David Hall hopes Atullibigeal can add further lustre to his stable’s strong season with victory in the HK$2.84 million Class 2 Hong Kong Reunification Cup Handicap (1400m) at Sha Tin on Monday (1 July).
With 41 wins, Hall is only three victories short of matching his career-best haul of 44 wins in a Hong Kong season after a campaign crowned by Invincible Sage’s G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) triumph in April.
Racing against males has not gone well in the last year in Britain and Dubai for Emily Upjohn.
A 5-year-old mare, Emily Upjohn was second and seventh in Group 1 races against males last July in her final two starts of the 2023 season, and is winless in two starts this year – a fifth-place finish in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai in March, and a disappointing fourth in a field of five as the 7-4 favorite in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Epsom Racecourse south of London on May 31.
Bella Nipotina, the 6-year-old Australian sprint mare, is less than a length from holding a three-race winning streak in Group 1 races in the last six weeks.
After a win in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 at six furlongs at Doomben Racecourse on May 18, Bella Nipotina was beaten less than a half-length in the Kingsford-Smith Cup at 6 1/2 furlongs at Eagle Farm on June 1, and by a neck in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at seven furlongs at Eagle Farm on June 15.
Dream Winner set the track alight last season with three wins from as many starts and Frankie Lor’s former boom sprinter emerges from the sidelines on Wednesday (26 June) at Happy Valley to contest a cracking HK$2.84 million Class 2 Tan Shan River Handicap (1200m).
The Exosphere four-year-old won his first three races by nearly 10 lengths combined, before returning this term for five starts – all of which have seen him go unplaced, while his best effort was a close-up fourth behind Group 1 performers Lucky With You and Flying Ace.
Paul Lally:
R1: 8-3-6-5
R2: 6-1-5-9
R3: 9-1-7-10
R4: 8-2-1-3
R5: 5-1-12-3
R6: 3-5-2-11
R7: 3-1-5-10
R8: 1-12-5-11
R9: 9-1-3-10
Best Bet: R5 N5 Can’t Go Wong
Longshot: R8 N1 Splendid Living
Play: R3 QQP 1-7-9
Tom Wood:
R1: 2-5-8-3
R2: 1-3-6-11
R3: 10-1-2-3
R4: 2-8-1-3
R5: 2-5-1-12
R6: 5-9-3-7
R7: 3-1-9-5
R8: 5-3-2-12
R9: 9-1-3-10
Blow the Horn, a 5-year-old who won his first graded stakes in January and started in his first Grade 1 race earlier this year, continued his ascension in Japan’s older horse division with a win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Kyoto Racecourse.
The win gave Blow the Horn a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Paul Lally:
R1 12-1-7-10
R2 9-5-8-1
R3 14-3-11-2
R4 5-6-7-11
R5 4-7-2-8
R6 1-5-2-3
R7 8-5-7-1
R8 1-5-2-4
R9 8-2-3-1
R10 5-2-12-3
R11 3-9-6-1
Best Bet R2 N9 Talents Ambition
Longshot R6 N1 Coming Patch
Play R5 QQP 2-4-7
Tom Wood:
R1: 10-1-12-11
R2: 9-2-1-4
R3: 2-14-1-13
R4: 9-6-4-1
R5: 4-8-7-14
R6: 2-1-5-10
R7: 8-7-6-1
R8: 5-1-2-4
R9: 2-8-3-1
R10: 5-3-2-1
R11: 6-1-9-14
