| Top of the weights in the
Chevalier Cup (Premier Handicap -1600m) is Electronic
Unicorn who registered a breathtaking success in the National
Panasonic Cup (Premier Handicap -1200m) on his last start. Even
though he won hard-held on that occasion, the time clocked was just
one tenth of a second outside the track record. Despite giving away
upwards of 15lbs to his rivals, he is still the one to beat.
The competitive nature of this race is accentuated
by the fact that seven horses rated within seven pounds of each
other are all vying for HKIR places and next in the weights is
Red
Pepper, who won the Champion's Mile (Gr.1-1600m) last
May from Man
Of Honour and Red
Sun. Red Pepper has finished out of the first three just
once in five starts over 1600m at Sha Tin. His only below-par
run came in the Sha Tin Trophy (Gr.3-1600m) when he finished tenth
behind Shaxi
Fortune, who he meets again on Sunday.
Most of the runners in the Chevalier Cup (Premier
Handicap-1600m) have met each other on numerous occasions and
there is plenty of overlapping form to go on. For instance, three
of the first four home in the Sha Tin Trophy - Shaxi Fortune,
Meridian
Star and Red Sun - are putting their credentials on the
line again and another key race to review on the video when weighing
up the form for this event is the Class 1 handicap won by Super
Molly on National Panasonic Day. Six of the first seven
past the post - Super Molly, Red Pepper, Lifeline
Express, Shaxi Fortune, Man Of Honour and Sunshine
River - on that occasion are lining up again here. Seven
wins from eleven starts are rare form stats in Hong Kong but they
belong to Super Molly and it would be some effort if he can manage
to creep into the Hong
Kong Mile in 2001 having contested a regular
Class 3 event on the same card in 2000. And what about Lifeline
Express? He hadn't even raced at the point and yet here he is
15lbs out of the handicap and requiring a big run to muscle his
way into the reckoning for the big day.
Meridian Star hardly knows to run a bad race.
He produced his customary burst of acceleration from well off
the pace to get closest to Fairy King Prawn in the National Day
Cup and pulled off a similar late dash in the Sha Tin Trophy to
finish runner-up to Shaxi Fortune.
Commander
Charlie, Monards
and Sunshine River - second, third and fifth respectively behind
Trillion Win last time out - are all well capable of figuring
in the finish on their best form, although Cheers
Hong Kong needs to improve if he is to figure in the reckoning.
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