Light Years Charm (132lb) has always shown plenty of aptitude and Thursday\u2019s (1 January) HK$4.2 million G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1400m) at Sha Tin shapes as a timely and suitable opportunity for the five-year-old to enhance his standing.<\/p>
Seeking a first Group race win, Light Years Charm has progressively earned a 107 rating across 12 appearances in Hong Kong \u2013 highlighted by five wins over Thursday\u2019s course and distance \u2013 for trainer David Eustace and owners Zhao Guoming & Xiao Bing.<\/p>
Zac Purton has ridden the bay in all five of his wins and resumes riding duties this week aboard the earner of HK$10.87 million, drawn barrier six, after the pair was eighth in last month\u2019s HK$5.35 million G2 BOCHK Private Wealth <\/em>Jockey Club Mile (1600m).<\/p> \u201cHe\u2019s continued to improve over the last 12 months \u2013 he\u2019s done a really good job. He can\u2019t run a mile (1600m) \u2013 he\u2019s shown that on a couple of occasions now, so we\u2019re back to 1400 metres, which suits him better,\u201d Purton said.<\/p> Blocked for a run first-up this season in September\u2019s HK$4.2 million G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m) when racing along the inside rail, Light Years Charm trailed that effort with a quality Class 2 win on 9 November at Sha Tin before his latest outing.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Light Years Charm finishes midfield behind My Wish in the Celebration Cup.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] \u201cBut once again, it\u2019s just a matter of how he gets out of the gates. He just doesn\u2019t begin, and usually by now they\u2019ve figured it out, but he hasn\u2019t,\u201d Purton said. \u201cHe\u2019s not making it easy for himself and that\u2019ll be his next step. Now that he\u2019s up to the rating that he is at, if he doesn\u2019t start getting away with the field, then it\u2019s going to be really hard for him.\u201d<\/p> Leading the jockeys\u2019 standings with 51 wins this term, Purton is nearing HK$100 million mark in stakes won with HK$99.54 million earned from 243 total rides. The Australian Racing Hall of Famer partnered Light Years Charm when second in a recent barrier trial.<\/p> Purton said: \u201cHe feels like he\u2019s in good form and his trial was good. Hopefully, we get some speed on and he can chime in when he\u2019s ready.\u201d<\/p> Boasting an unmatched 1,929 wins in Hong Kong, Purton has previously won the Chinese Club Challenge Cup three times: Little Bridge (2011), Helene Spirit (2013) and Lucky Sweynesse (2023).<\/p> The Chinese Club Challenge Cup also features Tomodachi Kokoroe (135lb), Patch Of Theta (134lb), Packing Hermod (133lb), Beauty Eternal (127lb), Johannes Brahms (117lb), Aeris Nova (116lb), Capital Delight (116lb), Dancing Code (116lb), Sky Trust (115lb), Storm Rider (115lb) and Gustosisimo (115lb).<\/p> Thursday\u2019s (1 January) 11-race Lucky Start 2026 Raceday at Sha Tin begins at 12.30pm with the Class 5 Tsung Pak Long Handicap (1600m).<\/p> A jackpot of HK$10 million has been accumulated for the Triple Trio, while a jackpot of HK$1 million from the Operator Reserve will be offered for the first Double Trio.<\/p> The Quartet & First 4 Merged Pool will be topped up from the Jackpot Reserve totalling HK$2 million \u2013 allocated to the Chinese Club Challenge Cup (Race 8) and Race 11.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8466″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Light Years Charm (132lb) has always shown plenty of aptitude and Thursday\u2019s (1 January) HK$4.2 million G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1400m) at Sha Tin shapes as a timely and suitable opportunity for the five-year-old to enhance his standing.Seeking a first Group race win, Light Years Charm has progressively earned… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8467,"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-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8468,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462\/revisions\/8468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-lucky-start\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}