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Dec. 10 (UPI) -- International events hold sway on the weekend horse racing schedule with the Hong Kong International Races front and center. Some promising 2-year-old fillies contest the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies in Japan. Bahrain's new Turf Series gets going with some international representation and England's All-Weather Championships turn to the Marathon Division.
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A smattering of 2-year-old events including the Los Alamitos Futurity make up the agenda in the United States along with an interesting sprint at Gulfstream Park.
Meanwhile, who was crowned was crowned International Trainer of the Year at the Horserace Writers & Photographers Awards this week in London? See "News and Notes" for the answer. A clue: He won't be in Hong Kong this weekend.
But we'll start there anyway.
Hong Kong
Sunday's Longines Hong Kong International Races mark the windup of the global racing year, and this year's renewal of the four Group 1 events has special significance for Japanese racing and for Hong Kong's star horse, Golden Sixty.
The HKIR, run at distances from 1,200 meters to 2,400 meters, all have strong Japanese representation. A good showing would cap a season that saw Japan win its first Breeders' Cup races and its second straight Saudi Derby along with other excellent performances.
The toughest task will be the Longines Hong Kong Mile, where Golden Sixty, reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year, shoots for his 16th straight win and record 19th overall in Hong Kong. He has to his credit a Hong Kong Triple Crown and four Group 1 victories, including last year's Mile.
Golden Sixty's top challengers in the Mile are Japanese invaders Danon Kingly and Indy Champ.
Danon Kingly won the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo Racecourse in June, and then was second in his grade 2 return over the same course after a four-month freshening. Indy Champ finished seventh in the 2019 Hong Kong Mile, but has not been worse than fourth in top company since then.
The Ireland-based Coolmore team brings Mother Earth, a 3-year-old filly who had a remarkable summer but a disappointing autumn, most recently reporting 10th in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar.
One of Japan's highest hopes is Loves Only You, the favorite in the Longines Hong Kong Cup at 2,000 meters. She started the year with a dramatic, close third behind Mishriff and Chrono Genesis in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic in March, won the Group 1 QE II Cup in Hong Kong in April, and most recently won the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar last month.
The locals in the Cup include Ka Ying Star and Glorious Dragon, second and third in the local prep for the Cup both hoping to improve from that effort.
Also in from overseas for the Cup are Bolshoi Ballet, winner of the Grade I Belmont Derby Invitational on July 10, and most recently sixth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar; improving 3-year-old Dubai Honor from the William Haggis yard; and the Jim Bolger-trained Mac Swiney, winner of the Group 1 Irish 2,000 Guineas.
The Japanese contingent for the Longines Hong Kong Sprint at 1,200 meters might be its strongest of the day. Lining up will be Pixie Knight, a 3-year-old son of 2015 Hong Kong Mile winner Maurice; last year's Hong Kong Sprint winner Dannon Smash; and Resistencia, second to Pixie Knight in the Sprinters Stakes (G1) at Nakayama in their last outing Dec. 2.
Japan also has the likely favorite in the Longines Hong Kong Vase at 2,400 meters in the aptly named Glory Vase (JPN). The aptly named 6-year-old easily won the 2019 Vase and was second only to the aforementioned Loves Only You in the Group I QE II Cup (G1) at Sha Tin on April 25.
The overseas rivals include Group 1 Coronation Cup winner Pyledriver and 2020 Vase winner Mogul.
Japan
Grade I racing moves back to Hanshin on Sunday for the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies -- a race with a bit more form to work with than many 2-year-old events. Here, we find four fillies already crowned winners in graded stakes, starting with the undefeated Water Navillera.
Water Navillera, daughter of Silver State, a freshman sire by Deep Impact, comes off a Grade 3 victory over the Hanshin course going 1,400 meters, but also has won out to Sunday's distance of 1,600 meters. Her dam, Shining Sayaka, spent most of her career racing on dirt, frequently at Japan's regional tracks.
Circle of Life, an Epiphaneia filly, has a 2-for-3 record and comes off a victory in the Grade 3 Artemis Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse.
Namura Nycoris and Namura Clair, both owned by the obviously not shy Mutsohiro Namura, have two wins apiece. Namura Clair, by Mikki Isle, won the Grade 3 Kokura Nisai Stakes Sept. 5 while Namura Nycoris, by Jo Cappucino, has been off the track since winning the Grade 3 Hakodate Nisai Stakes on July 17.
Bahrain
Sixteen horses will go to the post in the first event of the new Bahrain Turf Series on Friday, the Al Manama Cup, run over 7 furlongs at 11.15 p.m. UK time. The Al Muharraq Cup at 1 1/4 miles follows with a field of 15. Both international and locally trained horses make up the competitive fields.
The series is intended to attract attention and participation in Bahrain's quickly growing racing portfolio.
England
Rainbow Dreamer and Coltrane are prominent in the extended 2-miles Betway Conditions Stakes Saturday at Newcastle, a Fast-Track Qualifier for the All-Weather Marathon Championships on Finals Day, Good Friday next.
Rainbow Dreamer has won six of his 12 all-weather starts for trainer Alan King. Coltrane is handled by Andrew Balding, who sent out Ranch Hand to win last season's Betway All-Weather Championships.
Meanwhile, back in the States:
Juvenile
The biggest U.S. race of the weekend, at least according to grade, is the Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity. There are only five entries and, if form holds, four of them should be chasing Messier home.
Messier, an Ontario-bred colt by Empire Maker, started his career with a second at Los Alamitos in June, took four months off and won a maiden event at Santa Anita in October.
He went directly from that to a 3 1/2-lengths victory in the Grade III Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar Nov. 14. Trainer Bob Baffert sends him around two turns for the first time.
Baffert also has Barossa, an Into Mischief colt last seen finishing ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Doug O'Neill will saddle Durante, a Distorted Humor colt coming off a maiden win, and Slow Down Andy, a Nyquist colt who was second in the Golden State Juvenile against state-breds at Del Mar in his last start. Olympic Legend completes the field.
The weekend slate also has state-bred races for 2-year-olds hither and yon: Friday's Kudzu Juvenile and Saturday's Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile at Fair Grounds, Saturday's Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity at Hawthorne Race Course and Sunday's King Glorious at Los Alamitos.
Two-year-old fillies go in Friday's Soviet Problem at Los Alamitos and Saturday's Louisiana Champions Day Lassie at Fair Grounds.
Sprint
Saturday's $100,000 Grade III Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream Park has a closely matched field of seven. The morning-line favorite is Dennis' Moment -- a Tiznow colt best remembered for stumbling out of the gate as the heavy favorite in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.
He lost all chances with that stumble, and then failed to find the winner's Circle in four subsequent races as trainer Dale Romans nursed him along sparingly.
Dennis' Moment finally got back on top with a victory in an optional claiming event at Keeneland in October and has been working steadily and well at Churchill Downs since then.
News and Notes
At the end of March, the new father-son training combination of John and Thady Gosden would have been odds-on to win any 2021 training award after Mishriff roared to back-to-back victories in the $20 million Saudi Cup and the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic.
But that was before Charlie Appleby's Godolphin string kicked into gear, winning eight Grade I races in North America alone, capped by three Breeders' Cup races, plus the Irish Derby, the Grand Prix de Paris, the Prix de la Foret, the National Stakes and lots more goodies around the globe.
Appleby on Monday was crowned International Trainer of the Year at the Horserace Writers & Photographers Awards in London -- a competition sponsored by the International Racing Bureau.
"It has been an amazing year for international racing, especially given the extra protocols caused by Covid," IRB's Adrian Beaumont said.
"British-based trainers have won major races in Bahrain, Canada, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and the States as well as throughout Europe. It is remarkable that John and Thady Gosden won the world's richest race, the Saudi Cup with Mishriff, but didn't win our award due to Charlie Appleby's stellar season."
While the international season is not over with Sunday's four Group 1 events in Hong Kong yet to come, Appleby's horses are hunkered down for their long winter nap.
