The first two in the run were the first two home and a slow pace obviously was a key factor here and this was the worst rated race on the card. Sam’s Love (SID) was disadvantaged by the pace and never looked a winning chance but he has dropped further in the ratings and should be winning shortly providing he finds a race with better tempo. 

The first half of this race was run very fast and the final half-mile was run very slowly. While most of those that figured in the finish were close enough to the speed, that’s because the back markers aren’t anything special in comparision. I Do was excellent in defeat, he worked early and battled admirably. He is already on the SID list and should prove hard to beat next time. Both Swot Windicator and My Winner aren’t far away either.

Even on a track that was riding fast, the tempo here was very solid, almost eight lengths faster than standard up until the 400m mark. The winner, Ho Ho Khan was perfectly suited and won nicely, but Helene Leadingstar (SID) was enormous in defeat. The South Australian Derby winner (formerly known as Leicester) posted a figure here that puts him right in the Derby picture and on-par with Dark Dream’s win over 2,000m. He will be worth following in the Classic Cup in the lead up to the Hong Kong Derby.

A steady tempo was set here and it was a sprint home, suiting the winner Full Of Beauty. He goes up in class now and will be competitive there, while Craig’s Star remains and will be close to a win. Charizard ran on strongly but rated in line with previous efforts. Overall, the race rated fairly with the steady pace, but a respectabe final-600m.

It is worth noting that D B Pin was found to be lame the next day. Overall however one really didn’t learn much from this race. Beat The Clock had the right run with the tempo and Mr Stunning ran a similar figure to his 2018 HKIR success. Winner’s Way put in his best run of the preparation, but I’m not sure he can turn the tables on a few of these over the trip. 

This was run at a solid pace and it set up nicely for the winner, Sacred Ibis who ran the majority of the race near the back of the pack. That said, he was strong and off a good pace and considering he remains in the grade, he can run well again. Famous Warrior was lame the next day so there was plenty of credit in that effort and he too is close to a victory. However, while the race rated okay, I’m not sure about the quality of the field overall. 

Beauty Generation rated a couple of lengths below his HKIR Mile win, but not much else to note here. Conte ran well on his first attempt in Group 1 company, but that second spot is up for grabs behind Beauty Generation.

It was an unusual race shape for a 1,000m event, where the tempo was relatively slow and they sprinted home the final 400m. The steady nature of this race over 1,000m ensured most of the best sectionals were posted in this event, but Diamond Dragon (SID) still goes into the file. He posted a meeting-best 11.22 final-200m, but more importantly gets a drop in grade and I would like to see him over 1,200m. 

This race rated just okay, the winner Kasi Farasi had the perfect run but there was one that went down as a good performance, Winning Endeavour (SID). This import was having just his third Hong Kong start, his bodyweight is coming down with every run and he is posting better figures each time. He had mile form from Ireland and if he gets a step up in trip I will be happy to follow him. 

This was the second-best race of the day. Waikuku was a dominant winner chasing a solid speed through the first three sections. This win rated inferior to Helene Leadingstar but it was still a very impressive figure and he isn’t far off the main Derby contenders. In addition, he is posting these numbers over 1,400m, and he should really hit his straps over further.