Welcome to our preview and horse racing betting tips for racing at Sha Tin in Hong Kong on Saturday, July 15th.
We have an 11-race card to conclude the Hong Kong racing season, with all eyes on the premiership battle between Zac Purton and Joao Moreira. Purton holds a four-win lead heading into today’s meeting.
We’ve picked out our best bets on the card below.
SHA TIN RACING TIPS
RACE 2
Purton gets a good chance to put one on the board here in Race 2 aboard (4) Multimax for Tony Cruz. This horse drops in grade today to Class 5 company after racing in Class 4 company recently, where he hasn’t been all that far away. He’s run 4th in his past three starts and often with that kind of form, horses are very competitive when they get the all-important drop in class. He’s drawn awkwardly with the big weight but that doesn’t seem to matter too much over the 1200m at Sha Tin and with all things being equal I expect Multimax to be very competitive. Think $5 is a reasonable price in a race where nothing else particularly stands out.
RACE 8
Best bet of the day here with (8) Rise High, who looks a great bet at the $2.50 available. This horse has won his past two starts over this track and distance and now steps up from Class 2 to Class 1 company. He only beat (7) Doctor Geoff by a neck last start, and Doctor Geoff then went on to win by 3.3L at his next start, but Rise High gets a 5kg weight swing in his favour today. I don’t think they should be so close together in the market. (1) Born In China probably the biggest danger outside after some good performances in Group 3 company.
RACE 9
Joao has his chance to add one to his bag here with (3) Bold Stitch, who has been in terrific form this campaign with three wins an a 2nd from four starts, which is incredibly hard to do in Hong Kong. He finds another winnable race today and Moreira goes on and gets barrier 1 too. The horse carries 6.5kg extra than he carried to victory last start but also goes from an apprentice to Moreira, and his victory last start was huge after covering extra ground throughout the race. Bold Stitch has proven his ability at Sha Tin, which can’t really be said for his main market rival (11) Multigogo, ridden by Purton. Multigogo is coming off a hattrick of wins but all were at Happy Valley. Sha Tin seems to bring him undone – he’s had 11 starts for just three placings. Barrier 4 and Purton going on for the first time should see him get absolutely every chance to break that hoodoo, but I’d rather be on Bold Stitch. The main danger could actually be Chad Schofield’s ride (13) Relentless Me, who recorded a quicker time in winning over the track and distance last start than Bold Stitch did. Up in class but down in weight and drawn well.
RACE 11
The last race of the season looks set to be fought out by Purton and Moreira who have the clear top two chances in the market. The draw certainly favours (7) Solar Patch who should be able to enjoy a lovely run along the rail, as opposed to last start when he was forced to do plenty of work from the wide barrier. He showed two starts ago that he has a good sprint, reeling off 22.04 for the final 400m when winning over the track and distance. (9) Hezthewonforus also won over this track and distance not too long ago and amazingly, ran exactly the same time as Solar Patch did when winning recently. He did more work in the middle stages of the race and therefore his final 400m wasn’t anywhere near as quick as Solar Patch’s. From the wide gate today he’s going to have to make a big run, whereas Solar Patch may be able to just sit and sprint. I think that favours Purton here and he could well ride the final winner of the season on his way to winning the championship.
