12:15pm CHARITY WINGS
A few of these locked horns in a similar contest three weeks ago when Sumstreetsumwhere fared best in third. However, that only tells half the tale in what was a messy encounter as after Galaxy Emperor unshipped his jockey turning for home, no horse was impeded more than CHARITY WINGS.
In the end, Danny Shum’s charge finished fifth and was only beaten three lengths by Sumstreetsumwhere. Throw in the fact that he’s now 3lbs better off, he was a good winner over course and distance (C&D) in March and the faster surface will be in his favour.
He holds a very solid chance of scoring here.
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12:45pm FOX CHEUNGER (NB)
Exponents ran into the well handicapped Demons Rock on his most recent start and with Zac Purton on board for the first time, he’ll be fancied by many to collect. However. It’s worth noting that his best form has come on the Happy Valley all-weather track track – and not Wednesday’s turf one.
The opposite is the case for FOX CHUENGER, which was a good winner over C&D in February and was massively eye-catching here again three weeks ago. Francis Liu’s five-year-old got no run for much of the journey before flashing home late to finish a promising fifth.
Given a much better draw, he looks to have an excellent chance of collecting here with luck on his side.
1:45pm – WINNING WAYS
Both Winning Ways and Super Alliances can be deemed to be unlucky on their last starts, with both horses getting badly impeded when making their challenges. While he has yet to win this year, Super Alliances has been running consistently but Winning Ways, a C&D winner in February, looks slightly more progressive.
The key thing to note here is that Joao Moreira has sided with Winning Ways now, despite partnering Super Alliances in four of his last six starts. Moreira has first dibs on the John Size runners, so opting for Winning Ways speaks volumes.
3:15pm – ABOVE
Four of the 12 runners clashed over 2200m three weeks ago when a bizarre ride by Chad Schofield arguably cost Above victory. Having challenged 300m out when winning over 2000m prior to that race, Schofield kicked 800m out for home, which in turn made him a sitting duck.
Unsurprisingly, Joao Moreira is now booked to take over and having won on the four-year-old twice, including over C&D two runs back.
Moreira will know exactly what to do and on his best form, this is Above’s race to lose.
3:50pm – DELIGHTFUL LAOS (nap)
Unless you were watching Happy Valley’s card two weeks ago, you probably won’t be familiar with the name Delightful Laos. However, what some may also not realise is that this is the same horse Michael O’Callaghan trained to win a maiden at Dundalk last October when known as Now The King.
He clearly wasn’t expected to win on his Hong Kong debut, given his odds of 59/1, but he bolted up over C&D despite been given plenty to do by jockey, Derek Leung.
This test doesn’t look much tougher and while he’s 5lbs worse off with fifth-placed Top Score, he still looks ‘well-in’ here. In time, we could easily be talking about Delightful Laos as a Group 1 horse in Hong Kong.
He’s the Nap on the card.
*Prices correct at publishing but are subject to change
The latest International racing odds are on PP.com now