Sunday at Sha Tin sees a small but select crew of usual suspects in the Hong Kong Gold Cup and a last-ditch race for Derby contenders to make their case for the March 15 classic.
Designs On Rome will be the short-priced favourite to build into Dubai with a win in the Gold Cup, as did Vengeance Of Rain, Hong Kong’s only Sheema Classic winner. Military Attack meanwhile, seeks a third Gold Cup in succession, Caspar Fownes says he is over weight-loss queries that saw him miss his lead-up and the trainer is trying blinkers to get a good enough performance to warrant a Dubai trip.
The Class Two 1,800m is an interesting race due to its history as a Derby springboard.
When John Moore-trained Collection was a close second at his first Hong Kong run in 2009 over 1,400m, the gelding was ineligible for another race in the five weeks until the Derby.
Moore prevailed on the Jockey Club to alter the conditions of this race so Collection would be eligible to run and he won easily before winning the Derby the same way.
This has since been unofficially called the Collection Stakes and used as the final Derby statement by many horses, and Akeed Mofeed also put his name on the Derby trophy when he slam-dunked this race.
This year, John Size runs Contentment, Caspar Fownes Gun Pit, Tony Cruz saddles up Anticipation, Tony Millard has Golden Sleep and Richard Gibson has Obliterator.
Only Gun Pit is assured of a Derby start, so there will be some urgency for a good performance from the others. Contentment and Obliterator look the most interesting, coming off runs in the Classic Cup, where Obliterator looked in need of the race but ran well while Contentment wrecked his chances by pulling and Size told the media afterwards he got the tactics wrong.
By Nathan Mody
