Sha Tin Racing Tips for October 19 – My Wish to resume with a win in the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which also feature in our daily selections.

My Wish can make a winning return in the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy (1600m), which shapes as the feature of the day with some big names stepping out for the first time this season, including Voyage Bubble and Helios Express. The six-year-old comes into the race with three winning trials under his belt, having produced a career-best performance to claim the Champions Mile (1600m) in April. The lightly raced galloper continues to improve with age and took a little time to hit his straps last preparation, although he was tackling the absolute elite, including Romantic Warrior, before stepping up to the plate in the Champions Mile. He draws ideally in barrier three, and while his usual racing pattern is to settle back in the field, the inside draw gives his rider options to position him a little closer than normal. He looks to have been given a solid grounding for his return, and with improvement still to come, expect him to be wound up for a big performance.

Gloryspeed can break through in Race 9 at Sha Tin. The former Australian galloper produced some solid performances as a three-year-old last spring when trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr before making the move to Hong Kong. He made his local debut at the National Day meeting on October 1, having shown promise in his trials, but was forced to settle back from barrier 10 before working home strongly for fourth over 1200m. The son of I Am Invincible should take plenty of improvement from that outing and gets the services of champion jockey Zac Purton, who comes off a runner-up aboard Ka Ying Rising in The Everest and takes the ride for the first time. He also draws much better in barrier four, which should allow him to settle just forward of midfield and enjoy a more economical run. With the benefit of that first-up outing and a more favourable barrier, Gloryspeed looks well placed to open his Hong Kong account.

Salon S looks the one to beat in the final race of the day at Sha Tin. The Frankie Lor-trained galloper has won four of his six career starts and worked his way through the grades last preparation, culminating in a Class 3 victory. He resumed in Class 2 company last month and produced an encouraging performance, settling handy after receiving a bump at the start before being asked to improve approaching the home turn. He had a tendency to lay in when making his run but balanced up and stuck on well for third behind Victor The Winner. The promising four-year-old drops back to Class 3 company and should have improvement to come at his second run of the season, particularly given he is still lightly raced. The 1400m looks ideal, and from barrier seven he should be able to push forward and settle close to the speed unless they go at a frantic tempo early. With the class drop and fitness improvement in his favour, Salon S should be very hard to beat.