Luke Ferraris reunites with David Eustace-trained Dazzling Fit in the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (1 March) and believes the galloper can be competitive despite being one of the lowest-rated entries in the field.<\/p>
A third-place finish in a Class 3 1800m contest under Zac Purton this month, raising Dazzling Fit\u2019s rating to 76, was enough to secure a place in Sunday\u2019s field. That day, he finished half a length behind the winner, to whom he gave 11 pounds, BMW Hong Kong Derby prospect Flow Water Flow.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a nice horse and his lead-up has been pretty good,\u201d Ferraris said. \u201cHe\u2019s just going to need a race run to suit. He\u2019s obviously still maturing and not the final product yet, but he\u2019s given every sort of sign that he\u2019s going to be a nice horse.\u201d<\/p>
The South African jockey, who partnered Akashvani to eighth place in the first leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, the Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m), will vacate the saddle of David Hayes\u2019 charge to reunite with Dazzling Fit.<\/p>
Despite enduring a mixed 2025\/26 campaign so far, one highlight for Dazzling Fit was a short-head 1600m victory over Tony Cruz\u2019s Beauty Bolt in November last year. The James McDonald-ridden Beauty Bolt went on to claim third place in the Hong Kong Classic Mile and is likely to be one of the market leaders on Sunday.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”14502″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Ferraris enjoyed a productive three-year-old campaign with Dazzling Fit last season, piloting him to two wins, a second and a third from five runs.<\/p>
He hasn\u2019t ridden the gelding since October last year, but is happy to be partnering the New Zealand-bred again as he seeks a Hong Kong Classic Cup win to go alongside the Hong Kong Classic Mile title he claimed last season with My Wish.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s pretty easy to ride,\u201d Ferraris said of Dazzling Fit. \u201cHe can get fired up a little bit, but he\u2019s got a great action, and a relatively good temperament. So he\u2019s not hard to work with.\u201d<\/p>
While Dazzling Fit\u2019s best form has come at 1400m and 1600m, Ferraris said he believes the son of Ribchester can handle the step up in distance on Sunday.<\/p>
\u201cI think he\u2019ll appreciate the 1800 (metres). If there can be a little bit of pace on just to help him get into a rhythm and settle, he\u2019s got a big action on him and you want to see him use it. If he can get those things to suit, then, hopefully, he\u2019s in with a shout,\u201d he added.<\/p>
The Four-Year-Old Classic Series culminates in the 149th running of the blue riband HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) at Sha Tin on 22 March.<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (1 March) 11-race fixture at Sha Tin starts at 12.30pm with the Class 4 Citi Wealth Handicap (1800m). The HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) jumps at 4.45pm, while the meeting also features the HK$13 million G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), which will be run at 3.35pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”14501″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Luke Ferraris reunites with David Eustace-trained Dazzling Fit in the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (1 March) and believes the galloper can be competitive despite being one of the lowest-rated entries in the field.A third-place finish in a Class 3 1800m contest under Zac… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":14503,"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\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14506"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14549,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506\/revisions\/14549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}