Simply ‘Divine’ in Hong Kong Debut

The Sunday feature at Sha Tin was the 10th and final race, an apparently innocuous Class 2 over 1400 meters, but the winner should have a major say in feature races over the coming months.

Divine Calling (Aus) (Stratum {Aus}) was making his Hong Kong debut for trainer Tony Millard, having been conditioned in Australia by Gai Waterhouse, most prominently to a victory in last year’s G2 Stutt S., in which he defeated subsequent G1 Cox Plate hero Shamus Award (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) (video). An A$210,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling, the son of MGSW Rubicall (Aus) (Rubiton {Aus}) was runner-up to Darley’s Long John (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) in the 2013 G1 Caulfield Guineas–finishing ahead of Shamus Award in third–but was down the field in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. and was first-up for 49 weeks Sunday afternoon. 

Drawn in one and sent off the 36-10 favorite, Divine Calling was forwardly placed by Zac Purton while riding the rail and cruised up to the leaders nearing the final quarter mile. He was eased to the outside of Beauty Flame (Ire)(Footstepsinthesand {GB}) and Trump (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Ire}) soon after, and while the former’s rider Matthew Chadwick was all over his mount, Purton never asked Divine Calling for an effort and the duo eased to the line an effortless one-length winner (video). Dundonnell (First Defence), the 2012 G3 Acomb S. winner who was exiting a Class 1 win Sept. 21, finished a further 1 1/2 lengths back in third. 

According to several post-race reports on social media, Divine Calling is less likely for the International Races Dec. 14 and is therefore a candidate for the 4-year-old series commencing with the Hong Kong Classic Mile Jan. 18. He could use an oft-productive Class 1 over 1400 meters on the International Races undercard as a prep for that event.