Joao Moreira’s fall at Happy Valley on Wednesday night leaves his presence or otherwise as the big question over racing at Sha Tin on Saturday, despite the quality of his opposition.
Ryan Moore is settling into Hong Kong and picked up a double on Wednesday as did Silvestre de Sousa, former number one man for Godolphin who has impressed with 10 wins from 63 rides, a strike rate second only to his fellow Brazilian.
Moreira wasn’t badly hurt in the fall but did spend a night in hospital and has plenty of soreness and bruising from the tumble, with a decision on his participation to come on Friday morning and Corey Brown is in Hong Kong on standby if needed. Douglas Whyte was also injured in a separate incident and stood down midweek but he has been confirmed as back in action on the weekend.
In Saturday’s feature, the Centenary Vase, de Sousa teams with Paul O’Sullivan on likely favourite Celestial Smile, who has never missed a place in 16 starts, a record few horses can boast in Hong Kong, and he now tackles his first Group race.
De Sousa has other great chances in Oracle and Lucky Girl but, as usual, Moreira’s rides look outstanding, including three for John Size, So Fast, Right Call and My Darling.
Size produced one of the wins of the season midweek with first starter Mr Stunning and the Australian has quietly slipped to a 3-win lead on the trainers’ table.
His strength is always new, young horses and My Darling is an interesting runner after nice trials, including a third to Mr Stunning.
Chris So-trained Racing Supernova is the other trial horse to catch everyone’s attention lately, including a close second to Mr Stunning when they beat the rest of the field by nine lengths, and Zac Purton pilots him around in a Class Three down the straight 1,000m.
By Nathan Mody
