Francis Lui Kin-wai was ready to put Hot Delight away for the season, but a forgiving view of his first defeat has opened the door for one more run.
Hot Delight returns in Sunday’s Class 2 Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarships Handicap (1,200 meters) from barrier 10, with Vincent Ho Chak-yiu back aboard after riding him to his first three wins.
Lui said the decision to have one more start this term came after discussions with owner Peter Law Kin-sang, although next season remains the bigger focus for the stable’s leading three-year-old.
“Because last time he drew wide and because of the track condition, we wanted to give him another run,” Lui said, referring to the good-to-yielding surface that he felt was not ideal for Hot Delight.
There was still merit in that one-and-a-quarter-length fourth behind Patch Of Stars. Hot Delight raced outside leader Victor The Winner and stuck on best of the on-pace runners in a race dominated by horses coming from behind.
The form has worked out since. Victor The Winner weakened to eighth but returned to win a Class 2 at Happy Valley at his next start, while Patch Of Stars subsequently won the Group 3 Sha Tin Vase.
Hot Delight burst onto the scene this term by winning his first three starts by a combined five and three-quarter lengths, quickly announcing himself as one of the most exciting young prospects in town. That sharp rise came at a cost in the ratings, climbing 29 points from his debut mark of 52 before tackling Class 2 at start four.
Lui has been around long enough to know Hong Kong can be unforgiving for a young horse asked to rise that quickly. Even Golden Sixty, the best horse he has trained and one of Hong Kong racing’s all-time greats, was given a much later start to his first campaign than Hot Delight.
Golden Sixty did not debut until more than two months later in his first season than Hot Delight did this term. He also won his first three starts before being beaten off a rating of 75 in Class 3.
Hot Delight was asked to chase four straight sooner than Golden Sixty, in stronger company and off a higher rating of 81.
The recent list of horses to win at least four straight in Hong Kong includes Romantic Warrior, but it also carries a warning.
John Size has trained three of the past 10 horses to build a streak of at least four wins. Full Of Beauty won four in a row in 2019 before winning only once more from his next 11 starts, while Champion’s Way also strung together four that year before adding three more wins from 32 subsequent runs. Courier Wonder went even further, winning his first five races as a three-year-old in 2020 and climbing from a debut mark of 52 to 100, but he never won again in 18 starts.
Frankie Lor Fu-chuen has also trained three from the same group. Winning Dreamer won his first two starts in his debut season in 2020, returned the following term to win four straight, then won only once more from his next 22 starts. Master Eight won five in a row for Lor in 2021 and never won again in 16 starts.
Lor’s Salon S has also won four from four to start this season, but his rise was more measured, landing the fourth off 77 before going to 85 – a mark he was beaten at at his fifth start. Hot Delight had already gone from 52 to 81 by start four.
Hot Delight meets some familiar rivals on Sunday, including Victor The Winner, while Public Attention also comes out of the same race after finishing third at his first start for Brett Crawford.
“I was very happy with the run,” Crawford said. “He looks like he has come on for that run. At home, he’s shown signs that he has improved. He looks really well.
“He was bought with the Derby in mind, and they tried to get him there, but it just didn’t work out. Obviously, his run for us was his second run after gelding, and it was a great starting point.”
