Jack Dawling reviews the day at Sha Tin with his horse to follow, ride of the day and best training performance.
Horse to follow: Packing Glory
Ricky Yiu Poon-fai was looking ahead to a nice future for Packing Glory after the debutant overcame a wide berth to record an impressive win at Sha Tin yesterday.
Packing Glory, who drew barrier two down Sha Tin’s straight 1,000-meter course, had to do it tough under Zac Purton, but that didn’t stop the four-year-old powering home down the center of the track to win by a length and a quarter.
“Zac said it’s not easy to win a race from the wide draw, so I’m happy with [Packing Glory],” Yiu told The Standard. “The horse still isn’t sure what he is doing and he’s a little bit green, so I think he can transform into a good horse.
“I think a mile will be his maximum distance, but he could be exciting.”
Ride of the day: Hong Lok Golf
Harry Bentley ensured Chris So Wai-yin’s Group 1 aspirations for his classy five-year-old Hong Lok Golf were still on the table thanks to a pinpoint steer in yesterday’s feature, a Class 2 over 1,600m.
While Hong Lok Golf arrived at Sha Tin on Sunday with an impressive record of six wins from nine runs, the Australian-bred galloper had failed to justify short prices on his two starts this season.
But after Bentley found a perfect spot in midfield on the rail from the inside gate, the Englishman produced him in the final strides to get his head in front at the all-important moment and prevail by a neck.
“The race panned out for me from barrier one,” Bentley said. “With a bit of an injection of speed around the bend, he travelled into it really well and he’s a game horse.
“Once the gap came, he picked up really well for me. Credit to the horse and the team as well.”
After the Class 2 win, So said he would consider running Hong Lok Golf in the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup in January.
Training performance of the day: Danny Shum
Matters Most was only confirmed to run at Sha Tin yesterday when he was promoted to the field following Wings Of War’s withdrawal and Danny Shum Chap-shing ensured he was in tip-top condition.
The four-year-old, who surprised punters with a shock 66.0 win on his penultimate start, showed the same tenacity in yesterday’s ninth race under Ellis Wong Pang-chi to take his Hong Kong record to three wins from 16 starts.
It was a case of deja vu at Sha Tin yesterday as Matters Most led the field under Wong to fend off a host of fast-finishing rivals after he started as a 19.6 outsider.
The 68-rated galloper, who failed to fire as a 3.4 second favorite at Sha Tin last time out, took the field at a reasonable pace before staying on best of all close home. Super Strong Kid, the 1.9 favorite, could only manage third.
