Welcome to our horse racing preview and betting tips for racing at Happy Valley on Wednesday, June 10th.
Another night of racing at Happy Valley tonight as we look to find a few winners in Hong Kong! There's just 10 meetings remaining in the season and there's plenty to play for at the top of the Jockeys' Championship.
Find Tim Geers' best bets for the night below!
Happy Valley Racing Tips: Wednesday, June 10th
Best Bet: Race 6 - (4) Sky Darci
Best Value: Race 3 - (4) Happy Hour
We start off with a Class 4 over 1200m and inside barriers are favoured over this distance on the B-course. (5) Harrier Jet looks ready to win again and is off a winnable mark. Zac Purton jumps on tonight and he draws ideally in barrier 3, which is the most successful barrier over track and distance in this rail position. (12) Shining On is a winner of just one race in his career but he's another that gets to a winnable mark now with just 51.5kg on his back. The return to Happy Valley suits him and he's drawn well in barrier 5 so he could be the value at double figure odds. (1) Amazing Knight drops in class and Moreira goes straight on for John Size. Drawn well and he's another at $8.50 that looks a bit over the odds.
This race looks to have been picked out quite a while ago for (4) Happy Hour. He's had 10 weeks off since his last run and has trialled twice, with Purton taking the ride in both trials. Purton sticks with him for race day and he draws ideally in barrier 4. The other big factor is he drops back into Class 5 after having his past five starts in Class 4. The last time he raced in this class he won, and Purton rode him that night too. He saluted by 2L on that occasion, and that was over this track and distance. He should be hard to beat. (1) Curling Luxury backs up very quickly after running 3rd at Sha Tin on Sunday. He should find the front and be tough to run down.
Interesting race this as we see the Hong Kong debut of (1) Green Aeon. He raced three times in Australia and won his first two before being beaten less than a length last time we saw him. Funnily enough, there was another horse in that race that has also come to Hong Kong (General's Delight, ex Millard Reaction). Green Aeon certainly has talent but this has to be a query. He's first up off a 60-week break, makes his debut at the top of Class 3 carrying top weight, and draws barrier 9 over 1000m at Happy Valley. If he wins this it will be some achievement, because it won't be easy. This is a pretty competitive race. One horse I don't mind is (10) Eternal Harvest for Ricky Yiu and Vincent Ho. The stable have a good record over 1000m at Happy Valley, the horse draws well in barrier 6 and comes into this fresh off a seven-week break with a good trial in between. At $7.50 he's not a bad each way bet. Plenty of chances in this.
(10) Eternal Harvest
$7.50
(4) Sky Darci looks the best bet on the card tonight and I don't think the $2.15 he's at right now will hold up. I think he'll start odds on. He ran well in his first two career starts at Sha Tin, winning the second one, before resuming from a spell a couple of weeks ago. He carried 60.5kg and drew barrier 1, and it was a complete horror show. He ran straight up backsides until the 200m mark, before finally getting clear running when the race was all over. He comes to Happy Valley tonight, where Casper Fownes' runners typically go better, and Joao Moreira takes over from Neil Callan. I would have preferred he draw a touch closer to the rail but barrier 6 isn't necessarily a bad draw. I think he'll prove too good.
(2) Cinquante Cinq rarely runs a bad race and he should be right in the finish again tonight. He's placed in seven of his nine starts at the track and distance, and eight of 11 overall. He was run down late by Acclaimed Light over track and distance last start, beaten 0.5L, and he looks to get a really good set up again tonight from barrier 4 with Zac Purton retaining the ride. It's an ideal draw for him and from there he should get every chance. Hopefully he has enough in the tank to get across the line first this time. (7) Delightful Laos and (9) Alpha Hedge are other chances.
A couple of nice horses going around here. (7) Compassion Spirit rises to Class 3 tonight after back-to-back wins in Class 4. The form out of those races has really stood up. Two starts back he beat Yee Cheong Pegasus who then went on to win at Sha Tin, and there's been two subsequent winners come out of the race he won last start. He draws better in barrier 5 than his main rival California Rad does in 8 and that could prove the difference. (2) Beauty Spark can be thrown in at $17. He can be forgiven for his last run and he rarely runs a bad race, and (10) Shamport gets a draw he can be competitive from.
(7) Compassion Spirit
$3.10
