Six furlongs lay between fourteen horses and the Hong Kong Sprint title on Sunday as the short-distance specialists do battle at the 2022 Hong Kong International Races meeting at Sha Tin.
Favourite for this edition at 3.50 with William Hill is Lucky Sweynesse who will be aiming to land trainer Manfred K.L. Man a first win in this contest and a third for jockey Zac Purton.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 8th, 4:00 P.M. (GMT)
The 4-year-old has only raced at Sha Tin or Hong Kong’s other track, Happy Valley, winning seven of his ten races and never finishing lower than third. The last two outings, both Grade 2s at Sha Tin and with Purton on board, resulted in a win and a second. The win was in the Jockey Club Sprint, beating eight of his rivals for Sunday.
One of those rivals was Wellington (4.50), only sixth that day but the victor over Lucky Sweynesse in the Grade 2 Premier Bowl in October. Usual jockey Alexis Badel has been replaced by Ryan Moore who is riding Richard Gibson’s 6-year-old for the first time.
All of Wellington’s 18 races have come at Sha Tin where he has recorded 11 wins, including three Grade 1s; this year’s winner of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup and twice a winner of the Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
Last year’s winner, Sky Field, runs again for Caspar Fownes and Blake Shinn takes the ride once more. A somewhat surprise winner at around 21.00 a year ago, the 6-year-old is even less fancied to put in a repeat performance at 34.00 after not picking up a win since.
Second in the 2021 running is expected to do well again, however. Resistencia for Takeshi Matsushita and Joao Moreira is the 7.00 third favourite. Raced only three times since and no better than a third in the Victoria Mile in Tokyo to show for it, the 5-year-old could benefit from good ground at Sha Tin.
8.00 shot Gendarme comes to Hong Kong for the first time off the back of winning the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama, while also at 8.00 was third that day but took a Grade 1 at Chukyo in March. Another of the Japanese contingent, Meikei Yell (11.00) was well beaten in the Sprinters Stakes but has won three graded races on home turf in 2022.
Stronger – fifth in the 2021 race – and Sight Success have both spent their whole careers in Hong Kong and are both at 21.00. It’s 34.00 bar those.
