In the article below you will find the time comparisons and speed ratings for the 8 races at Happy Valley this Wednesday. Let's start with the disappointing news as both my selections managed to finish fourth after being outpaced at crucial stages. I can make an excuse for Owner's Praise who was being turned out again so quickly after his unlucky run on Sunday and was simply caught off heels as the pace lifted. He ran a speed rating of 98 which saw him come out best at the weights, though that will give little comfort to connections or his backers. He probably needs some time to get over 2 races in just 3 days, but he did run his race and should find another opportunity on his current mark. I cannot make the same excuse for Loyal Ambition. He got his own way in front as I predicted and simply failed to find anything for pressure in the closing stages. He did weigh in at his heaviest weight since moving to Hong Kong, but that is a loose excuse at best.
Now we can move on to the better news. We saw some very good performances and fast times to go with it towards the end of the card, most notably from Dancing Code and Helene Feeling. The former produced a superb performance to win from a wide draw and he looks to be a very progressive and exciting prospect after just 5 starts in Hong Kong. The latter caught the eye by winning the Class 2 feature race at the end of the card. He overcame a wide draw, a lack of cover at times and raced prominently in a strongly run race, so we can definitely upgrade his performance. Since moving to Hong Kong he has never finished out of the frame and looks to be on a sharp upward curve, but I will add a small note of caution. He was receiving weight from all of his rivals today and so although it looked visually very impressive, he was weighted to produce a performance like that. There were some discussions that I saw to suggest that he could make up into a Derby prospect and he may well do so, but he will need to do it again once the handicapper has had a say before I would fully believe he is capable of winning in Group company.
