Trust in Joy to Spring back into winners’ circle
UMBRELLAS are likely to be at the fore when racegoers arrive at Happy Valley in Hong Kong on Wednesday for a nine-race programme, featuring a couple of red-hot Class Three sprint contests.
Rain didn’t materialise during the action last week when the forecast suggested otherwise, but the city track will be lucky to get away with it this time, with black clouds already hovering over the city.
Trainer Caspar Fownes has been a regular feature in these columns with fancied candidates over the past couple of months, but unfortunately with little success.
He did strike a winning double at the city venue last week however, and with his stable in form, can put matters right with a couple of winners from a small but select raid at his favourite track.
Fownes, with 21 winners already at the Valley this season, will be looking to add to that tally and especially with JOY OF SPRING who is on a retrieval mission in the Tai Tam Gap Handicap (2.45pm) over nine furlongs.
The son of Deep Field was backed as if defeat was out of the question when plummeting on the odds board from 11/2 to 6/4 but making no show behind rival Cambridge over the course and distance last month.
What went wrong is anyone’s guess, although he did get shuffled back before the home turn by a weakening rival, and from then on was fighting a losing battle.
Both his track-work and trial had been exemplary going into that contest, and his form had ‘winner waiting to happen’ written all over it.
It could prove wise to forgive that hiccup, and with Andrea Atzeni taking over in the saddle can gain compensation at the expense of Casa Rochester, who has Zac Purton riding at his minimum weight, and has to be feared.
With go-to rider Hugh Bowman sidelined through suspension, Fownes has booked his stable claimer Ellis Wong for SKY TRUST in the Violet Hill Handicap (3.15pm), over the extended mile.
Wong, with his valuable seven-pound allowance worth its weight in gold, has been in top form in the past month, producing a seasonal best with five victories so far.
Sky Trust has been blighted by outside draws in recent times, and none more so than over the course and distance a fortnight ago when after being held up and trailing the field, was then continually bumped and impeded when looking for a clear passage behind eventual winner Embraces.
This time with a low-numbered gate (four) in his favour, he should get an ideal and trouble-free journey and prove too good for the likes of principle threats Another World and Excellence Value.
Earlier in the card, keep an eye on the Fownes and Wong partnership when they team up with Capital Legend in the Shouson Hill Handicap (1.10pm) over the extended mile.
This dual track-and-trip winner is much better than his recent form suggests, and capable of a surprise.
POINTERS
Joy Of Spring 2.45pm Happy Valley
Sky Trust 3.15pm Happy Valley