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Aiming to become the race’s fourth dual winner after Silver Lining (1978 & 1981), Right Way (1992 & 1996) and Beauty Generation (2017 & 2018), the Group 1-winning California Spangle links with jockey Hugh Bowman as trainer Tony Cruz’s popular on-pacer makes his highly anticipated return after finishing third behind Golden Sixty last April at Sha Tin.
Bowman rides the Irish-bred for the first time this weekend, while Zac Purton – who has won seven times aboard California Spangle – is atop emerging talent Beauty Eternal, a dual Group 3 winner, who capped a sparkling first term with seven wins from 10 starts.
"I said all last season that the thing I was missing in my repertoire was a top-line horse and this could well be the one. His form is excellent, obviously Zac was in a position where he had to go one way or another, but the phone call came and I was happy to take the reins," Bowman said.
Famed for partnerships with Winx, Werther, Samantha Miss and many more, Bowman hopped aboard California Spangle in a barrier trial on 3 October at Sha Tin where the pair finished second in a time of 1m 10.41s behind Dream Winner over 1200m on dirt.
"He has an excellent racing pattern and what I was inclined to be happy about in the trial is that I felt like he had a lot more to give me and I feel like he could be a horse like that. You're probably never at the bottom of him, but I'm going to know a lot more after the race than what I do before. His form's there for everyone to see, his record is consistent and it's right up there with the best horses in Hong Kong and abroad – let's see," Bowman said.
Cruz also saddles Beauty Joy and Circuit Stellar in this weekend's feature, while Russian Emperor, Money Catcher, Senor Toba, Straight Arron, Encountered and Tourbillon Diamond are also entered.
California Spangle will shoulder a 135lb impost as top-weight in the season's first Group 2 contest, while Beauty Eternal has been assigned 123lb along with Money Catcher.
"I think he (California Spangle) has the job ahead of him from a winning point of view to be perfectly honest at a mile with 135 pounds – he'll be giving some weight to some very good horses, so we're pretty open minded about that and it's going to give us a very clear indication of where we lie for the months ahead," Bowman said.
Looking to more immediate targets on Wednesday evening (11 October) at Happy Valley, Bowman takes seven out of a possible eight rides including Sugar Sugar in the Class 3 Cha Kwo Ling Handicap (1200m) for trainer Caspar Fownes.
"It was a good run, he's drawn a bit awkward but he looks very well placed to me. He has a good record at the track and the stable is firing," the Australian rider said.
Sugar Sugar narrowly missed first-up and steps away from barrier nine against 11 rivals tomorrow night. Bowman also rides Regency Happy Star, Beautyverse, Kokushi Musou, Savvy Delight, Cosmo Navigator and Lean Hero at the city circuit.
Bowman was aboard the David Hayes-trained Lean Hero first-up and has previously won atop the Maurice colt.
"His winning form is at Happy Valley. I really like the way he's trained on since his first-up run, I thought it was full of merit – not beaten far. And he gets his preferred track and distance – so he'll run well," Hayes said.
Bowman heads to Royal Randwick this Saturday (14 October) in Sydney, Australia to ride Espiona in The Everest (1200m) and Buckaroo in the G1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m).
"I think it opens the race up (the withdrawal of Giga Kick from The Everest). I still think I Wish I Win seems to be a bit forgotten, I think he's an outstanding horse – he's a TJ Smith (G1, 1200m) winner and I think he's the benchmark.
"Espiona, she's a little bit under the radar – she's a very consistent horse, she's good on any ground and she's in winning form," Bowman said.
Happy Valley's eight-race Wednesday night (11 October) fixture kicks off at 7.10pm with the Class 5 Tseung Kwan O Handicap (1000m).
