Embrace Elegant Life to secure a Valley win
RACEGOERS in Hong Kong will have plenty to look forward to when they arrive at Happy Valley for a nine-race programme starting at 11.40am on Wednesday.
With just two months and 14 race meetings left of the 2025/26 season, the race for the trainers’ title continues to catch the eye, with only 10 wins separating the top half-dozen stables.
There is plenty of water to flow under the bridge before the season finale at Happy Valley on July 15th, but you can guarantee that present leader Danny Shum, who is looking for his first trainers’ title, will have his eyes firmly glued to the programme book and be plotting winners for the next few weeks. The chasing pack, headed by Caspar Fownes, will also be going all out to close the leader down, which should make for a thrilling conclusion to the season.
It is likely, however, that the trainers’ championship race will be overshadowed during Wednesday’s action at the Valley by champion jockey Zac Purton, who is likely to celebrate a landmark of 2000 winners in the territory.
With just two winners needed to bring up the milestone, and a host of potential wining rides on the card, it will be disappointing for his many thousands of fans if he fails to land the magic figure.
Many will see Armor Golden Eagle as a penalty kick in the Sauternes’s Cup Handicap (1.40pm) over the extended mile, after the son of Ace High spaced his rivals by nearly four lengths over the course and distance last month. Obviously, the handicapper was not best pleased, giving the four-year-old a hefty 10-pound penalty for that win and he now faces a stiff task off his present rating.
The latest form of good yardstick Solid Win can be ignored after being nearly bought down in the race won by Armor Golden Eagle and his previous form reads well in this company.
Another that catches the eye is former dual course and distance winner EMBRACES who looks to have plenty in his favour. He has dropped two pounds below his last winning mark in May of last year and is 13 pounds better off for just over a three-length beating by Solid Win in February.
With a quick pace likely to be set by rivals Highland Rahy and Glittering Legend, suiting his trademark strong finish, and pilot Jerry Chau having won three-times aboard him in the past, he has plenty going for him.
With the Caspar Fownes stable having secured 37 of their 54 winners at the Valley this season, none of his raiders at the city track can ever be dismissed.
Fownes saddles a handful of gallopers, including ELEGANT LIFE in division two of the six-furlong Ciron Handicap (2.10pm).
Sent off favourite over five furlongs at the Valley last month, the Joao Moreira-ridden five-year-old was scrubbed along from the get-go when behind progressive Tycoon Resources, but he caught the eye when finishing strongly in the closing stages.
The step up in distance is an obvious plus, and the cherry on the cake is the fact he has drawn an inside gate in three.
POINTERS
Embraces e/w 1.40pm Happy Valley
Elegant Life 2.10pm Happy Valley