Jamie Richards will attempt to secure a BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) berth with Alacrity in the Class 3 Suffolk Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (5 March) to add further impetus to an impressive mid-season surge.<\/p>
In the throes of his first campaign in Hong Kong, the multiple former New Zealand champion trainer has systematically amassed 18 wins from 178 starters after a deliberately conservative start to the season.<\/p>
With 53 Group 1 victories during a record-breaking six-and-a-half year stint at Te Akau Racing, Richards is familiar with elite success and is hopeful Alacrity – a Chilean G1 winner as Viejos Tiempos – can build on an eye-catching fourth behind leading BMW Hong Kong Derby contender Beauty Eternal over 1400m at Sha Tin on 12 February.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a high-class horse who came into Hong Kong with good form, so it wasn\u2019t a complete surprise that he ran well first-up,\u201d Richards said. \u201cHe\u2019s got an awkward barrier (13) this weekend, so I\u2019d say we\u2019d have to ride him a similar way to how we rode him first time, but he\u2019s going need luck and he\u2019s going to need pace in the race to finish it off – but looking forward to seeing how he goes.\u201d<\/p>
Richards is acutely aware the 78-rater needs to press for victory on Sunday to enhance Derby hopes.<\/p>
\u201cHe needs to probably to win on the weekend – if not, run top three – to get his rating up a little bit higher. We\u2019re certainly trying to get him there (to the Derby) and from a more favourable draw, I would have probably been quite confident that he was going well enough to figure in the finish, but he\u2019s going to need a lot of luck from the outside barrier,\u201d he said before explaining the decision to remove cheek pieces.<\/p>
\u201cHe just wanted to overdo it a little bit in the early part of the race last time, so we took the cheek pieces off for this weekend\u2019s run – only a minor gear adjustment – but just trying to make him relax a bit more in the early part of the race.\u201d<\/p>
Karis Teetan, who partnered Romantic Warrior to victory in the 2022 BMW Hong Kong Derby, is adamant Alacrity is worthy of Classic consideration.<\/p>
\u201cI think he\u2019s definitely a Derby horse – the further he goes, the better he will get – so it\u2019s a race that\u2019s very important for the horse and if he runs well, he could be going for the Derby,\u201d the Mauritian said.<\/p>
\u201cWe were all happy with his first run, he finished off well and that shows improvement is coming. He\u2019s a horse that needs ground, we don\u2019t have many options from that draw.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8429″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Hugh Bowman continues his partnership with Running Glory when John Size\u2019s diminutive stayer bids for consecutive wins when he contests the Class 2 Rutland Handicap (1800m), confident the five-year-old can continue to flourish.<\/p>
\u201cPleased to be reuniting with him and he does carry top weight (135lb) this time and he\u2019s not a big horse, but what he lacks in size he certainly makes up for with courage. He\u2019s a very consistent horse – he\u2019s got an outstanding record – and despite being at the top of the handicap, he looks well placed again,\u201d Bowman said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s just got a great attitude. He\u2019s quite versatile from a tactical point of view and he gets into a good rhythm and he saves himself for the final effort, which is most important. You\u2019d like to think I\u2019m going to get the run of the race and if it\u2019s an evenly run race, he\u2019s going to get into that beautiful rhythm.<\/p>
\u201cIf he\u2019s close enough to fight out the finish, he\u2019ll get his nose in front.\u201d<\/p>
Fresh from a Happy Valley double on Wednesday night (1 March), David Hayes will pitch stablemates Nervous Witness and Lucky With You into battle in the Class 1 Devon Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
Facing Courier Wonder (135lb), Duke Wai (132lb), Master Eight (125lb), Rewarding Together (123lb), Blaze Warrior (121lb) and Campione (121lb), Nervous Witness (122lb) and Lucky With You (118lb) are both searching for improvement in form.<\/p>
Hayes will use a hood on Nervous Witness as the speedster attempts to master the 1200m trip against quality opposition.<\/p>
\u201cHis weakness is that he gets too aggressive and in the upper-class races, if you\u2019re pulling you don\u2019t win. We just hope the hood takes 10 percent off him and relaxes well,\u201d the dual champion Hong Kong trainer said.<\/p>
\u201cNow that he\u2019s well into his preparation after three runs and a trial, there\u2019s no reason why he won\u2019t run 1200 metres but how easy he\u2019s going to get it through the first 600 metres from barrier eight, is the question.\u201d<\/p>
Hayes has freshened Lucky With You since a last-start failure.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s had an impressive trial and he\u2019ll come from off the pace and if they go too fast, he might be a chance. He\u2019s probably got to run a PB (personal best) to beat these horses, but trackwork suggests he might be ready to do that. \u201cIf it\u2019s last-man standing, he might be the one to join in,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (5 March) 10-race card at Sha Tin starts with the Class 5 Cornwall Handicap (1650m, dirt) at 1pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8428″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Jamie Richards will attempt to secure a BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) berth with Alacrity in the Class 3 Suffolk Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (5 March) to add further impetus to an impressive mid-season surge.In the throes of his first campaign in Hong Kong, the multiple former New… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8427"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8427"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8438,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8427\/revisions\/8438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}