Meydan Winners Square Off at Sha Tin

Hong Kong’s two winners from Dubai World Cup night Mar. 29 cross swords in this first local pattern race on the new season. Short-track specialist Amber Sky, last-out winner of the G1 Al Quoz Sprint up the straight 1000-meter turf course at Meydan, would seem to own the advantage over G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen hero Sterling City, especially at the trip, but the latter carries the mandatory high weight. The speedball Amber Sky failed to see out the 1200 meters of the G2 Jockey Club Sprint last November, finishing sixth to Charles the Great, but he bounced back to take the Centenary Sprint Cup over the course and distance Jan. 26. Connections sent him to the desert without the benefit of an additional run, but he flaunted his speed in the Al Quoz to register a slight upset. Trainer Ricky Yiu is determined to get the gelding to stretch back out this season. “I’m very happy with him and he hasn’t put a foot wrong going into this race, but after that, I think we have to go for the Jockey Club Sprint again–the club have thrown a lot of money at the sprint races this season, there have been some big prize money increases, so we have to try and give him a chance around a turn,” Yiu told South China Morning Post. Indeed, the National Day Cup features a 10% increase in prize money over last year’s running, won by Go Baby Go when contested as the Sha Tin Sprint Trophy H. Sterling City got a terrific ride from Joao Moreira to record a 3/4-length success in the Shaheen, but was last seen finishing fifth to the locally based Lucky Nine (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G1 KrisFlyer International Sprint at Kranji May 18. Rad was perfect in three local appearances last term, all at this abbreviated distance, and is first-up since defeating Peniaphobia in a Class 2 May 17.