Buddies has the edge at Sha Tin

Buddies has the current form, the proven record over the Sha Tin dirt track, and even a counterbalance to his hefty weight assignment in Wednesday’s featured race 4 on the Hong Kong circuit.

Wednesday night racing in Hong Kong typically takes place at Happy Valley, but this week’s program, first post 6:45 a.m. Eastern, comes at the regular weekend track, Sha Tin.

The feature comes early, carded as race 4 of nine, and drew nine entrants going one lap, 1,650 meters, around the Sha Tin dirt track, which is officially designated “all weather.”

Buddies, a 4-year-old Australian-bred by So You Think, enters in career-best form, an easy Sha Tin turf win at the Class 1 level last out boosting his official rating all the way up to 95, highest in this race open to horses rated 100-80. Buddies is weighted at 131 for this race and would be giving as much as 13 pounds to his rivals had trainer John Moore not named 20-year-old apprentice Jerry Chau to ride. Chau still carries a 10-pound bug, and now the horse that best fits the spot isn’t handicapped by extra weight. Buddies does not seem like the trickiest ride, either, as his tendency is to go to the front or sit just behind one or two horses. If that sounds like the profile of a dirt runner, it is, as Buddies has compiled a 3-2-2 record from seven starts over the Sha Tin dirt course.

Glorious Artist, rated 92, was ineffective April 1 in his most recent Sha Tin dirt try but has a 4-2-1 record from 10 Hong Kong dirt races and is a three-time winner over 1,650 meters at Sha Tin.

Exultant, once more

Exultant staked his claim as Hong Kong’s horse of the year winning the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup on Sunday.

Exultant now is 7-4-1-2 during the 2019-20 Hong Kong season, with Group 1 wins in the QEII Cup last month and in Sunday’s 2,400-meter race. Exultant’s claim on horse of the year would look stronger compared to his chief rival for the award, Golden Sixty, had he also won the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase in December, but Exultant finished third in that start. Golden Sixty’s swept Hong Kong’s version of the Triple Crown but didn’t face top competition outside his age set.

Exultant’s two recent Group 1 wins came in stakes that were watered down because the coronavirus pandemic led to a prohibition on international shippers.

Exultant, under Zac Purton, was game Sunday, chasing the pace of Time Warp, going clear in upper stretch, looking wobbly at the 200-meter mark, but finding more as runner-up Chefano closed in late. Purton said he thought Exultant was running on fumes at the furlong grounds and was somewhat surprised when Exultant found more in the closing yards. Tony Cruz trains Exultant, a 6-yearold Irish-bred by Teofilo.

Thanks Forever won a slowpaced renewal of the Sha Tin Vase, a Group 3 sprint on Sunday’s card. Hot King Prawn set an easy tempo but could only finish second.