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Charles The Great heads the weights for what promises to be an exciting and enlightening renewal of the HKG3 Sha Tin Vase (Handicap) on Sunday.
John Moore’s charge is seeking a repeat win in the 1200m contest at Sha Tin, having scored last year by a tight margin in a seven-horse blanket finish. That victory was achieved under a featherweight 117lbs, off a rating of 106, but on Sunday, the Holy Roman Emperor gelding, now rated 121, must shoulder 133lbs. Tommy Berry was in the plate for last year’s victory and the Australian is reunited on Sunday.
“The only thing that will beat him is that weight,” said Moore. “He’s going fantastic at the moment – he’s in great form – but he’s giving away a lot of weight, a stone and more to some of those up-and-coming lightweights, and that means he’s beatable.”
Chief among those up-and-comers are the Me Tsui-trained Divine Ten (121lbs), winner of five from six, all down Sha Tin’s straight 1000m this season, and the five-timer chasing Aerovelocity (117lbs) from the Paul O’Sullivan yard.
Charles The Great sets the benchmark for those emerging stars. The five-year-old’s three course and distance wins include November’s G2 The BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint, and last start he swept past Lucky Nine to win the HKG2 Sprint Cup by a length, albeit in receipt of 5lbs from the subsequent G1 KrisFlyer International Sprint hero.
Bullish Friend (122lbs) was a length and a quarter third in the Sprint Cup and enjoys a significant 11lbs pull in the weights. That gelding’s Tony Cruz-trained stablemates, El Zonda (114lbs) and Best Eleven (113lbs), as well as the Dennis Yip-trained Go Baby Go (124lbs), and the Moore-trained Frederick Engels (130lbs) and Straight Gold (117lbs), were also behind Charles The Great that day. They all head into the Sha Tin Vase with raised hopes this time as they will all be in receipt of weight.
“Frederick Engels has his share of weight too, and he’s endured through a long season, but he’s still going into the race bucking his brand off,” said Moore. “And Straight Gold – he’s really a straight 1000m specialist but there’s nowhere else to go with him. The jury’s still out as regards the 1200m so we’ll have to see how he goes.”
Down among the featherweights, the Tony Millard-trained Golden Harvest (113lbs) has a 9lbs pull with Divine Ten after finishing third to that rival last month in the HKG3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy (Handicap) – with Straight Gold second. That was the five-year-old’s first start at Sha Tin and only his second outing at 1000m, and he now returns to the distance at which he has scored four wins at Happy Valley.
The four-year-old Manfred Man-trained Bobo Dragon, a two-time course and distance winner last season, bids to break his duck for the term off joint bottom-weight of 113lbs, the same weight that last start victor Beauty Sparkle, trained by Tony Cruz, is set to carry.
Francis Lui will saddle Smart Volatility (114lbs), a six-time winner from nine starts, including four at the course and distance, while the John Size-trained Tour De Force, also a four-time winner over 1200m on turf at Sha Tin, will bid to complete a hat-trick following a brace of wins in Class 2.
