Hong Kong racing tips: Jim McGrath with three selections at Sha Tin on Sunday

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Steps Ahead
12.00 Sha Tin
2pts win

Chancheng Glory
12.35 Sha Tin
2pts win

Packing Hermod
1.10 Sha Tin
2pts win

Francis Lui starts the final day of the season one win behind Pierre Ng in the battle for the trainers’ championship, but the man who guided Golden Sixty on the path to stardom is the one tipped to lift the title. 

Lui has the firepower to wear the crown for the first time, his list of ten runners headed by Chancheng Glory, who will be hard to beat in the Class 1 HK Owners Association Trophy (12.35), over a mile. 

Chancheng Glory is one of the most interesting imports in recent years, having been through the sales ring three times in America before finding his way to Hong Kong. He is by Mor Spirit, a grandson of Giant’s Causeway, and has an impressive 6-16 record. 

He was second to Helios Express in the 1m1f Classic Cup and a respectable sixth to Massive Sovereign in the 1m2f Hong Kong Derby before winning in Class 2 and being placed in two Group 3s. One mile seems his best trip. 

Despite his consistency, a variety of jockeys have ridden the four-year-old.  Zac Purton becomes his sixth different rider in six starts, but Lui must be reassured in having the multiple champion in the saddle. Moments In Time and CP Brave are the dangers.

Lui also has three other market leaders.  Call Me Glorious, one of the finds of the season, can make it a hat-trick in the Class 2 6f handicap (9.30), while the exciting Packing Hermod steps up a grade to tackle the Class 3 6f handicap (1.10), in which Purton will put up a couple of pounds overweight. 

That shouldn’t stop the three-year-old’s march through the classes, although the talented Super Joy N Fun and newcomer Bits Superstar (who has trialled impressively) should provide decent opposition in one of the more interesting contests on the 11-race card. 

Steps Ahead in the Class 4 7f handicap (12.00) is another at short odds, who can oblige for the Lui-Purton combination. The three-year-old has been knocking on the door with minor placings at his three starts all pointing to a coming win. 

Ng, in his second season, has been out in front in the title race for a long time and it must seem a little unfair to some if he is passed in the shadows of the post. But he definitely has winning chances with I Can in the Class 3 1m handicap (1.45) despite a tricky wide draw, and also Fighting Machine in the Class 4 7f handicap (11.30).

Sha Tin Placepot perm

11.30
4 Fighting Machine
7 Brilliant Express

12.00
2 Steps Ahead
5 Foolish Heart

12.35
1 Moments In Time
4 Chancheng Glory

1.10
7 Super Joy N Fun
12 Packing Hermod

1.45
7 Pray For Mir
14 I Can

2.20
1 Patch Of Theta
3 Beauty Fit

2x2x2x2x2 x2 = 64 lines

Bets can be placed into Hong Kong pools with the Tote. The first race at Sha Tin on Sunday is at 9.00am

Sha Tin card

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