SURFACE conditions will once again ride soft when racing gets underway with an 11-race programme, featuring the Group Three Queen Mother Memorial Cup (9.05am) over a mile-and-a-half, at Sha Tin on Sunday.
It is difficult to remember – certainly it’s more than 10 years – when so much rain in the territory has caused the track surface at both Sha Tin and Happy Valley to be described as soft or yielding on so many occasions in a season.
Champion Hong Kong stayer Russian Emperor faces a tough task under top-weight in the feature contest, conceding a stone and upwards to his 11 rivals.
Trainer Douglas Whyte has also made no secret of the fact that the main target for his seven-year-old is the Group One Champion & Chater Cup at the end of this month.
Lightweights have a good record in this contest and four-year-olds have won six of the last 10 runnings.
That age group are represented by Moments In Time, Ka Ying Generation, Chill Chibi and Unbelievable, and all race off joint bottom-weight.
Ka Ying Generation (3rd), Chill Chibi (4th) and Unbelievable (5th) all ran in the HK Derby over 10 furlongs in March, but that form has taken plenty of knocks recently.
Seven gallopers, including the HK Derby winner Massive Sovereign and runner-up Galaxy Patch, have subsequently been beaten since.
UNBELIEVABLE, formerly known as Bertinelli when trained by Aidan O’Brien, has taken some time to acclimatize to conditions in his new home, but has improved markedly in all his four career starts in Hong Kong.
His recent performance when beaten narrowly by Eighteen Carat, who received 18 pounds, over 10 furlongs last month, was full of merit, and it’s worth remembering the son of Justify was placed carrying top-weight in the King George V Stakes Handicap over a mile-and-a-half at Royal Ascot last year.
For anyone looking for gallopers at probable fancy odds, keep an eye on old campaigner in Natural Storm, who is the form of his life at present and was third in this race last year.
Senor Toba is another worth a second look, having won this contest back in 2022, and looks to have been ear-marked for this contest for some time by trainer Caspar Fownes.
POINTERS
Unbelievable 9.05am Sha Tin