FWD Champions Day is upon us, with three Group One races set for Sha Tin on Sunday. The Chairmans Sprint sees four visitors looking to take the big prize. Santa Ana Lane and Viddora come from Australia. New Zealand’s best sprinter Enzo’s lad is here along with an up and comer from Japan, Mac Venus.

Due to quarantine restrictions it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing Santa Ana Lane or Enzo’s Lad, as they have to work very early in the morning. Viddora slots in with the Japanese visitors due to her visit to Dubai, where she ran a good 4th in the Al Quoz sprint.

The Champions Mile is an all local affair, with no one willing to come and take on local star Beauty Generation. Hopefully he can get through this in good condition and go to Japan for the Yasuda Kinen.

The QEII Cup sees three visitors form Japan, Lys Gracieux and Deidre who were both here in December for HKIR, as well as Win Bright who comes here off a second win in the Nakayama Kinen. Eminent, who is owned in New Zealand interests is also looking to take on the strong home team, which includes last years winner Pakistan Star and Hong Kong Vase winner Exultant. Eminent is another who will be required to work prior to local track work.

Lys Gracieux

This is her second visit to Hong Kong, having all but won the Vase back in December, where she was just edged out by Exultant. This morning she cantered the dirt track in a very relaxed fashion.

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She was competitive in Japanese fillies’ classics in 2017 – 2nd to Reine Minoru in G1 Oka Sho and 2nd to Deirdre in G1 Shuka Sho. Having advanced last year from 1600m G3 Tokyo win in February she staked claim for international success when a neck 2nd to Deirdre in G2 Fuchu Himba Stakes (1800m) and with victory in G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in November.

She followed her December run here with 2nd to Danon Premium in G2 Kinko Sho (2000m) in March.

Win Bright

This high-class 5yo heads into this race 2 from 2 for the year. So far he’s proved to be a shade below top class but is a G2 winner in each of his last three campaigns – all at 1800m.

Win Bright started the year with a 2000m G3 win at Nakayama from Stay Foolish. Next up he finished strongly from off the pace to notch second consecutive score in the G2 Nakayama Kinen (1800m) latest, defeating 5 G1 winners including Lucky Lilac who was champion juvenile filly and was 2nd to Almond Eye in last year’s G1 Oka Sho (1600m). Strong closer. All his runs have been on firm ground, bar one (good).

He was another to have an easy morning on the dirt track. His regular jockey Masami Matsuoka was at Sha Tin this morning to observe the work before galloping the grey tomorrow (Wednesday) and said: “He looked well. I was a bit worried about the humidity here because he likes racing in the cooler part of the year but he has settled in well. He is versatile when it comes to tactics and he will cope with any pace. The FWD QEII has been his big target since last year. The LONGINES Hong Kong International Races was in our plan as well, but his condition at that time was not good enough so the trip was off. I am looking forward to racing here.”

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Viddora

She comes to Hong Kong off a good showing in Dubai, where she finished 4th in the Al Quoz behind some handy sprinters. Trainer Lloyd Kennewell will be hoping she is more at home around a bend this time, as she’ll need to find a few lengths to compete with the top locals.

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Trainer Lloyd Kennewell said: “She looks good. They’ve got air-conditioned boxes here so it’s a bit different to home and her coat was a little bit stuck-up overnight but I found she was better when she came out here with a bit of sun on her back this morning, her coat looks good. She loves travel. She’s a pretty ‘cruisey’ horse.

“Paddy (Bell) has looked after her well so we’ll push on. She’ll have a gallop, more than likely tomorrow. We’ll just have a look at her this afternoon and tomorrow morning and work out whether we gallop her tomorrow morning or Thursday.

“She’s in good order. She’s a bit older so you’ve just got to take that into account but she’s pretty happy. She’s one of those horses who travels well and we’re looking forward to it. If she runs well here then she can push on to Royal Ascot possibly.”

As to her record racing right-handed, Kennewell said: “She’s raced in Queensland and had three runs up there for a win and two seconds and arguably should have won nearly all of them. She only needed one more hop at her first start at Eagle Farm, on the first day the track was re-opened and they ran a track record and she got beaten narrowly.”