Racing Trader Wally Pyrah previews Tuesday’s card from Sha Tin.
SHA TIN in Hong Kong hosts a spectacular 10-race programme to celebrate Chinese National Day this morning, with mind-boggling lottery and exotic wager prizes up for grabs, and plenty of live music to keep the locals entertained.
The feature race of the day is the £420,000 Group Three National Day Cup (9:05am) which is a handicap over five furlongs.
The field of nine runners consists of many of the usual suspects in the sprinting division, namely Majestic Knight, Stoltz, Whizz Kid and Nervous Witness who have won 22 races between them in their Hong Kong careers but are starting to get a bit long in the tooth.
Group One-winning sprinter Invincible Sage heads the weights conceding between five and 20 pounds to his eight rivals.
Trainer David Hall concedes this is a tough task for his galloper on his seasonal debut, especially giving plenty of weight to some highly progressive speedsters, and a lack of condition may find him out in the closing stages.
Beauty Waves represents the Pierre Ng stable and he will be hoping their stable star can perform better than the desperately disappointing Mugen, who was sunk without trace in the Sprinters Stakes in Japan over the weekend.
The four-year-old travelled well into the race before being outclassed in the closing stages by high-flying top sprinter Ka Ying Rising over six furlongs last month, and now drops down in trip.
Although a winner twice over the minimum distance at Happy Valley, that opposition is a different kettle of fish to those he meets here, and he will need to improve further.
The Cody Mo-trained MAGIC CONTROL may be racing 13 pounds out of the handicap but looks a top-class sprinter in the making.
The son of Sioux Nation arrived in the territory from Australia with a huge reputation, having won three of his five races and including a Group Three at Moonee Valley.
After a couple of hiccups when trained by Jamie Richards last season, the transfer to Mo’s stable has been a revelation.
An eye-catching trial when beating Ka Ying Rising at the beginning of last month was followed by an equally impressive victory over the course and distance over a fortnight ago, when covering the final two furlongs six lengths quicker than standard time.
That performance gives him a huge chance racing off joint bottom-weight, with the talented and up-and-coming Call Me Glorious, his principal threat.
The Class Two Beijing Handicap (9:40am) over seven furlongs is equally competitive and promises to be a real mouth-watering spectacle.
The contest looks a potential match between two highly progressive gallopers, Patch Of Theta and SUNLIGHT POWER, not forgetting winning machine Copartner Prance in the line-up.
Although there is little to choose between the main protagonists on last season’s form, the recent comprehensive course and distance victory by the Jerry Chau-ridden galloper, swings the pendulum in his favour.
He will be hard to beat, provided he gets a trouble-free journey.
POINTERS
Magic Control 9.05am Sha Tin
Sunlight Power 9.40am Sha Tin