An enormous start to the Hong Kong season on Sunday, with a record crowd and betting turnover and some great action on the track at Sha Tin but it’s back to Happy Valley on Wednesday night in the search for a winner.
Zac Purton won the Jockey Challenge on Sunday, as expected, but probably made harder work of it than his supporters would have hoped.
He has some nice rides again at Happy Valley but some awkward draws, and one of his most interesting mounts is Lucky Double Eight for Caspar Fownes in the seventh.
Formerly known as Stralia in Melbourne, Lucky Double Eight was patiently handled by Fownes last season with just two runs late in his three-year-old season, when he didn’t look fully acclimatised to Hong Kong but still ran well.
He drops back to Class Two and should be much more attuned with his surroundings now. Fownes has forecast big things from the gelding so this should be a starting point, although barrier nine won’t make his task any easier against the very smart Bullish Friend drawn lower for Matthew Chadwick and Tony Cruz.
Purton and Chadwick do battle again in the last race, with Purton on promising Pleasure Gains for Manfred Man and Chadwick on Cruz-trained Bullish Boy.
The latter came good at the end of last season with some great efforts at 1,650m, but Pleasure Gains looked well above average in his last two wins and it won’t surprise if his connections have some Derby hopes in the back of their mind.
Purton is back on Flying Keeper for Fownes in the first – a horse which goes well for the jockey and seems to cope with most distances. He is back to 1,000m but fresh-up could be a real threat from a low draw.
By Nathan Mody
