Hong Kong Racing 2014/15

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Kitan

International Trial day this Sunday (local, Saturday night in North America) features two foreigners: Spalato (Singapore) and Hana's Goal (Japan)

Awesome to see uber-horse Spalato there especially (and very cool that James McDonald is riding).

His replays, for anyone who cares...

http://www.turfclub.com.sg/Racing/Pa...?HorseID=42803

Good luck to two of my favorites of all time, Lucky Nine and California Memory.

Nice fields! Good luck to you.

[my miss storm cat]

Hope you did well, Kitan.

Nice wins by Able Friend, Blazing Speed and Peniaphobia and, of course, I'm thrilled my old guys were so game.

Poor Lines of Battle. Don't think he likes it there much. Are the Helenes jinxed? Aside from that one amazing season Helene Pillaging had (I'm sure you remember him)...

Fun watching HK replays but alas... it will never be as good as it was a few years back with all the members of the old guard.

[Kitan]

I didn't play---I was away all weekend and only got a chance to watch the replays late last night. Able Friend will take some beating in the Mile! HK will never be the same. I have nothing against Flindell but he doesn't bring any excitement to his calls...

Some lineup in the jockey challenge too!

McEvoy, Soumillon, Smullen, Fukunaga, J. McDonald, Khumalo, Moore, Hughes, I. Ortiz, Purton, and two local jockeys TBD tomorrow.

Selected runners for the HKIR also come out tomorrow. Red Cadeaux and Farraaj have already arrived.

[Kitan]

Just had a closer look at the Sprint...

Huge run from Lucky Nine first up. Couldn't get a run, ended up last, and flew with a big finish. No horse older than 6 has won the HK Sprint but he could be the first...

Spalato apparently was a bit lame, even potentially prior to the race.

Sterling City got into trouble again. Three poor runs from him on paper this season but he's had excuses in all of them. Might be the forgotten one at a monster price come the big day, especially if Jo sticks on.

Aerovelocity had a torrid time in the straight, and that's an understatement.

Golden Harvest and Smart Volatility both closed well. The HK group seems very closely matched this year.

It was a big effort from Peniaphobia, but I wonder how much that will take out of him, and he also did avoid trouble. Promising 2yo in the UK but he's still technically 3...