Sky's the limit for Size's rising star

If we had done this a year ago our top-rated runners just turned, or just about to turn, four years old, were The Winnabe, Ka Ying Rising and Wunderbar and they are a reminder of how much things can change.

Everyone knows how Ka Ying Rising turned out, while Wunderbar – to date still the champion sprinter’s only conqueror – suffered an injury that robbed him of months of his career and slowed him down a touch.

For The Winnabe, it turned out even worse, with injury keeping him out of racing for an entire year before he was finally retired late last season with only three career starts.

So, the bottom line with these horses, perhaps all, horses, is that nothing is promised by the season ahead but there are those who have already shown the necessary talent to figure prominently in the run to the 2026 Derby and other choice races.

While observant readers will notice that he isn’t the top rated on our list, Sky Jewellery is the most exciting four-year-old in Hong Kong after 5 starts for 3 wins and two unlucky defeats.

Racing fans might look at his record and say he hasn’t won anything of much note so far, none of the Group races that are so highly sought after other jurisdictions, even if the participants are all two-year-olds or three-year-olds and the worth of those races is often questionable.

Hong Kong does not have more than handful of age-restricted races.

There are the three four-year-old series events – the Classic Mile Classic Cup and Derby – and there are a couple of mysterious Class 4 events reserved for three-year-olds in mid-season, as well as griffin events mixing southern hemisphere two-year-olds with northern hemisphere three-year-olds. The quality of them can vary wildly, though the three-year-old races last season were a good standard and horses to come through that path include Ka Ying Attack, Juneau Pride and Etalon Or, who all make our list.

To put things in a language that will be understandable across jurisdictions, as a three-year-old last season, Sky Jewellery would already have won something like a 2000 Guineas or an Australian Guineas, if he was based in a different country. To offer a comparison of those G1 races with Hong Kong’s 97-per cent handicap system, where all ages are thrown in together, a Guineas overseas would normally equate to a Hong Kong Class 2 or, just as often, a strong Class 3.

To be any type of player in the four-year-old classic series in Hong Kong, a horse will need to have a rating, on our scale, of 90 or better and more likely nearer to 95.

Sky Jewellery’s peak is 96 but, more importantly, he has put up a rating of 90 or better at all but one of his starts to date and the missing one was a complete trainwreck at start two, when he should have won comfortably but for traffic problems and would have rated over 90 in that one as well.

We rate him higher at the same stage than stablemate Helios Express, who won the Classic Mile and Cup two seasons ago, or another stablemate/ownermate in Sun Jewellery, who won the same double in 2016.

Our top-rating four-year-old though is David Eustace-trained Colourful King, who ran in Australia as Blue Renegade. He does not look more than a short-course sprinter and has to bring a good Happy Valley 1000m number to Sha Tin over at least 1000m to get involved in a Group race of any kind and 1200m if it’s a Group 1.

He also has some well-established rivals in those races including Ka Ying Rising, so there are challenges in his future.

Eustace, though, does have another potential Classic Mile horse in Dazzling Fit, who was unlucky in his early defeats but really put down a marker in his two victories before tapering a touch at the end what was his first racing preparation.

His regular partner is Luke Ferraris, who won the 2025 Classic Mile for Mark Newnham on My Wish, but this horse is better, certainly better at the same stage and likely better full stop if he remains sound.

Untried beyond 1400m so far, and by a speed sire, Ribchester, Dazzling Fit has the right style and the right rating, more than once, to be a four-year-old series player, provided he is able to stretch out further in distance and his quality will take him some of the way with that.

The final Sha Tin day of the season produced a welcome bright prospect for trainer Jamie Richards in Bulb General.

He caught every eye at long odds in his debut in February, finishing brilliantly into a close third with the race shape strongly against him and beaten by two other promising horses, Crossborderpegasus and Ahren. He then had a bout of colic, which required surgery, and he was unable to race again until July 13 when his win in Class 4 was outstanding.

Although he didn't beat much, the pace was once more heavily against him coming from the rear and he reeled off a big final sprint to win with comfort under 132 pounds, just pipped for the day’s best final 400m by Bundle Award thirty minutes later, winning the day’s Group 3 feature with only 116 pounds aboard.

Bulb General’s sire, Embellish, a son of Savabeel, was a 2000 Guineas winner at 1600m in New Zealand, and what little exposure Hong Kong has had to this sire includes a couple of lesser grade stayers. So, there should be some optimism that Bulb General will run further than the 1200m races he has contested to date.

Aside from Sky Jewellery, champion trainer John Size has a strong group turning four as he seeks a fourth Derby win, a fifth Classic Mile and a sixth Classic Cup.

Under-rated Juneau Pride won't be out of place in those races and Crossborderpegasus, who has won 3 of 5 despite erratic racing manners, has been highly-rated by the stable.

The table above gives some guide to others with local exposure but looking at the new season’s imports with form overseas is always a trickier process.

In addition, those who are in Hong Kong at the start of the season are only going to be a slice of those who eventually arrive and some of the better Northern Hemisphere imports are often not even for sale until connections have tried them at some good level and got a reality check during August, September, even October. Then they are for sale, as their opportunities might decline after three in Europe, Ireland or England but they have it all before them in Hong Kong as four-year-olds and some benefit from the extra time anyway.

For what it’s worth then, a quick look at some of the interesting Private Purchase (PP) horses – imports with overseas race form - who have already landed.

Most do not have new names or even a handicap rating at the time of writing this so, they are listed with their old names and their Hong Kong branding code.

Owner Marc Chan has enjoyed G1 wins in Europe and the UK in recent years but is still looking for high grade success in Hong Kong. He has a new import called SHAMUS ENIGMA (L093), a stylish winner at his only run in New Zealand, a very smart young horse in Shamus Storm, already here and with potential to become a classic series contender with only a little improvement from three to four, but Chan will likely regard his main Derby hope this season as SERAPH GABRIEL (L108), runner-up in what looks a strong 2000m G3 at Royal Ascot and joining the Eustace yard.

The fact that his standout performance came at 2000m isn't ideal as it might indicate he is too dour for the sharper Hong Kong style of racing but he has performed well at all five starts from 1300m upwards, so perhaps he will be more versatile than that.

Former Aidan O’Brien inmate, SERIOUS CONTENDER (L113) had 2 wins and 3 seconds from 6 starts and joins the Danny Shum yard in the ownership of Chan Kam-hung, who won the Derby in 2024 with another ex-O'Brien horse, Massive Sovereign (ex Broadhurst).

He’s another with a best performance at 2400m when runner-up in the Irish Derby behind Lambourn, so that’s not ideal, and he looks likely to be given quite a tough handicap mark to start off his Hong Kong career.

GLITTERING LEGEND (L109) is another of quite a few interesting PPs joining Eustace, with a nice record of 7 starts for 4 wins and a third placing in the G3 Hampton Court Stakes, which looks his peak effort, but he has won multiple races at 1600m.

From the Southern Hemisphere, perhaps the most interesting import looks to be SHANWAH (L123), formerly with Ciaron Maher and joining Douglas Whyte.

Shanwah put together 4 wins from 9 starts in Australia, peaking with a G2 Alister Clark Stakes win over 2040m at Moonee Valley before finishing third over the 2400m of the G1 Australian Derby at Royal Randwick.

Also of interest is PUBLIC ATTENTION, who has kept his Australian name after joining the David Hayes yard and arrives with 8 starts for 2 wins and 2 placings.

He was a G3 winner over 1200m in Sydney and finished less than two lengths away, finishing 4^th, in Broadsiding’s G2 Hobartville Stakes at 1400m.

He has been assigned an 80 rating as his starting point in Hong Kong and that isn’t an easy place to begin but he is more than handy.

KING OF THUNDER (L080) was trained by John O’Shea and Tom Charlton when runner-up to stablemate Maison Louis in the G1 2400m Queensland Derby in June, though his form overall looks smart rather than outstanding, with 2 wins and 6 placings from 12 appearances. Although the Queensland Derby was a past source of Derby prospects for Hong Kong, like Werther, Eagle Way and Ruthven, it has been quite a few years since it has been relevant.

Some PPs turn up with nice form on paper and don’t acclimatize, or develop problems, some turn up unheralded and are the real deal.

One of the good finds of last season was Eustace-trained Light Years Charm, who arrived win off just a maiden win at Lismore in the third (at best) tier of Australian racing and Mark Newnham had found Talents Ambition out of similar competition the season before.

Both trainers have interesting new imports with similar low-key backgrounds this term and so does Frankie Lor with L116, a staying-bred horse who raced as DUNLEARY in Australia for Angela Davies and hacked up over 1100m at Scone in his only start there.