THE PETLEY REPORT: HONG KONG'S BIGGEST RACEDAY HAS ARRIVED AND IT IS PACKED WITH TALENT

By Jack Petley | Sunday, December 13, 2020

It is International Day at Sha Tin today with the four majors packed with outstanding talent both locally, and also from the UK, Ireland, Japan and France.

All told the races contain 15 individual Gr1 winners of 38 top level races.

It could be a big day for Brazilian ace Joao Moreira. He heads into the meeting just four wins away from kicking home 1000 winners thus making the 1000and plus list with Douglas Whyte and Zac Purton.

Moreira has been in fine form this season, 51 winners so far and 20 ahead of Zac Purton. Last year he won two of the majors, the Vase and Sprint.

In the Vase Moreira rides Columbus County with the one to beat in this being Exultant and Zac Purton and the biggest danger, the O'Brien star Mogul (Ryan Moore). Purton said in an interview that he is confident Exultant can get the better of Mogul. Exultant has been 2nd at his last two and Purton says he is "back to his best distance in the Vase."

Aidan O'Brien looks to have the best chance in the Cup with that outstanding mare Magical, the Irish Champion Stakes winner in this latest campaign and also 3rd in the Champion Stakes and 2nd in the Breeders Cup to Tarnawa. But she will get tough opposition from the Japanese runner Danon Premium and Skalleti, who has yet to win at Gr1 level but five of 12 wins have come in group racing and that Champion Stakes 2nd in the UK to a horse Aussies know so well, Addeybb, is a good form guide. Moreira's mount is Furore and Casper Fownes rate it a chance.

All eyes from this part of the racing world will be on the rich Sprint with $15m Everest winner Classique Legend, now with Casper Fownes after such a wonderful career with Les Bridge in Sydney. He runs in the race with a Rating of 125 but the question many are asking, is he ready? He has spent time in quarantine and then took a little time to recover as well. He starts from gate 1, a stall which has never produced the winner of the Sprint. It will certainly be no mean feat if he wins and he surely will be tough to keep out on his fine Aussie form.

Most tipsters, though , have the Moreira-John Size runner Hot King Prawn on top for the Sprint with big dangers Voyage Warrior and the Japanese runner Danon Smash, runner up last year and winner of three of five group races since then. A wide gate, though, not a help. And worth noting here Hot King Prawn looked good when winning a recent trial for Size.

The Japanese galloper Admire Mars hits HK with a fine run of home form, but he bumps up against a very smart galloper in NZ bred Golden Sixty. The Francis Lui gelding has won 13 out of 14 and he is a star, that is for sure. But apart from the Japanese runner he will have some stern opposition from O'Brien's Order of Australia out to prove that his Breeders Cup win was no fluke. Purton rides that wonderful galloper Beauty Generation, now with David Hayes, and he rates him a "chance.”

In Oz yesterday there were some outstanding performances including that dashing win by the Maher-Eustace colt Acrobat in the $500,000 Inglis Nursery, all the way wins by that tough grey mare Greysful Glamour for Mark Newnham in the Villiers and also by Significant for Jason Collett and partner Clare Cunningham in the Christmas Cup and a punting move that came off with that win by Salina Dreaming for Angela Davies, with the odds, earlier in the week being offered at $27 and the end dividend for the Hugh Bowman winner being $7.50. Phew!

Acrobat showed great speed to take the Inglis Nursery in the cracking time of 56s, the quickest time recorded by a two-year-old at the track, and he has firmed for the Golden Slipper. The Maher-Eustace yard have some very smart juveniles in their yard including the Gimcrack winner, Enthaar, who for a while has been the favourite for the Golden Slipper and with her stablemate now around $15. The winning rider was Kiwi James McDonald, greatly taken by the colt, but he also won on Enthaar.

And while on two-year-olds what about that slashing win by The Price-Kent trained two-year-old Profiteer. The colt made a very successful debut over 1100 metres at Flemington, ran his rivals ragged and turned in a cracking 1.2.8s for the 1100 metres and he had his rivals beaten a long way out. Acrobat was impressive but so, too, was this colt... while in Brisbane Toby and Trent Edmonds turned up a smart colt in Alpine Edge, a son of Better Than Ready. He has firmed for the Millions, a race the stable won with Houtzen.

Other solid winners at Flemington., Beltoro with a big finish for trainer Robert Hickmott. Fabergino was a strong win in the Living Legends and also there was a solid win by Memphis Rock.