The Longines Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) was a sedate affair when the horses lined up for the first Hong Kong Cup in 1988. There was just one race on the card and the only foreign shippers came from Singapore and Malaysia. What a difference HK $83 million (about $11 million USD) can make.
That is what is at stake this year in the four-race card of the “Turf World Championships” at Sha Tin Racecourse. Each race boasts 14 eligible starters and 28 international horses will tangle with 28 locally-trained runners. When handicapping, punters must parse among 26 Group 1 winners.
Hong Kong Cup
【2016 Hong Kong Cup Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 8, 7:00 a.m. (GMT)
Latest Odds: Hong Kong Cup (courtesy of bet365)
There is star power aplenty in the HK $25 million Hong Kong Cup, contested at 2000 metres. Much of that wattage is coming from Japan whose favourite equine sons Maurice and A Shin Hikari will tangle. In pre-race bet365 odds Maurice is drawing the most attention at 5/4. With good cause. In the last two years of racing as one of the world’s top milers, he has piled up six wins and two seconds in eight tries. One of those wins was in the Hong Kong Mile last year and Maurice seeks to become only the second horse to capture two different Hong Kong International Races. The two losses came this summer in back-to-back outings but the five-year old horse has apparently calmed concerns among bettors by storming to victory in the Grade 1 Tenno Sho stakes his last time out.
A Shin Hikari, another five-year old campaigner, jumped up in class to win the Hong Kong Cup last year. He started the 2016 racing season in fine form with a second Grade 1 score at the Prix d’Ispahan but the two outings for the Masanori Sakaguchi-trained horse since have been disappointing – a sixth place run in the Prince of Wales Stakes and failing to fire completely in the Tenno Sho en route to a 12th place finish. Backing for the defending champion has been cautious so far at 6/1.
But there is plenty of other international firepower to consider in the Hong Kong Cup – Helene Super Star, Elliptique, Designs On Rome, Queens Ring, and Lovely Day all have Grade 1 wins on their resume. Queens Ring, 6/1, has attracted the most support as the four-year old filly just rolled to her first Grade I triumph in the Queen Elizabeth II cup last month. Also drawing surprising early money is Staphanos at 7/1. The five-year old has only one win to his credit – a Grade 3 score in the Fuji Stakes over two years ago – and has been routinely beaten by equine countrymen Maurice and A Shin Hikari in the past.
Hong Kong Mile
【2016 Hong Kong Mile Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 8, 7:00 a.m. (GMT)
Latest Odds: Hong Kong Mile (courtesy of bet365)
The best betting race on the card promises to be the Hong Kong Mile, especially with defending champion Maurice opting for a run at the Cup. Most racing form readers will start with 2014 Hong Kong Mile winner Able Friend. The Australian-bred, Hong Kong-based gelding was in the middle of a six-race winning streak back then but the past year has seen no trips to the winner’s circle for the seven-year old. The Aussie runner not only was a well-beaten third in last year’s Mile but failed to defend in the Jockey Club Mile at Sha Tin as well. Able Friend is currently fetching odds of 11/2.
A win on this track in the Grade 2 Jockey Club Mile has propelled Beauty Only to the top of the betting table at a lukewarm 5/1. The lack of enthusiasm is understandable considering the five-year old gelding has only raced three times at the Grade 1 level and never hit the board. The same argument can be made against five-year old Satono Aladdin who is enjoying 11/2 odds. The Japanese shipper has never done better than a fourth place finish in four trips to a Grade 1 post.
Neorealism is listed at 13/2 but this Japanese import is only in his first year of racing as a five-year old. He captured the Grade 2 Sapporo Kinen stakes this summer at ten furlongs and then advanced to Grade 1 and finished a creditable third in last month’s Mile Championship. The Australian-bred Sun Jewellery was a sensation this summer after stretching out to a mile for the first time in his career as a four-year old. He won four races in five tries on this oval but since moving up to graded stakes competition this fall, the victories stopped coming. Still, a third place run in the Jockey Club Mile has earned Sun Jewellery 6/1 consideration even though it is a big ask to jump all the way to the Hong Kong Mile winner’s circle.
Hong Kong Vase
【2016 Hong Kong Vase Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 8, 7:00 a.m. (GMT)
Latest Odds: Hong Kong Vase (courtesy of bet365)
Punters will have to dig deep to build a creditable case against the four-year old colt from Aidan O’Brien’s stable, Highland Reel. The Irish champion has a record of success on the track (winning last year’s Vase) and is in top form (winning last month’s Breeder’s Cup Turf at Santa Anita). If there are any concerns about his durability, Highland Reel has already run eight times in six different countries. It is no surprise that bookie bet365 is sending the globetrotting star to post at 10/11 odds.
Expect Highland Reel’s stiffest challenge to come from Japanese veteran Nuovo Record. The five-year old chestnut mare is coming off a score in the Red Carpet Handicap at Del Mar which helped erase the sting of an 11th place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf three weeks earlier. She has not won a Grade 1 race in over two years but came up just short in the Hong Kong Cup last year and trainer Makoto Saito hopes the extra distance in the Vase will please his steady stayer.
Hong Kong Sprint
【2016 Hong Kong Sprint Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 8, 7:00 a.m. (GMT)
Latest Odds: Hong Kong Sprint (courtesy of bet365)
It is always best to look at the local talent in the six-furlong sprint with 11 Hong-Kong based winners in the past 14 tries. This year’s Sha Tin top choice is Lucky Bubbles at 5/2. Jockey Brett Prebble has been the master of the Hong Kong Sprint with three champions and he rates Lucky Bubbles with all but his best, Sacred Kingdom. Prebble should know – he has been in the irons for all of Lucky Bubbles’ 13 starts that include two seconds and a win since moving into graded stakes competition.
If it is a match race, the challenge is likely to come, as it often does in the International Races, from Japan and Big Arthur. The Kenichi Fujioka-trained sprinter looked impressive with wins in the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen and the Grade 2 Centaur Stakes but had a sour outing in the Sprinters Stakes in October. Not every bettor is willing to throw that effort out – Big Arthur is coming in at 11/4 while Sprinter Stakes winner Red Falx is fourth choice at 9/1.
