Zac Purton, the reigning Hong Kong jockey champion, celebrates riding four winners in the season’s opening program Sunday at Sha Tin Racecourse. Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Jockey Club
Sept. 9 (UPI) — Just as the European horse racing season starts to wind down, action started to heat up in other corners of the world during the weekend, including two Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” heats in Korea.
Hong Kong returned to action, while England and France both had Group 1 events that will impact year-end assignments and rankings.
Here’s the scoop …
England
Montassib and Kind of Blue emerged from a scrum in the final furlong of Saturday’s Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, with Montassib getting the verdict by a head. Unequal Love completed the all-long shot top three.
Montassib, with Cieren Fallon riding for trainer William Haggis, rallied near the middle of the course with his rival to his inside.
The 6-year-old Exceed and Excel gelding was coming off a Group 3 victory on the Newcastle all-weather course and contesting his first Group 1 race.
Haggis said next month’s Group 1 Sprint on Champions Day is a logical next race for Montassib and, given the lack of consistent form in the division, he could go favorite there.
Korea
It was all Japan all the time on Korea’s biggest race day Saturday, as Japanese invaders finished 1-2 in both of the big international stakes, earning “Win and You’re In” berths in Breeders’ Cup races.
The American challenger, Anarchist, managed a third in the Group 3 Korea Sprint, but that was 8 lengths adrift of the winner.
That winner was Remake, the 1-5 favorite in Western markets, who was defending last year’s victory.
The 5-year-old son of Lani was coming off a fourth-place finish in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen and, under Yuga Kawada, had no difficulty seeing off Jasper Krone by 2 lengths this time around. The win was good for an invitation to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November.
The Group 3 Korea Cup also produced a repeat winner, as Crown Pride rolled home first, 5 lengths in front of runner-up Wilson Tesoro.
Crown Pride, a 5-year-old by Reach the Crown, won the Group 2 UAE Derby in Dubai in 2022 but then finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby. He has six wins and four seconds from 16 starts while traveling the globe, and now holds a ticket to the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
France
Sunday’s Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp was billed as a showdown involving 2,000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes winner Notable Speech and 4-year-old Queen Anne and Jacques le Marois winner Charyn.
But it was Tribalist, the Godolphin stablemate of Notable Speech, who made all and ran on to win by 1 1/4 lengths from Charyn under Mickael Barzalona. And Coolmore’s Henry Longfellow, a bit of a forgotten factor, got third as Carlmelito reported fourth and Notable Speech finished fifth.
Tribalist, a 5-year-old son of Farhh, trained by Andre Fabre, was not a total surprise, having won a pair of pattern races early in the season at Saint-Cloud. A ninth-place showing in Deauville in July and a two-months break, however, had him overlooked by the experts.
He finished last of 14 in the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Mile last December, but Fabre said he might get another overseas chance.
“Nowadays, there are no other options than to go for the Foret next. Then we’ll look at the Breeders’ Cup,” Racing Post quoted Fabre as saying.
Hong Kong
They’re off and running with the 2024-25 season in Hong Kong. And 42,566 fans who turned out at Sha Tin Racecourse after enduring Super Typhoon Yagi in the previous days were treated to an historic performance by Ka Ying Rising.
The 4-year-old toted a record 135 pounds to victory in the feature race, the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap, winning by 1 1/4 lengths over Beauty Waves. The handicap conditions had the latter shouldering 115 pounds.
“I was very nervous because common sense said a young horse carrying 135 pounds in testing conditions and giving a lot of good horses weight couldn’t win,” winning trainer David Hayes said. “But he did it brilliantly, and I’m so proud of him. He’s a bit special, isn’t he?”
Ka Ying Rising is pointed to some of Hong Kong’s biggest races this season, so we’ll see. The last two winners, Victor the Winner and Lucky Sweynesse, went on to Group 1 glory.
Winning rider Zac Purton, however, already has built a big lead as he chases his eighth jockey championship. He won four on the program, including the opener.
“The last time I won the first race of the season, I broke the record for most number of wins [179 in 2022-23] in a season. So let’s hope history repeats,” Purton said.
