Graham Cunningham: Moreira closing in on another jockeys' championship

Hong Kong racing continues this Wednesday with an eight-race card covered live on Sky Sports Racing.

Attendance is down to a bare minimum as the city fights a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections but punters continue to place their faith in Joao Moreira, who is on a roll after a Sunday treble and heads across town with several more good chances to add to his haul.

Wednesday's Happy Valley card

Magic Man casts a treble spell again

Various debates will rumble for the next two weeks but, barring a marked change in fortunes, the one surrounding the jockeys' championship can be put to bed.

Moreira moved 17 clear of Zac Purton with his most recent treble and two of those winners could be be heading for big things in the new year.

Not many horses jump straight from Class 3 to Class 1 but Sky Darci did so with aplomb for the bang-in-form Caspar Fownes in the Chevalier Cup and now has January's £1.2m Classic Mile on his agenda.

Delight dances in on Class 2 bow

Fownes has his most powerful team for a long while and Enrich Delight left a striking impression on his debut in a strong-looking mile finale, quickening out of a pocket in impressive style to join a small but select club who have made a winning debut at Class 2 level in recent times.

A similar contest on Hong Kong International Races day is next on the dance card, which sets the stage for a rematch with one of Sunday's supporting cast.

Shadow Hero's performance – slowly away and then short of room when things got serious – was emblematic of the way things have been going for Purton of late.

That said, the David Hayes-trained gelding is a dual Australian Group 1 winner with loads to recommend him physically and he's going to leave his debut form way behind once he tackles a mile or more.

Rusty Legend fails to shine in debut trial

Hayes had plenty to smile about earlier on Sunday when widely touted newcomer Super Axiom bolted up, and the Exceed And Excel gelding will be tough to beat again despite a 12lb hike.

Most form students seem to think recent star Australian import Classique Legend will be equally hard to beat in the Hong Kong Sprint but it's worth considering the views of new trainer Fownes before joining the queue to anoint him.

Classique Legend ran on only fairly in his first trial at Sha Tin on Tuesday and Fownes was far from his usual upbeat self. "He's a bit rusty," was followed by "I'm just doing the best in the time frame I have."

Add in an "everything has been a rush" and an "if I'm not happy, I'll do what it takes," and any notion that the December 13th showpiece will be a one-act affair starts to look somewhat shaky.

Riders on the move as Covid caution continues

Two of HK's homegrown riders – Dylan Mo and Jack Wong – were stood down before racing on Sunday after it emerged a person in their apartment block had contracted Covid-19.

The pair are isolating in separate hotels and expected to return to racing soon but extreme caution is what has ensured HK has yet to lose a race to the pandemic and riders who live in at-risk areas away from the Sha Tin complex could be asked to move in the coming days.

Neil Callan at Sha Tin racecourse on Thursday morning Hong Kong 5.12.19 Pic: Edward WhitakerCredit: Edward Whitaker

Meanwhile, Neil Callan continued his hot streak with another winner but also ended up on the wrong end of a £2,500 fine for directing offensive language at Brazilian colleague Vagner Borges in the jockeys' room.

Mystery surrounds exactly what was said but Borges was the rider that Callan edged out for the last remaining place in next week's International Jockeys' Championship.

Bets can be placed into HK pools with the Tote, Coral and Ladbrokes. The first race at Happy Valley on Wednesday is at 11.15am