Plenty of talent showcased on Derby undercard
The undercard was dominated by exciting rising talent with four three-year-old geldings winning four of the first six races, with Too Darn Hot’s (Dubawi) Hot Delight, Deep Field’s (Northern Meteor) Mega Mastermind, Biouvac’s (Exceed And Excel) Absolute Heart and Ardrossan (Redoute’s Choice) gelding Gold Patch prevailing.
Hot Delight maintained a perfect record with a third successive win to give Francis Lui his 500th victory on Sha Tin turf with success in the Class 3 Werther Handicap (1200m) under Vincent Ho in 1m 08.19s – only marginally outside of Victor The Winner’s (Toronado) Class record mark of 1m 08.11s.
“He’s [Hot Delight] a nice horse, we know that. But he’s only three, so we want to excel as much as possible, but we also want to keep him for his four-year-old season, so it was a nice run,” Ho said.
Lui said: “Good horse, he’s a very good horse and honest. Even in trackwork he’s showed he’s improved.”
Lui also struck with Gold Patch under Zac Purton in the Class 4 Sky Darci Handicap (1200m).
Jamie Richards and Brenton Avdulla combined with Mega Mastermind to win the Class 4 Luger Handicap (1600m) before Absolute Heart landed the Class 4 Ping Hai Star Handicap (1200m) for Cody Mo and Derek Leung.
Circuit Champion (Starspangledbanner), purchased at the 2024 Hong Kong International Sale for HK$5.4 million, showcased his talent with a last-to-first success in the Class 3 Furore Handicap (1200m) for Danny Shum to improve his record to two wins and a second from three starts.
Slowly away, the Starspangledbanner (Choisir) gelding finished powerfully under Keith Yeung, clocking 21.81s for the final 400 metres to justify the patience of his connections with the five-year-old, who has overcome cannon bone, humeral bone and pelvis issues as well as a fever before making a belated debut.
Pierre Ng’s Aeroinvincible (Per Incanto) continued Andrea Atzeni’s stunning March surge with victory in the Class 4 Fay Fay Handicap (1400m). Atzeni took his tally for the month to 12, a haul which includes two quartets.
Ng and Purton teamed with Aerovolanic (Frosted) in the Class 3 Rapper Dragon Handicap (1400m) after the David Hayes-trained Shamus Storm (Shamus Award) clinched the Class 3 Designs On Rome Handicap (1800m) for Harry Bentley.
Tony Cruz’s Winning Ovation (Cotai Glory) clinched a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million (approx. AU$271,810) by winning the Class 2 Golden Sixty Handicap (1400m) for Angus Chung.