One of the more eye-catching runs in recent meetings came from Chicken Dance (SID) in the first race. He didn’t possess a lot of early speed and looked green in the home straight, but posted the fourth-best final-200m (11.32) and clearly looks a runner to follow. The race didn’t rate anything special, but the winner Mr Croissant sat three-wide without cover and can go on with the job as well. General Trump also delivered a sound effort. 

Note: Aerohappiness returned with ‘blood in the trachea’ and this might explain a bit with him.This race rated well and the winner Dan Control could be pretty smart. He was well rated in th lead, but ultimately far too good. Looking Good ran on well and Sha Tin seems to suit him better, but he isn’t an easy one to catch. 

Note: Trust Me was lame after the race. A good tempo was set here but the first four past the post all came from worse than midfield. Meridian Genius needs blinkers and further. Diamond Brilliant (SID) ran well on debut and he looks a nice prospect, while Emerald Spur is still learning his craft and has upside. The race didn’t rate anything super special, more like a length above standard for the class, but there are some progressive looking gallopers to come out of it that are worth sticking with.

A very slow first 400m was set here and then the pace ramped up considerably, which played in to the hands of the winner Splendour And Gold, that said, he was still very impressive. The stablemate to the winner, Winning Controller, was the runner that injected the speed in to the event and did well to finish third. There is an on-going inquiry into the ride on Winning Controller during the middle stages of the race.

This race rated about where it should for the class. The early stages were quite solidly run and the winner Craig’s Star had a nice run. Chairman Lo definitely went better ridden a touch more patiently in the early stages. Sam’s Love did his usual thing but he is proving costly. 

A good solid tempo and this race rated well, especially for the grade. Dynamic Eagle and Vincy both closed well, and whilst no one single performance really stood out, I expect the form to hold up well enough from this event. 

They went slowly here and then sprinted home. As a consequence, most of the best closing sectionals for the day were recorded in this event. Overall, the race still rated okay but not a lot was learned from it in reality. The winner Full Of Beauty is obviously very smart. Assimilate broke 22 seconds (21.97) for the final-400m and might be one to keep an eye on moving forward.

The Hong Kong Derby didn’t end up rating as well as a number of the lead up races. A really slowly run second section of the race was probably part of the cause. It was a great piece of riding from Hugh Bowman to slot in to a handy position on Furore with cover before the first turn. Moreira simply waited to long to make his move on Waikuku. By the time he went, the overall pace picked up, so Waikuku was huge in defeat considering he had to make a 1000m run on him (his last 600m 33.78 was the seventh-best at meeting/equal sixth-best final-200m 11.36) when the pace increased. He was a deserved favourite and it is easy to make a case that he should have won. Waikuku will end up being the best four-year-old out of this crop going forward I would say. That said, Furore and Dark Dream (three wide without cover) were both very good and Sunny Speed on just his third local start ran very well. Helene Leadingstar will be well suited to the Queen Mother Memorial and Champions & Chater over 2400m later in the season. Ho Ho Khan is promising as well.

Joao Moreira didn’t exactly produce a very good ride here on odds-on favourite Invincible Missile, in fact this was ordinary. That said, the winner was excellent when rallying from a pretty sedate tempo through the first-800m. Invincible Missile will be hard to beat when he next appears. 

It was a well-rated ride in front by Derek Leung on Encouraging, but consdidering they ran the final-400m in 22.90 it made it nearly impossible for Tornado Twist. Once he was slow away, there wasn’t much Moreira could do, but this completed the trio of rides I’m sure the ‘Magic Man’ would like to forget. In the end, stick with Tornado Twist.