Hong Kong | Horse Racing Free Tips

Hong Kong Racing Study Guide: Don’t Sleep On California Spangle, Even With A Step Up In Class

Not only will the blazing-fast California Spangle stretch out beyond 1,200 meters for the first time in the Hong Kong Classic Mile when he tries 1,600 meters but it will be his first start against stakes company. It seems to be a lot to ask but so far, all he has done is provide answers.

California Spangle began his career on June 13 last year in a Griffin race going five furlongs at Sha Tin. After an awkward start, he quickly seized command in the first 400 meters and streaked down the straight of the 1,000-meter sprint. An easy winner by a length, his time of 55.33 seconds was a class record for the distance. Back on July 4 against the same class but stretched out to 1200 meters, he romped by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:08.47 seconds with his last 400 meters in 22.64. Did I mention he carried 133 pounds?

So, after his summer break, Tony Cruz brought him out in a class 3 handicap going 1,200 meters on Oct. 24. From post 12, he was used hard to get over to the inside and ran his first 400 meters in 23.00. While that might not seem fast at first glance, remember that the races are automatically timed and there is not a run-up to a timing pole like we have. Twenty-three flat is the fastest first 400 meters run this year in 1,200-meter races at Sha Tin and California Spangle paid the price in the final yards when Rock Ya Heart nailed him on the wire.

He only picked up one pound off the loss and even from post 13, he came back four weeks later and won easily. With his rating now 82, Cruz moved him up to class 2 where he got in with a feathery 116 pounds. After setting a much slower pace, Fantastic Way put a nose in front but California Spangle kicked back in and drew off to win by a length while covering his last 400 meters in a blistering 22.35 seconds.

Carrying 124 pounds off that win, Tony Cruz kept him in class 2 at 1,200 meters and did not look the gift horse in the mouth. Even though it was the easiest of wins, he showed more gears in this effort as Zac Purton used him to make the lead, got him to switch off, went to the whip in the homestretch, then eased him up nearing the wire. His final time of 1:08.34 seconds was his fastest yet.

Now, he will try to negotiate another 400 meters down the long backstretch at Sha Tin. But it is his blazing speed that gives me confidence that he will be able to do it. The Classic Mile has big implications for the field. The purse of HK$12,000,000 is five times more than any of them have raced for. Knowing what California Spangle brings to the table, I'm not sure how many will wish to sacrifice their chances by engaging in a pace duel.

When I watch the replays of California Spangle's races, I see a fast horse. I do not see a headstrong horse. Once he gets away from the starting gate, it is his cruising speed that dominates. One-turn middle-distance races are often dominated by the horse with the best cruising speed. Run at level weights carrying 126 pounds, the Classic Mile should be right up his alley.

California Spangle's pedigree is another reason to think he can get the distance. Starspangledbanner was a group-one stakes winner in Australia going 5 ½ furlongs but upset the Caulfield Guineas (G1) at 12-1 going a mile over So You Think and Denman.

Brought to Europe and switched to Aidan O'Brien, he beat 23 others in the Golden Jubilee Stakes (G1) then came back to win the July Cup (G1); both at six furlongs. After his first stud career failed to get enough mares in foal, he came back two years later but could only finish second in a group three sprint at the Curragh.

Yes, he mostly sires sprinters but California Spangle's dam is by High Chaparral who won the 1 ½-mile Epsom Derby (G1), Irish Derby (G1) and back-to-back runnings of the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). He has sired numerous group stakes winners going long including a winner of the two-mile Melbourne Cup (G1).

So California Spangle has the genetic ability to get the distance of the Classic Mile. And he is trained by Tony Cruz who has masterfully prepped him for the 1600 meters with four, 1200 meter races in around 100 days. If he can't win the Hong Kong Classic Mile, it won't be from not being fit enough.

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Waikuku Stuns The World In Stewards’ Cup

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic dictated that there would be no one on hand Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse to 'witness' the running of the G1 Stewards' Cup. But there was a collective 'silence' right round the world when Waikuku (Ire) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) crossed the wire three-parts of a length to the good of the virtually unbeatable Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), who saw his attempt to equal the winning streak of Silent Witness (Aus) go by the wayside while tasting defeat for just the second time in his 21-race career.

For the record, Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was an eye-catching third over an insufficient trip, but all eyes were on the reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty, who jumped brilliantly from gate one, but then eased back to take up his customary position at the back, a few lengths less handy than last time in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile. Healthy Happy (Aus) (Zoustar {Aus}) lobbed them along up front, but Zac Purton had Waikuku right at his flank through an opening 800 metres in :49.47, some eight to nine lengths off standard time, as Golden Sixty raced keenly and tactically disadvantaged beneath Vincent Ho.

Steered out and around Hong Kong Mile runner-up More Than This (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) at the three-furlong pole, having continued to race freely, and losing crucial ground in the process, Golden Sixty had clear sailing into the stretch, but Waikuku raced to the front with a bit more than 300 metres to travel and the alarm bells would have been sounded. Though he was able to produce his typical barnstorming finish, with a final quarter-mile in :21.95, Golden Sixty had simply been set a task too tall. Unlike when he managed to scrape home in the 2020 Hong Kong Derby off a similarly slow tempo, he could not do so this time, and Waikuku was able to cause the upset. It was a seventh Stewards' Cup for trainer John Size.

“I was really happy with the way the race was run, I was in a lovely rhythm and I knew he was going to give me a kick but with Golden Sixty in the race, you're never home until you pass the post,” said Purton, who only recently returned from injuries suffered in that horror fall in the Hong Kong Sprint six weeks ago. “He's run many horses down the last few years, he's a champion and obviously the race wasn't run to suit him today.”

Golden Sixty was tasting defeat for the first time in 30 months.

“The horse is OK–he appears to have pulled up well,” trainer Francis Lui said. “It was just the draw. The way the race was run, he needed to be closer but, from the inside, it wasn't possible today.”

Winner of this race in 2020 when favoured at 1-2, the 2019 Derby runner-up was exiting a three-lengths' seventh to Golden Sixty in the international Mile Dec. 12, having previously run second to him in the G2 Jockey Club Mile Nov. 20.

Pedigree Notes:

Waikuku is one of two top-level scorers for the late Harbour Watch (Ire), the other being G1 Coronation Cup hero Pyledriver (GB), a latest second in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase last month.

London Plane is also the dam of breeder Shane Molan's Dancing Rebel (Ire) (Highland Reel {Ire}), who broke his maiden over five furlongs at the Curragh Oct. 14, a newly turned 2-year-old colt by Australia (GB) and a yearling filly by Harbour Watch's sire Acclamation (GB).

Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
STEWARDS' CUP-G1, HK$12,000,000 (£1,137,224/€1,358,861/
A$2,147,623/US$1,541,185), Sha Tin, 1-23, 3yo/up, 1600mT, 1:34:82, gd.
1–WAIKUKU (IRE), 126, g, 7, by Harbour Watch (Ire)
1st Dam: London Plane (Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
2nd Dam: Aunt Julia (GB), by In the Wings (GB)
3rd Dam: Original (GB), by Caerleon
(€33,000 Ylg '16 TISEP). O-Jocelyn Siu Yang Hin Tang; B-Shane Molan; T-John Size; J-Zac Purton; HK$6,840,000. Lifetime Record: 25-9-5-2, HK$43,807,450. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Golden Sixty (Aus), 126, g, 6, Medaglia d'Oro–Gaudeamus, by Distorted Humor. (A$120,000 Ylg '17 MMGCYS; NZ$300,000 2yo '17 NZBRTR). O-Stanley Chan Ka Leung; B-Asco International Pty Ltd (Qld); T-Francis Lui Kin-wai; J-Vincent Ho Chak-yiu; HK$2,640,000.
3–Russian Emperor (Ire), 126, g, 5, Galileo (Ire)–Atlantic Jewel (Aus), by Fastnet Rock (Aus). O-Mike Cheung Shun Ching; B-Coolmore, Lauri Macri & Partners; T-Douglas Whyte; J-Blake Shinn; HK$1,200,000.
Margins: 3/4, 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 14-1, 0.05, 24-1.
Also Ran: More Than This (GB), Sky Darci (NZ), Healthy Happy (Aus), Kings Shield. Click for the HKJC.com chart, PPs and sectional timing. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.

Stronger Gives Whyte First Group 1 As a Trainer…

The rare entire horse in Hong Kong, A$1.05 Inglis Easter graduate Stronger (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) rallied from the back of the field and just outfinished G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint winner Sky Field (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}) to give former jockey Douglas Whyte his first Group 1 success as a conditioner in Sunday's Centenary Sprint Cup at Sha Tin.

Away alertly for Vincent Ho, Stronger allowed the speedier early types to go on with it and raced with only Sky Field behind him, as Computer Patch (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) and Courier Wonder (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}) went a solid gallop up front. Eased out into about the six path as the field hit the straight, with Sky Field now alongside, Stronger (1098 pounds) was roused to the front inside the furlong marker and managed to hold the physically more imposing and similarly colored Sky Field (1205 pounds) in the run to the line.

A Group 3 winner in Australia for Peter and Paul Snowden, Stronger won one of nine starts for trainer John Moore in 2019/2020 and joined the Whyte yard upon the latter's compulsory retirement last season. Stronger scored in his first run for the barn in November 2020, and though he had dropped his last 13 races, posted board finishes four times at group level, earning the right to soldier on. He was most recently fifth in the Sprint Dec. 12.

Pedigree Notes:

Stronger becomes the 16th Group 1 winner for the pensioned Not A Single Doubt (Aus) and his second in Hong Kong, joining the recently retired G1 Champions Mile hero and multiple Stewards' Cup placegetter Southern Legend (Aus).

Stronger is out of a winning daughter of three-time listed winner and Group 1-placed Ain't Seen Nothin, dam of Singapore Horse of the Year Stepitup (Aus) (Hussonet); GSW Bachman (Aus) (All American {Aus}); and Ain'tnofallenstar (NZ) (Starcraft {NZ}), herself responsible for SW Ain'tnodeeldun (Aus) (Dundeel {NZ}).

Star Pupil is the dam of a yearling filly by Pariah (Aus), a filly foal by Snitzel (Aus) and visited the latter again last November.

Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
CENTENARY SPRINT CUP-G1, HK$12,000,000 (£1,137,224/
€1,358,861/A$2,147,623/US$1,541,185), Sha Tin, 1-23, 3yo/up, 1200mT, 1:08.78, gd.
1–STRONGER (AUS), 126, h, 5, by Not A Single Doubt (Aus)
1st Dam: Star Pupil (Aus), by Starcraft (NZ)
2nd Dam: Ain't Seen Nothin' (Aus), by Nothin' Leica Dane (Aus)
3rd Dam: Icecapade (Aus), by Genghiz
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (A$1,050,000 Ylg '18 INGEAS). O-Cheung Hon Kit, Joanna Cheung Wai Sze & Jonathan Cheung Yu Shing; B-Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd & Planette Thoroughbred (NSW); T-Douglas Whyte; J-Vincent Ho Chak-yiu; HK$6,840,000. Lifetime Record: GSW-Aus, 31-6-7-3, HK$17,281,510. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Sky Field (Aus), 126, g, 5, Deep Field (Aus)–Laravissante (NZ), by O'Reilly (NZ). (NZ$175,000 Ylg '18 NZBJAN). O-Kwan Shiu Man, Jessica Kwan Mun Hang & Jeffrey Kwan Chun Ming; B-M Ryan (NSW); T-Caspar Fownes; J-Blake Shinn; HK$2,640,000.
3–Hot King Prawn (Aus), 126, g, 7, Denman (Aus)–De Chorus (Aus), by Unbridled's Song. (A$90,000 Ylg '16 INGFEB). O-Lak Sau Hong; B-Torryburn Stud (NSW); T-John Size; J-Zac Purton; HK$1,200,000.
Margins: HD, HF, HF. Odds: 17-1, 31-10, 67-10.
Also Ran: Wellington (Aus), Super Wealthy (Aus), Courier Wonder (NZ), Master Eight (Aus), Computer Patch (Aus). Click for the HKJC.com chart, PPs and sectional timing. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.

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History On the Line in Stewards’ Cup

Reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) is already the owner of one local record, having become the winningest horse in Hong Kong history when easily defending his title in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile six weeks ago. The 6-year-old looms a dominant favourite when he goes in search of a second consecutive victory in Sunday's G1 Stewards' Cup over his pet distance and two more records lie straight ahead.

The Hong Kong Mile was win number 19 from 20 starts and not only took him to within a couple of Group 1 wins of shattering the all-time earnings mark of Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock {Aus})–who retired with HK$106 million in the bank–but also marked his 16th consecutive trip to the winner's circle dating back some 930 days to July 2019. Should he salute on Sunday, he will equal the winning streak set by the legendary Silent Witness (Aus) (El Moxie) as his own legend continues to grow.

Golden Sixty will race third-up in the Stewards' Cup and has been given a reasonably quiet time since the international Mile, finishing third to Group 1-winning sprinter Wellington (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}) in a 1000-metre trial Jan. 4 before being topped off with some easy hit-outs on the grass.

If connections are feeling any pressure, it isn't showing.

“There's no record in my mind at the moment, just focusing on the race,” jockey Vincent Ho told the HKJC notes team. “He's been working well. I'm looking forward to it. It's another small field. At the age of six, I think he's better than even before– mentally and physically.”

Golden Sixty's challengers include last-out Group 3 winner Healthy Happy (Aus) (Zoustar {Aus}) and Mile runner-up More Than This (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), while G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup third Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will be using this as a prep for next month's G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000mT).

In the afternoon's co-featured event, Sky Field (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}), who took the tragedy-filled G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint last month, goes for a Group 1 double in the Centenary Sprint Cup, where he will face Wellington, who lost all chance when miraculously avoiding the spill in the Sprint; defending champion Hot King Prawn (Aus) (Denman {Aus}); undefeated Master Eight (Aus) (Oamaru Force {Aus}); and the flighty Courier Wonder (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}).

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Morny Runner-Up Trident Sold To Hong Kong

Trident (Fr) Wootton Bassett {GB}), runner-up in the G1 Prix Morny for Andre Fabre and the Coolmore partners, has been sold to continue his career in Hong Kong.

Bloodstock agent Jamie Piggott, who brokered the deal, told TDN, “We bought him for a seven-figure sum for Mr Ho and he will go to Caspar Fownes. Coolmore were brilliant to deal with. The horse is now in Newmarket and starts his quarantine on 10 February.”

Bred by trainer David Smaga and Marie-Benedicte Fougy, Trident was a €140,000 yearling at the Arqana Select Sale of 2020. He won on debut at ParisLongchamp over 1,300 metres, and went straight to stakes company for his next start, finishing third in the G3 Prix Cabourg in Deauville. A fortnight later he put in his best run to date when runner-up to Perfect Power (Ire) in the Morny, with his final start of the campaign also marking his first start outside France. At Newmarket he finished second to subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Modern Games (Ire) in the G3 Tattersalls S.

Piggott continued, “It's a nice opportunity to be able to fulfil an order for the third-highest-rated 2-year-old in France. He has the size and scope to win in Hong Kong and he has a wonderful temperament. Andre Fabre has done a great job with him. Given his size, to do what he's done at two, coming second to the likes of Modern Games, is quite something.”

The agent, who also rides out regularly in Newmarket, added, “He's at Longholes in Newmarket now until he goes into quarantine for Hong Kong. I've been riding him everyday there and he's a lovely, big rangey horse.

“I have a fair few connections in Hong Kong. It's a shame we can't get over there at the moment, but I think there is a resurgence in interest in European bloodstock there, and long may it last.”

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