Following a smart victory last month, Astrologer will step back in distance as he looks for consecutive wins in the Class 2 Wong Nai Chung Handicap (1000m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night under Alexis Badel for trainer Pierre Ng.
An impressive last-start winner at Happy Valley over 1200m, Astrologer (132lb) returns to the iconic city course tomorrow night, however, this time with an added 17lb assigned from gate 10 under the Frenchman Badel.
“It was a great win last time. I had the advantage of the weight (115lb), we know he is a talented horse but he is a bit tricky in the gates. Everything went smoothly and he was able to use his ability – he did everything ok and hopefully he can repeat. If he maintains his form, he should be running well,” Badel said.
The Star Turn speedster clocked 1m 09.04s last start for his first win in Class 1. The four-year-old is a four-time winner at Happy Valley including once over 1000m when he triumphed at odds of 133/1 in Class 3.
“The draw is a bit awkward, there's a bit of pace in the race but not overly, it's just a quick race but sometimes they can go a lot quicker. I think, this time, a lot of horses will be just behind the speed, so the draw makes it a bit more awkward,” Badel said.
The bay faces 11 rivals including Carroll Street – a tidy last-start winner – with Karis Teetan, who steps away from barrier five for trainer Douglas Whyte.
“It was a nice performance from him, after being away from racing for eight months – he did it very nicely, he just won the race but I think there's improvement coming,” Teetan said.
Carroll Street is yet to win at Happy Valley from three attempts with all five of his wins coming over the straight course at Sha Tin.
“Speaking to Douglas, there's not much for horses like him in the programme with races over 1000 metres. So you have to make a choice with him to take him to the Valley but I think he'll be fine – he has a nice draw, I think there's a lot of speed in the race so that will help them stretch out a bit,” Teetan said.
Teetan will reunite with Super Vince in the Class 4 Craigengower Cricket Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1200m) for trainer Frankie Lor. The duo will break from barrier eight tomorrow night.
“He hasn't been getting the draw, so we've been taking him back and he's been running home strongly over his last few runs but I think the draw will make it a little bit hard for him again, although it is slightly better than before,” Teetan said.
Super Vince has shown potential across six starts in Hong Kong. By Brazen Beau, the four-year-old was a one-time winner in Australia before his arrival.
Lor will chase a return to winning ways with Savvy Kingman when the 73-rater lines up to contest the Class 3 Percival Handicap (1800m) under Alexis Badel.
“I think the 1800 metres is a better distance for him, this time, I trialled him before the race and he went good,” Lor said.
Lor is expecting to have two chances – Sword Point and Keefy – in Sunday week's HK$24 million Hong Kong Derby (2000m) at Sha Tin as he chases a second win in the race following Furore's triumph in 2019.
“If Sword Point had a better draw last time (in the Hong Kong Classic Cup, 1800m), maybe he could have finished even closer. He won over 2000 metres in Australia – the distance is no problem,” Lor said.