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HKIR Sha Tin Sunday tips

By Graham Cunningham

Horse Racing

Sun December 08, 2024 · 1M ago

Graham Cunningham with his best bets for a mouthwatering at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Global stars align for HKIR showdown in the sun

The ebb and flow of LONGINES HKIR week is familiar to anyone who has ridden the HK wave.

Shake off the jet lag; watch high-class horses limber up for four insanely valuable G1 tests; meet old pals and new in spectacular surroundings; and savour the sort of sunshine we won’t see in Britain for another six months.

Then Sunday morning comes and, as the pre-race media yodelling dies down, the punter in you remembers it’s all about price.

Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising are the star attractions but finding some punting value requires much more finesse on a ten-race card covered live by Sky Sports Racing, with the first feature set to jump at 6.10am and the climactic HK Cup at 8.40.

Warrior on the history trail

Early exercise for Romantic Warrior (Alex Evers for HKJC).

Let’s start with ROMANTIC WARRIOR’s bid to become the first three-time HK Cup winner, then.

In short, Danny Shum’s globetrotting gelding has a body of high class, reliable work in HK, Australia and Japan that makes him very hard to oppose.

True, last year’s Japanese Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island is a big danger if at her very best but that can’t be taken on trust given the way she faded late on her return from a break in the Tenno Sho.

Tastiera finished ahead of Liberty Island that day and the winner Do Deuce polished the form in winning the Japan Cup.

Last year’s Japanese Derby winner looks a handy Quinella option at decent odds – and the remarkable Spirit Dancer could give Fergie and dem boys another big day – but the Warrior is a genuine global ace and his blend of class, speed and courage is hard to resist again.

Giavellotto set to smash the British Vase drought

The Vase looks marked for export as usual - only Exultant has kept the prize at home in the last decade – but snagging the right one among a heavy hitting contingent from Australia, Japan, Ireland, France and the UK is going to be tough.

Tough but not impossible, as GIAVELLOTTO appeals as one of the best value win and place bets of the day when he bids to set the party off with a bang in the Vase at 6.10.

Last year’s Melbourne Cup hero Without A Fight heads the ratings on 121 this year. Luxembourg, Dubai Honour and Iresine add quality to the Euro challenge and there’s a buzz about Japanese filly Stellenbosch, though those vibes and presence of Moreira in the irons will mean she certainly isn’t missed in the market.

But the feisty Giavellotto comes firmly into this on his best rating of 119 and the way that mark was achieved this year – with commanding wins in the Yorkshire Cup and Princess of Wales’s Stakes – was striking.

I’m very happy to give Marco Botti’s chestnut a pass for his Irish Leger defeat as he got very upset on the way down and in the gate.

A high cruiser who relishes being held up on fast ground, he’s ridden by an Irishman and trained by an Italian world traveller who fancied Dandino for this until he was scratched by vets in 2013.

But Giavellotto is flying the flag for Newmarket and the UK here – and a return to his best will give him a live chance of ending a British HKIR drought that stretches back to Red Cadeux’s 2012 Vase success.

Come on up for the Rising

Ka Ying Rising and Zac Purton

Have you ever witnessed a situation where a horse is anointed as the best in the world before he’s even entered the gate at G1 level?

The race to put the global sprinting crown on KA YING RISING’s head has been run at a furious pace by some media bods and it’s up to Zac Purton to ensure the blazing new star on the 1200m scene finds smooth sailing from gate 11 in the Sprint at 6.50.

Once again, it’s hard to find a good reason why the raging favourite won’t deliver. His devastating, track record breaking Jockey Club Sprint romp suggests he could be every bit as good as his glowing reputation suggests and finding the right Quinella options is the only way to go from a punting standpoint.

So here we go. It's a speculator but those who bang heads with the jolly early in the straight could pay a price and open the door for finishers to earn a big cheque here.

Rossa Ryan executed that sort of late swoop perfectly on Brit hope Starlust at the BC but TOSHIN MACAU and HELIOS EXPRESS make most appeal on the minor lines.

Toshin Macau ranks up with the best of the Japanese 1200m division and is fresh from a fast-finishing second to Lugal in the G1 Sprinters Stakes.

Early market vibes indicate that he’s flying nicely under the HK Tote radar here, while Helios Express has been no match for Ka Ying Rising twice this autumn but has come home willingly for place money on each occasion under the canny Bowman.

Pretty Bubbles in the air

Confession time.

The man who never made a mistake never made anything and I fear that I may have been acting in haste when opting for SOUL RUSH and JANTAR MANTAR in this year’s glitzy LONGINES HKIR Preview Show.

Last year’s fourth Soul Rush returns in the form of his life after dominating some of Japan’s best 1600m horses in the G1 Mile Championship and fellow countryman Jantar Mantar has been catching the eye time and again this week after looking potentially high class against three-year-olds in a G1 over a mile back in the spring.

Both raiders have plenty to recommend them – and their Quinella potential is crystal clear - but revisiting Sunday’s probable pace map and a persuasive body of work compiled over two the last two years has pushed me back in the direction of the admirable VOYAGE BUBBLE for the Mile at 8.00.

Ricky Yiu’s stable star ran a typically game race to chase home Golden Sixty at a respectable distance on this day last year and he’s come back as good as ever this term, defying a G1 penalty with a decisive defeat of Chancheng Glory and Galaxy Patch in the G2 Jockey Club Mile.

Now comes the acid test but the Bubble’s tactical speed nearly always puts him in the right slot and J-Mac is the cherry on top as he bids to show he’s the best of the mile bunch now the Golden boy is gone.