7.35 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (Group 1) 6f

All hail Ka Ying Rising as he goes for a record-extending 20th straight win and it is hard to see it as anything other than another easy win for the world’s best sprinter.

Japan’s Satono Reve, second in the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Stakes to Lazzat last season will give some European perspective on the form. He has form with Ka Ying Rising, third in the 2024 Hong Kong Sprint and second in this race last year, before a ninth in December’s Hong Kong Sprint. He bounced back in Japan when winning March’s Group 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen with an impressive run.

Helios Express has clashed with Ka Ying Rising 12 times and finished second eight times, plus third on three occasions and second on his three runs this season.

Fast Network matches with Helios Express on their head-to-head, and the swing factor tends to be where each lands in the run. Barrier two could prove key to beating Helios Express.

Donnacha O’Brien sends Comanche Brave off two placed efforts over a mile and seven furlongs in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh in the Group 2 Turf Sprint where he was just three-quarters of a length off Lazzat, but it’s hard to see him making the frame.

Selection: Ka Ying Rising

Next best: Helios Express

8.45 FWD Champions Mile 1m (Group 1)

The most open of the three Group 1s and Japan’s Jantar Mantar is a four-time Group 1 winner and tries Sha Tin for the second time after a Hong Kong Mile run in 2024 where he could only finish 13th of 14. That was off an interrupted preparation and a tough trip.

He arrives with major wins last season in the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen and the Mile Championship, earning him Japan’s Champion Sprinter title.

Lucky Sweynesse won the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy last time and can take control from stall four with some key rivals drawn wide, should be thereabouts again. Voyage Bubble won the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Mile in December with many of these behind and has strong claims on his best form.

My Wish’s record is unplaced from four attempts in Group 1 company. Strauss is another Japanese runner with quality form, winner of the Abu Dhabi Gold Cup with Joao Moreira.

Docklands, winner at Royal Ascot last season and returned with a comfortable win in the Listed William Hill Doncaster Mile Stakes. He was fourth to Voyage Bubble in the Mile in December with Red Lion third.

Selection: Voyage Bubble

Next best: Jantar Mantar

9.55 FWD QEII Cup 1m2f(Group 1)

The home star Romantic Warrior goes for a record-extending fourth win in this race and it is hard to find the horse to trouble him on home soil.

He has been beaten only once from 14 runs at Sha Tin, when Golden Sixty edged him by a head in the 2023 Gold Cup. He looks as good as ever this season.

However, there appears plenty of confidence in Japanese four-year-old Masquerade Ball who arrives with a high international rating after chasing home 2025’s highest-rated horse Calandagan in the Japan Cup. He also won the Tenno Sho Autumn in November, beating subsequent Arima Kinen winner Museum Mile.

The form is there if he can bring it abroad. Track reports suggest he took a while to settle in new surroundings and has to cope with softer going conditions.

From France, Sosie comes as a solid campaigner after winning December’s Group 1 Hong Kong Vase, beating Giavellotto and Goliath.

He went for home early there and stall three gives Maxime Guyon the chance to get well placed. Royal Champion needs to build on his Middle Eastern form of good wins in Bahrain and Riyadh, finding career-best form as an eight-year-old since the stable switch to Karl Burke.

Selection: Romantic Warrior

Next best: Sosie