Werther (NZ (Tavistock) delivered a timely reminder of his significant abilities this afternoon, Sunday, 28 May, with a clear-cut victory in the HK$10 million Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, Hong Kong’s final Group 1 this term.

Ahead of Sunday’s Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin, Edward Sadler looks at Eagle Way, the horse that secured John Moore his first Group 1 win in Australia.

Victory in the G3 Sha Tin Vase Handicap (1200m) has eluded handler John Size throughout his 16-year Hong Kong career, but the reigning Champion Trainer has the weight of numbers in his favour as he seeks to take the race for the first time on Sunday.

Tony Cruz has made the HK$10 million Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) his own in recent years, winning the last four on end, and on Sunday the trainer will go to war with two likely candidates, chiefly Blazing Speed.

Despite being bred, foaled and raised on the other side of the world, Queen Mother runner-up Helene Charisma, an entry in Sunday's HK$10m Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) at Sha Tin, has a similar profile to Eagle Way.

Eagle Way has already given John Moore one Group 1 victory - as an owner - but the trainer has “high hopes” that the four-year-old can secure a first Hong Kong-side G1 win in the HK$10m Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Able Friend will be retired from racing and will parade in front of his fans at Sha Tin racecourse on Sunday afternoon during a Farewell Ceremony to honour his outstanding career.

John Moore is confident he has Werther in a good place heading into Sunday’s (28 May) HK$10 million Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, one of only three mile-and-a-half contests in the Hong Kong calendar and the season’s final Group 1.

It was a day of bat-raising and cap-doffing, in cricketing parlance, for Zac Purton at Sha Tin on Sunday as the Australian rider brought up 700 Hong Kong victories with his win aboard Chung Wah Spirit in the featured Class 3 18 Districts Cup Handicap (1400m).

A hot finale to Sunday’s 10-race card at Sha Tin has attracted a talent-packed field of 14 - some proven, some burgeoning and some on breakthrough’s cusp.

Trainer David Hall praised the consistency of hardy galloper Victory Boys after the Trelawney Stud graduate won at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (17 May).

Trainer Richard Gibson believes Jetwings can continue the stable’s recent run of good form in the Class 2 France Galop Cup Handicap (1200m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (17 May).

The meeting closes with the Arc De Triomphe Champions Handicap (1200m), a race that sees Caspar Fownes-trained Best Step make the leap up to Class 3 for the first time.

Hot King Prawn was one of two debutant winner’s for trainer John Size. The grey, sent off as a 1.4 shot, obliged with a no-nonsense two and a quarter-length verdict from the front under Purton in 57.12s.

Winner’s Way helped Zac Purton to a five-timer and earned a shot at one of two upcoming Group 3 prizes with a front-running victory in the Class 1 Macwhinnie Cup Handicap (1400m), the feature contest on a rainy Chairmen’s Day at Sha Tin (Saturday, 13 May).

Packing Dragon may never have a record to match his half-brother, two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon, but trainer Ricky Yiu says that the grey is talented enough to be recognised in his own right after

Fortune favoured Lucky Bubbles at long last in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) as the honest chestnut finally grabbed a first top-flight victory in thrilling fashion at Sha Tin on Sunday (7 May).

Contentment won a dramatic HK$16 million Champions Mile at Sha Tin this afternoon, Sunday, 7 May. John Size’s charge battled to a neck verdict under Brett Prebble and survived an objection to seal a second Group 1 triumph, this time at odds of 25/1.

Trainer John Moore remains confident that he can snare a seventh G1 Champions Mile on Sunday (7 May) after his two contenders, Rapper Dragon and Helene Paragon, impressed in turf gallops at Sha Tin on Thursday morning (4 May).

Mr Stunning is the obvious standout among John Size’s weekend Group 1 challengers but Hong Kong’s emerging sprint star is not the only runner from the stable with claims on big-race glory this Sunday (7 May).

Size and Prebble will team up in the HK$16 million G1 Champions Mile with Contentment, a G1 winner last season when taking out the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) but unable to make a mark this term. 

Zac Purton is arguably the world’s fittest jockey and, in his adopted home Hong Kong, he is the best by the numbers, bar arch-rival Joao Moreira.

Peniaphobia had no answer to Mr Stunning’s closing kick when the pair locked horns last month, but jockey Neil Callan retains faith that the veteran campaigner can turn the tables on Hong Kong’s rising sprint star in Sunday’s (7 May) HK$14 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).

Rapper Dragon’s form heading into this weekend’s HK$16 million G1 Champions Mile already had a polished veneer, but an extra lick of varnish was added on Sunday (30 April) afternoon when the peers he vanquished in the Four-Year-Old Classic Series caught the eye at Sha Tin.

Joao Moreira took the bull by the horns to win his first Group 1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin today, Sunday, 30 April, as Neorealism repelled Pakistan Star’s late rally to ensure a fourth Japanese victory in the HK$20 million feature.