Sky Jewellery joined a select band of gallopers with debut success at Happy Valley and tomorrow night (Wednesday, 5 February) the exciting three-year-old is back in action.
Sporting Tung Moon Fai’s renowned pink and yellow silks, the 60-rating galloper has come forth as a leading 2026 Four-Year-Old Classic Series candidate after becoming only the 26th horse to win on debut in Class 4 at Happy Valley since 2015 – an infrequent achievement the likes of Romantic Warrior, Lucky Sweynesse and Mr Stunning also managed to accomplish.
Contesting the third section of the Class 4 Wai Yip Handicap (1200m), Sky Jewellery steps from barrier 11 with Hugh Bowman up for in-form John Size – who is in the midst of another all-too familiar mid-season surge with 21 of his 26 wins returned since 1 December.
“He’s in pretty good order. He did his job very well and seemed impressive on his first day out. He’s come home and done well after that, he should be able to go on with it,” Size said.
“He showed plenty before he started racing and he promised us that he’d win first start, so he’s acquitted himself very well.”
Other rare debut winners at Happy Valley include Group 3 winner Champion’s Way, Reliable Team, Flying Ace and recent HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) third Packing Hermod. Sky Jewellery clocked 1m 10.15s (24.27, 23.20, 22.68) in victory from barrier five on 15 January; he also finished second in a turf trial on 24 January over 1200m.
“Gates are really important at that track (Happy Valley), so he’s obviously got more work to do and he’ll have to use more energy to win the race. He’s not going to get a sweet run by any means, so hopefully his class will help him out,” Size said.
The Autumn Sun gelding is out of the mare Rollout The Carpet – winner of the 2012 G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m). 12-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer Size also raced Sun Jewellery for owner Tung Moon Fai, winning the 2016 Hong Kong Classic Mile and Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) – the first two Four-Year-Old Classic Series legs.
Size’s 26 wins position him fourth in the championship behind only Danny Shum (29 wins), Pierre Ng (28) and David Hayes (27). The Australian Hall of Famer saddled Beauty Eternal, Helios Express and Red Lion at Tuesday’s (4 February) Sha Tin barrier trial session.
Speaking of Helios Express and Howdeepisyourlove (who trotted instead of trialling today), Size said: “They’ve been good; they’ve been very consistent and they’ve been racing very well. There’s not much we can do about the opposition – there’s always one to beat.”
Both horses have placed at Group 1 level behind rampaging Ka Ying Rising with Helios Express twice runner-up to his record-breaking adversary. Size is expecting to saddle Beauty Eternal, Helios Express, Howdeepisyourlove and Red Lion in the HK$13 million G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) against Ka Ying Rising on 23 February.
Howdeepisyourlove also holds an entry for the G1 Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) at Meydan on 5 April. Hong Kong-trained winners of Dubai’s straight course dash are Joy And Fun (2010), Amber Sky (2014) and California Spangle (2024).
The HK$3.12 million Class 2 Tsun Yip Handicap (1650m) is tomorrow night’s highest-quality race with last-start Group 3 winner Helene Feeling facing seven rivals for jockey Harry Bentley and trainer Danny Shum.
Helene Feeling won last month’s HK$4.2 million G3 January Cup Handicap (1800m) carrying 117lb. The Sioux Nation galloper – rated 98 – will lug 133lb from barrier five.
“It was a great victory, I thought. They went quite slow in the early parts and Hugh (Bowman on Moments In Time) was able to inject (pace) up in front which helped my chances and he was able to really knuckle down under a light weight.
“Naturally it (bigger weight) is something else to contend with because it’s not going to be as easy for him to lug around as the light weight. At the end of the day, he is a big horse and he can certainly shoulder it,” Bentley said.
Moments In Time (135lb), Senor Toba (124lb), Capital Delight (123lb), Mr Ascendency (122lb), Flamingo Trillion (120lb), Telecom Fighters (119lb) and Red Hare King (117lb) are also in the Tsun Yip Handicap line-up.
Wednesday’s (5 February) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 6.40pm with the Class 5 Hung To Handicap (1650m).
By Declan Schuster
