Dancing Fighter can rebound

Trainer Caspar Fownes is the king of Happy Valley, and in Dancing Fighter, Fownes might have the right horse for the co-featured eighth race Wednesday at Happy Valley.

Dancing Fighter totes top weight of 133 pounds facing nine rivals in a Class 3 sprint over 1,200 meters, but he has Zac Purton in the irons and the sharp form to overcome the weighty impost.

Fownes, 52, is the leading Hong Kong trainer at Happy Valley this racing season with 22 wins from 164 runners. For comparison’s sake, his record this season over the Sha Tin turf shows just six wins from 150 runners. Fownes’s sweet spot is 1,200 meters over Happy Valley turf. He has 12 winners from 66 such starters this season, and it’s in a 1,200-meter race that Dancing Fighter starts Wednesday night (first post for the nine-race card is 6:45 a.m. Eastern).

Dancing Fighter, a 4-yearold Australian-bred, ran well below his best form when eighth as the favorite at this class level, distance, and weight on March 25, but he won consecutive Class 3s from outside post positions in his two previous starts, both in 1,200-meter Happy Valley starts, and could easily rebound to that performance level Wednesday.

Golden Dash comes off a Class 3, 1,200-meter Happy Valley victory, and trainer Cliff Shum has named apprentice Matthew Poon to ride, helping mitigate the extra weight Golden Dash picks up after the win.

Larson, with Purton riding for trainer John Moore, is the ratings riser in race 9, a 1,000meter Class 3 dash. Larson is rated 73 now, up six points off a mark of 67 at which he scored a course-and-distance Class 3 win April 8. Top-rated Cue Bull drops from Class 2 competition and could try to show speed Wednesday from post 3.

Group 1 trio on deck

Hong Kong-based top-level horses were putting in final preparations this week for the three Group 1 races carded for Sunday at Sha Tin – the QE II Cup, the Champions Mile, and the Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

Beauty Generation, once again, is the star of the show with these races run spectator-free and without any international shippers permitted. Beauty Generation rose to the top of the Hong Kong ranks with a 2018 Champions Mile victory and dominated the race a year ago. After losing four straight races earlier this season, he has come back with two victories in a row and will be favored Sunday in the Mile over Waikuku, who ran far below form April 5 in Beauty Generation’s Chairman’s Trophy win.

Trainer John Moore on Thursday will give both Beauty Generation and Chairman’s Sprint Prize contender Aethero their final fast work for the races. Aethero, who needs to race forwardly, blew the start in his April 5 prep for this race but should be formidable with a better break Sunday.

Exultant figures to be heavily favored in the QEII Cup over 2,000 meters.