We return to Sha Tin on Sunday morning for a 10-race card. Although there is nothing higher than a Class 3 contest on Sunday, it is still a fiercely competitive card. However, I have managed to find a couple of selections in the earlier races and hopefully they will be worth setting an alarm clock for.
Sunday’s card gets underway at 6:00am with a Class 4 handicap over a mile and this does look to be one of the better betting opportunities of the day. Unlike most of this field, Smart Beauty is a winner and having ended last season with form figures of 1,3,1, he has an obvious chance. Now, I should point out that all of his 4 wins last season came in Class 5, but his connections could not have wished for a weaker contest for him as he steps up in class and he ought to be involved in the shake up after a period of very consistent trackwork. However, regardless of the opposition, he is now up to a mark of 46, fully 18-points higher than he was at this point 12-months ago and so I think he is worth taking on with Family Jewel. He is the least exposed runner in the lineup after just 3 starts in Hong Kong, but he has had the benefit of a recent run after finishing 7th over this course and distance last week, and there are lots of reasons to take encouragement from that run.
Firstly, he was very well backed and went off at an SP of 4.8, which would suggest that there was a fair amount of confidence coming from connections on his seasonal return. Having travelled nicely in mid-division, he was shaken up as they turned into the straight but simply didn’t get the racing room he needed at a crucial stage. The fact that he is turned out again so quickly would suggest that this is considered to be his time and the change of rider from Vincent Ho to Hugh Bowman could suit this time around. A decent draw in stall 4, coupled with the unfortunate way the race unfolded last week, might well persuade connections to adopt a more aggressive set of tactics and I am a big fan of Bowman on a front-running ride. As I stated above, this looks to be a weak enough race and with a smaller field, he should be kept clear of trouble and ought to deliver on the potential that he showed on this mark last week.
My other selection on the card is more of a hunch, but I have been keen to get Medic Elite on side in September and he makes some decent Win and Place appeal in Race 4 at 7:30. He was a winner at Happy Valley in September last year, which followed a solid build up in the early season Barrier trials and he has followed a very similar pattern this summer, which included a Barrier Trial win at Conghua 3-weeks ago. Although he is on a higher mark this time around, he is still racing in the bottom grade, and he shapes like a horse who goes best at this time of year. Well drawn in stall 5, he should get a fair run and in his current form, that should be enough to at least hit the frame.
Advised Bets:
6:00 - Family Jewel - 1pt Win
7:30 - Medic Elite - 1pt Each-Way (2pts)
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