Almond Eye Defection Leaves Balanced Hong Kong Cup

When star Japanese filly Almond Eye was withdrawn from the Longines Hong Kong Cup (G1) on the eve of her planned trip, the Dec. 8 race flipped from a potential star turn to a wide-open affair.

Almond Eye spiked a fever just as she was to leave quarantine in Japan, robbing the Sha Tin set piece of its featured attraction but opening prospects for the eight remaining runners.

The 2,000-meter race (about 1 1/4 miles) on the Sha Tin turf has full brothers Time Warp, winner of the 2017 edition, and Glorious Forever, victorious in 2018. It also features Furore, winner of the BMW Hong Kong Derby toward the end of the 2018-19 season, and Rise High, a rapidly progressing 5-year-old who ended the 10-race winning streak of Beauty Generation two races back.

And that's just the home team.

Despite the absence of Almond Eye, Japan is well represented with Win Bright, a 5-year-old son of Stay Gold who returns to the scene of a course-record score in April in the FWD QE II Cup (G1). 

Aidan O'Brien sends Magic Wand, a 4-year-old Galileo filly who exits the Nov. 9 Seppelt Mackinnon Stakes (G1) at Flemington in Australia. A veteran world traveler, Magic Wand was close at the top level in the United States, England, Ireland, and Dubai before her breakthrough win. She finished second in this year's Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes and Arlington Million Stakes (both G1T).

O'Brien told the Hong Kong Jockey Club that his traveling staff has had only positive reports about Magic Wand. She and his other runners on the card "don't need much because, obviously, we think they're in good shape," the Ballydoyle master said.

Ryan Moore has the mount.

From France comes Edisa, a 3-year-old Aga Khan homebred filly by Kitten's Joy  trained by Alain de Royer Dupre. The Kentucky-bred won the Sept. 7 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park after a pair of runner-up finishes in France.

Dark Dream is the dark horse in the field of eight off his local record.

Time Warp, 6, and Glorious Forever, 5, have a serious sibling rivalry going, with both liking to run freely and taking unkindly to early challenges. Partly as a result, neither has been a model of consistency.

"Glorious Forever always makes it tough for him," Time Warp's rider, Karis Teetan, said just before the barrier draw. "I'm hoping he's inside us where I can get a jump on him."

As requested, Time Warp drew stall 6, just to the outside of Glorious Forever.

With none of the others accustomed to showing the way, the race could become a question of whether the brothers will knock each other out on the front end.

The international travelers say they're ready.

Edisa's regular work rider, Louise Grouselle, said the filly is maturing and peaking. 

"I've ridden her since she first came to us as a baby, and it's great the way she has developed," Grouselle said after a fast breeze on the all-weather track. "She has really got a lot stronger in the last few months."

Win Bright's regular jockey, Masami Matsuoka, took his charge for a spin on on the Sha Tin turf three days out from the big race and reported him "fit, physically. He is in good shape and has been the same as how he usually is at home."