RACING in Hong Kong is back for another Saturday meeting at Sha Tin this weekend with an 11-race-programme, including the final two all-weather contests of the season.
Racegoers may have struck lucky last weekend when the expected storms and rain bypassed the track before disappearing into the South China Sea, but they will not be so lucky this time.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain are already lashing down in the territory and are forecast to carry on for at least another 48 hours, guaranteeing that track conditions will ride soft.
The main contest on the card, the six-furlong Class Two Li Cup Handicap (10.40am) provides a small but select field of seven gallopers with little to choose between most of them on form.
This looked an ideal race set-up for talented but sometimes exasperating Young Champion, who is at his best when produced with a short sharp sprint in the closing stages and has tactical master Hugh Bowman in the saddle.
Unfortunately, he hates soft or yielding conditions and has to be passed over on this occasion.
The booking of Zac Purton for the first time aboard Rising Force looks a masterstroke, with the champion jockey an ideal pilot to get the best out of the four-year-old.
The New Zealand import is a winner twice already in his first season but has also finished runner-up five times and highlighted by sometimes over-racing and will need all of Purton’s skill to conserve his energy.
Top-weight Sky Trust can never be discounted, having won twice previously against similar company and ‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira doing the steering.
He looks an obvious threat, but the one galloper who really catches the eye is the Francis Lui trained TURQUOISE VELOCITY.
This son of Zoustar has already had a successful first-season campaign, with four wins from eight runs and looks a highly progressive sprinter.
The formbook says he is up ten pounds from his last win in May, but on that occasion, he gave three pounds and a beating to highly rated and subsequent winner My Mars, importantly on soft ground.
Provided jockey Keith Yeung can settle his mount near or in front from the off and keep something in reserve before the dash for glory down the home straight, he should be difficult to catch.
POINTER
Turquoise Velocity 10.40am Sha Tin
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