstone at Sha Tin.
Maxime Guyon was aboard for both Flintshire’s win in 2014 and again 12 months ago when Junko claimed the prize, while Fabre’s overall record in the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase is three wins, four seconds and a third from 13 starters.
Paul Lally:
R1: 4-11-5-2
R2: 6-3-7-5
R3: 1-8-13-10
R4: 5-3-13-1
R5: 1-9-2-12
R6: 1-11-8-4
R7: 12-2-13-6
R8: 1-9-4-11
R9: 13-6-3-1
R10: 10-9-12-1
Best Bet: R7 N12 Jantar Mantar
Longshot: R4 N5 Iresine
Play: R10 QQP 9-10-12
Mark McNamara:
R1: 12.13.1.14
R2: 5.3.6.7
R3: 1.8.4.13
R4: 1.5.2.13
R5: 1.3.12.13
R6: 4.8.11.1
R7: 2.1.3.12
R8: 1.9.4.6
R9: 3.1.6. 13
R10: 10.12.9.4
Hong Kong racing has lacked standout performers recently. Golden Sixty is retired. Romantic Warrior carries the flag not only as Hong Kong’s best, but as Hong Kong’s only horse anywhere near the top of international ratings. The jurisdiction could use a rising star – and has one named Ka Ying Rising.
Ka Ying Rising has won eight of 10, and what’s remarkable is that he twice went down to defeat. Winner in a pair of Group 2s this fall, Ka Ying Rising makes his Group 1 debut Sunday at Sha Tin in the $3.34 million Hong Kong Sprint.
Romantic Warrior already belongs in the pantheon of Hong Kong-based racehorses, a 16-time winner from 21 starts, half those victories at the Group 1 level, two of them abroad, in the Cox Plate in Australia and the Yasuda Kinen in Japan. Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse, Romantic Warrior can do something no horse based in Hong Kong or anywhere else has done – win the Hong Kong Cup for a third time.
By Declan Schuster
Trainer Ricky Yiu is hoping to go one better with stable flagbearer Voyage Bubble in the HK$36 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) on Sunday, 8 December at Sha Tin after the galloper finished second behind former champion Golden Sixty in 2023.
Yiu’s charge will step away from barrier five against 13 rivals as he aims to follow on from last-start HK$5.35 million G2 BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile (1600m) success.
By Daryl Timms
David Hayes’ outstanding sprinter Ka Ying Rising must overcome a challenging outside barrier in Sunday’s (8 December) HK$26 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin if he is to continue to push his claim as potentially the world’s best speedster.
The Sha Tin 1200m track record holder drew barrier 11 in the 14-horse field for the Group 1 feature – a barrier that no horse has won from in the past 18 runnings.
By Scott Burton and Mariko Seki
Japanese superstar Yuga Kawada and trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida find themselves in the familiar role of attempting to spoil the party in Sunday’s HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m), with Liberty Island viewed by many observers as the main danger to Romantic Warrior’s hat-trick bid.
A year ago, the same combination attempted to topple Peter Lau and Danny Shum’s icon with Prognosis, who flew wide and late to be fifth, beaten only a length.
By Scott Burton
Mickael Barzalona bookended a dominant performance in the LONGINES International Jockeys Championship (IJC) with victories in the first and last legs of the four-race challenge to become the third French rider to lift the trophy following Christophe Lemaire (2009) and Olivier Peslier (1998 & 2006).
Barzalona got off the the perfect start when dropping top weight Sergeant Pepper’s head on the line to land the 1st Leg, depriving William Buick in the final stride to kick off with a maximum 12 points, run over 1000m.
