Jul 1, 20163 min read

THE FAST TRACKER GOES LOOKING FOR A KENDALL IN THE WIND AT SHA TIN TODAY

As this racing season in Hong Kong heads towards the home stretch, there’s a certain casualness about everything, whereas in Australia, the whole “Don’t Bet When It’s Wet” mantra is repeated over and over again with some tracks even coming up as a Heavy 10, and all semblance of form having to be thrown out the window. Nothing to laugh about, Kendall…

It’s that time of the year when your non-racing partner knows you’re all theirs, and if they want to go to London and shop at Harvey Nichols, you better behave and be a good running dog. What do you think about that dress? Lovely. What? She doesn’t think so? Okay, neither do you. Forget about finding a quiet way to drop into a William Hill and place a bet. That collar is very tight and the bark is louder than ever. It’s not a Beautiful Noise, Kendall.

So, casualness or not, make the most of the next few meetings. That two month break is going to seem like an eternity and the withdrawal symptoms could be tough to shake off.

As for today’s racing at Shatin, many local punters will be treading on eggshells when it comes to following Joao Moreira. Last week, the Magic Man came down to earth with a thud and lost his wand in the process with a shocking ride on the shortest favourite of the day in Love Shock- and far more shocking than Kendall Jenner modelling this Marc Jacob original.

To his credit, Moreira being Moreira and his most severe critic, he copped to that being one of his worst rides. He was also extremely lucky not to have received a lengthy suspension, but, apart from being the best jockey to have ridden in Hong Kong on a full-time basis, what’s the punishment for suffering from serious Brain Freeze? It’s too convoluted an argument and which Alan Aitken, writing in the SCMP, covered extremely well, and diplomatically over, under, sideways and down. It gave Kendall a headache.

How will Joltin’ Joao do today? Will the magic return? Will he go out there to win back his flock? Not being a tipster, his book of rides look on the ordinary side of the ledger. Apart from House Of Fun in Race 5 and Dr Listening in the last race, there’s nothing that really makes one wanna skip the light fandango and do cartwheels across the floor. With Kendall.

With there being jackpots in the Triple Trio and the Six Up, it’s best to look for value and look closely at the rides of Derek Leung, Matthew Chadwick, a very much in-form Nash Rawiller, and, perhaps, Karis Teetan, who’s going through a bit of lean trot, but is most lethal when in this position. He’ll snap out of it. Right, Kendall?

Of course, it would be silly to ignore the joyful trinity of Moreira, Zac Purton, especially with him getting down in the weights to ride a couple, which is a tip in itself, and Kei Chiong.

Sure, add them to your Six Ups and other exotic bets, but with their rides often under the odds, and the “correction” of odds taking place after a bet like the Six Up has been placed, and these usually being bang on target, don’t believe everything you read- into odds. They could lead one astray. Wish Kendall would lead me astray.

The overnight odds for Heroic Guru, for example, which runs for that value-packed team of David Hall and Ben So in Race 7 was over 25 to 1. It should be less than half that, so don’t be surprised to see strong in-play correction to these odds taking place. Kendall couldn’t care less.

Believing the Six Up to be the best exotic bet when it comes to value, let’s not forget that the reason there’s a jackpot today was mainly because of two results- the win of Holmes Legend and the loss of Love Shock. That was Adios to many Six Ups.

On this note, let’s not get into the punter who was alive for the Six Up Bonus coming to the last race, but left out the favourite and winner in the last- the Moreira-ridden Joyful Trinity- preferring to bank on five other horses which, by, the way, came second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Bummer, Kendall.

Heartbreaking stuff, but that’s racing- and also going for value except this time, betting everything that Joao Moreira wouldn’t ride a winner last weekend and including longshot Holmes Legend in his Six Up. Why? Intuition. And often that intuition lets one down, Tonto- unlike Kendall.