Trainer David Hall, speaking with 20 years’ experience in Hong Kong and echoing the thoughts of most with local knowledge, insists the Sha Tin track conditions for FWD Champions Day (Sunday, 28 April) will be largely determined by the weather on race-day.

“It all comes down to the weather on Sunday,” Hall told international media on Friday morning (26 April). “I know you’ve seen it rain constantly right through the week but provided there’s no deluge on Sunday the track is likely to be good or very close to it.”

Hall will be represented by Invincible Sage and Flying Ace, to be partnered respectively by gun jockeys Hugh Bowman and Zac Purton, in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).

While Invincible Sage would be greatly advantaged by soft ground, given his record on soft and heavy tracks pre-import, the trainer is not convinced those conditions will necessarily prevail.

“The track drains so well it’s incredible. We’ve seen it time and time again where there’s been heavy rainfall leading up to a meeting and the track still comes up good, so let’s wait and see,” Hall said.

Hall concedes California Spangle is clearly the “top seed” for the race but believes his pair has advanced from fringe to realistic chances in the absence of the injured Lucky Sweynesse.

Lucky Sweynesse, the 2023 Chairman’s Sprint Prize winner, suffered an injury after he beat Invincible Sage and Flying Ace in the G2 Sprint Cup (1200m) on 7 April. Six of the past seven winners of Sunday’s feature Sprint have emerged from that lead-up race.

“They were both very good in the Sprint Cup. Invincible Sage was good on-speed and the tempo was quick enough, while Flying Ace hit the line well and it might be a similar story on Sunday with Invincible Sage drawn to get a good run just behind the speed while Flying Ace probably has to tuck in somewhere.

“Flying Ace has generally settled back in his races but he’s also generally drawn out. He’s not without some early toe as he showed in his recent trial (22 April). I’ve been happy with how both horses have progressed from that race (the Sprint Cup),” Hall said.

Hall briefly reflected on his Hong Kong career and noted that the depth among the training ranks was much greater than when he started.

“The development of local trainers has been very good which we’ve really seen in the past couple of years with Frankie (Lor) and Pierre (Ng),” he said.

Hall said he was looking forward to Champions Day headed by the appearance of Hong Kong’s current champions Golden Sixty and Romantic Warrior. “I’d say Golden Sixty is the best horse I’ve seen in Hong Kong and hopefully he can rise to the occasion one more time,” Hall said.