Horse Racing Trader’s Tips: Happy Valley – Wednesday 15th April
Our trader Mark Underhill looks ahead to the meeting in Hong Kong
We’ve got race meetings throughout the day from Japan, Sweden, Australia and America, but it’s the action from Happy Valley which has caught our traders’ eye.
The first race on the nine-race card from Hong Kong gets underway at 11:45, and our trader has given us his picks ahead of the action…
Top Jockey
In Sunday’s meeting at Sha Tin, Joao Moreira rode a treble to extend his lead over nearest challenger Zac Purton in the race for the Hong Kong jockey’s title.
Moreira notched his 99th, 100th and 101st win on that card, with Purton only notching his 97th win of the season.
The pair have both been crowned Champion Jockey in Hong Kong three times each in the last six seasons, and both have a full book of nine rides each on today’s card in their battle for this season’s title.
In the hunt to become Hong Kong’s leading trainer, it’s Francis Lui and Ricky Yiu who are joint top so far this campaign, with 47 wins apiece.
Joao Moreira booked rides: Galaxy Racer (11:45), Monkey Jewellery (12:15), Triumphant Horse (12:45), Victory Mastery (13:15), Super Winner (13:45), Californiadeepshot (14:15), Heavenly Thought (14:45), Meridian Genius (15:15), Enrichment (15:50)
Zac Purton booked rides: Virtus Star (11:45), Compassion Spirit (12:15), Tung Wah Glory (12:45), Shanghai Master (13:15), Magic Supreme (13:45), Shouson (14:15), Jolly Honour (14:45), Island Shine (15:15), Dances With Dragon (15:50)
Cedar Handicap (15:50)
The final race of the day’s nine handicaps features the highest quality. Three runners in the nine-furlong Grade Two race ran in the Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin last time out.
On that occasion, it was Reliable Team who fared best, finishing a creditable fifth from 14 runners and being beaten by only four and a half lengths in a race worth in excess of £1.1 million to the winner. Amazing Beats finished 8th, with Private Secretary coming home in 13th.
Frankie Lor’s four-year-old has won three of his previous six race starts at Happy Valley, finished outside of the top three only once. He’s dropped a grade here and with a decent draw in stall four, he should go well.
Seven-year-old Helene Charisma is a dual course and distance winner here and will be familiar to some European racing fans, having won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris at Saint-Cloud in 2016. He ran for Pia Brandt under his previous name, Mont Ormel.
On that occasion, he beat the top-class Cloth Of Stars into third, but has won only three of his 40 starts since being sold to race in Hong Kong.
Righteous Doctrine has won Sha Tin handicaps under the stewardship of Joao Moreira on his two most recent starts. Both of those wins came on the all-weather course, and the gelding has finished unplaced in all seven of his previous turf runs in Hong Kong so he looks opposable on debut at Happy Valley.
Moreira switches to 11-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer John Size’s Enrichment for this race, who is currently on a 17-race losing streak.
He’s been running well of late having finished second at Sha Tin on his two most recent outings, but they’ll look to capitalise on his sole career win, which came on the last occasion he was ridden by Moreira.
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All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.
