The Hong Kong season really starts to take some shape on Thursday, October 1, with the traditional Chinese National Day race meeting and the return of many of the star gallopers heading towards the December internationals.
Normally, the likes of Designs On Rome or Military Attack would take their place in what is now called the Celebration Cup over 1,400m but, even in their absence this year, the race is bristling with quality.
Dan Excel returns after a break since becoming the first dual winner of the Singapore International Cup and, after news that the race has been scrapped, probably the last winner of it as well. Reigning champion trainer, John Moore has started quietly, with only ten runners at the first seven meetings, but that changes now with eight in the two Group Three features alone. In the Celebration Cup, Moore has four apart from Dan Excel and tagged Exciting Dream – the least-achieved of his five – as the one most likely to make an impact under a light handicap. Traditionally, the established Group One horses find it tough to beat up and coming lightweights, and John Size-trained Contentment – a winner of 6 from 9 – is the likely favourite for Joao Moreira, with other lightweights like Divine Calling and Giant Treasure sure to be strongly fancied.
The National Day Cup over 1,000m was fought out by lightweights Bundle Of Joy and Peniaphobia in 2014, relegating dual Group One winner Amber Sky to fourth as favourite. Twelve months on, Peniaphobia and Bundle Of Joy have achieved enough to see them weighted as highly as Amber Sky now and that gives the 2014 Al Quoz Sprint winner a chance at revenge after reports from trainer Ricky Yiu that he’s back to his best. Bundle Of Joy resumes after joint surgery while track spivs have reported Peniaphobia making a noise in his work so it will be interesting to see if those two come back at their top.
Moore has dangerous lightweights in this, too, with Not Listenin’tome resuming and even one time Hong Kong Sprint placegetter Frederick Engels down to a suitable rating.
By Nathan Mody
