AS eluded to in last week’s piece, Dermot Weld has found an excellent opportunity for Free Eagle to finish out his career on a winning note at Sha Tin on Sunday morning.

The standard of winners of the Hong Kong Cup has been steadily declining in recent years with Vengeance Of Rain, Pride, Ramonti, Eagle Mountain, Vision d’Etat, California Memory, Akeed Mofeed and Designs On Rome having won nine of the last 10 renewals between them. None of them would lace the boots of Free Eagle on his 2015 form.

Conversely, the prize money for the Cup has risen over the same period, so much so in fact that should Free Eagle win, he will treble his current prize money earnings of £592,523.

Put another way, Weld’s charge can earn double in one race what he has earnt in a seven-race, three-year racing career to-date. It’s a no-brainer really when you consider the prize money on offer and the fact that the opposition appears leagues below what he has been tackling in Europe.

Despite a Royal Ascot win over this trip, the pick of Free Eagle’s form must surely be finishing third to Golden Horn and Found - the subsequent Breeders’ Cup Turf 1-2 - over the same trip in the Irish Champion Stakes.

He suffered a bump at a crucial juncture at Leopardstown and could conceivably have won the race were it not for that.

He was again unlucky in the Arc when he was hampered before staying on strongly. He is drawn nine and despite it being well documented that horses in the Cup have less than one furlong to travel before they encounter the first turn at Sha Tin, those emerging from stall nine have finished second, third and fourth in this race over the last three years with another runner-up drawn in 10 so it’s far from an insurmountable task.

At 4/1 Free Eagle rates a very good bet indeed, especially considering he is the clear highest-rated horse in the field, a full 9lb clear of last year’s winner and the second favourite this time around, Designs On Rome. Assuming he gets normal luck in running Free Eagle really should win.

We reported last week that there had been support for both Free Eagle and Highland Reel (in the Hong Kong Vase) and that has continued unabated this week. So much so that RaceBets decided to introduce an ‘Ireland Special’, namely that Free Eagle and Highland Reel both finish in the top two in their respective races (Cup and Vase). This special has also seen support and is now 5/1 (from 6/1) suggesting hopes are high for the Irish runners, with the evergreen Sole Power representing Ireland in the Sprint as well.

CHELTENHAM

At Cheltenham today, Champagne West appeals in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup, despite making his seasonal debut in a very competitive handicap.

Philip Hobbs’ second string, the mount of Tom O’Brien, goes well fresh having won on his debut last year as well. He has passed the post first on two of his three completed chase starts with both of those wins having come at Cheltenham as well.

As an unexposed seven-year-old, it could just be that he is the best handicapped horse in today’s race. Furthermore, as a son of Westerner, the forecast rain won’t harm the chances of a horses who has already won on heavy ground but is equally at home on good-to-soft.