A track raced very fast with the time of the first race 1.47 seconds inside of standard! These horses aren’t that good and it just reflects the state of the surface. That said, the adjusted pace was still fast and the race rated pretty well, so I expect the form to stack up okay. McMunigal was quite brave of those who were on pace, and perhaps he might be entertained in another race where there isn’t as much pressure. 

The pace was even here and the race rated about where it should given the fast track. Gunnar and The Show are well exposed and reasonably consistent so they give us a good lead on the strength of the form, and although Ares is lightly-raced and won here, he can be competitive again in the grade but doesn’t indicate at this stage he’ll go too far. Gracylove (SID) was a touch slowly away on debut but clocked the 5th-best final-200m (11.08) at the meeting. He is a son of Shooting To Win and might be better at Sha Tin over 1400m plus… so we might have to wait a run or two.

This rated as the worst race on the card. Three lengths covered 11 of the 12 runners, which is a concern in conjuction with what was only a fair time. Dor Dor was unlucky while Tung Wah Glory closed strongly, but it’s hard to be confident about the form out of this race. 

The pace was good and this race rated well enough. Very Sweet Orange goes up in grade and will be competitive if he can find an average Class 3. Winning Ways worked hard mid-race and returned with ‘blood in the trachea’, he was huge and should be followed in the future. Super Lucky was equally good, closing with a 10.88 (3rd-best at meeting). Both can be followed. 

The first half-mile was run slowly and the race pace really ramped up from the 800m. Apparently the instructions for Encouraging were to ‘find cover’, which was just the wrong tactics. Anyway, overall, the race didn’t rate well. It was a very strange race-shape and I’m not sure how much was learnt. 

This was a really muddling-run affair. More Than A Horse was wide thorughout and was very brave all things considered. Winning Delight clearly stays and was strongest at the end. His final-200m (11.24 14th-best at meeting) was respectable given the distance and might be one to follow in some staying events, even though there aren’t many of them!!

For the class, this race rated just okay, but overall for the night, pretty well. Amazing Star’s run was clearly forgiveable, trackwork issues and a mishap prior to the start were compounded by him the being slowly away. We won’t be too heavily against him next time if at all. Waldorf continues to race well but he is near his mark, and there was not much to report with the rest. 

A steady tempo was set during the first-half of the race and then the second-half was run very quickly, making it very difficult for anything worse than midfield to win. Dances With Dragon was having his first start for the new yard and produced a good number, he might be able to go on with it. Cinquante Cinq (SID) is one to stick with. Noble Steed didnt have the race-shape to suit either. 

The pace was fast and the final-sectional was almost outside standard, setting it up nicely for the chasers. From that perspective, Californiadeepshot was enormous. He was contesting a fast pace and swallowed up late. He must be followed and makes the SID file. Victory Power continues to perform well.