#Happy Valley

A prolific winner with four wins from eight starts, Tuchel - trained by John Size - made his Class 2 debut a winning one after enduring a tough, three-wide passage from gate 14 before extending to score by half a length over fellow four-year-old Galaxy Witness. "I knew he had that ability but whether he was going to be able to produce that today,…

Douglas Whyte believes a trip to Qatar for the H.H. The Amir Trophy (2400m) at Al Rayyan Racecourse on February 18 could "spark up" his two-time Group One winner Russian Emperor. Russian Emperor is joined by the Caspar Fownes-trained Senor Toba among the entries for the Qatar Group One contest, which boasts a purse of US$2.5 million (HK$19.5…

LINCOLN - One more offseason. One more preseason. One more football season. And one more postseason. All with a new commissioner, and an eye toward a larger future in the league. One more trip around the sun with this iteration of Big Ten football. And one more year with divisional schedules. One more year, for certain, of a Big Ten title game. The…

A four-time winner over Happy Valley's 1650m course for trainer Tony Millard - including twice with Karis Teetan in the plate - Gallant Crown steps out for only his second outing this season as he chases a first win at the city circuit since June, 2021. "He goes well at the Valley, last time his win at Sha Tin was a nice win, I thought, but he's…

Six months ago, I left behind everything I knew in the move from Sydney to Hong Kong, naive and unaware. I mean, how hard could it be? I've made the quantum leap from riding a bicycle with training wheels to riding a unicycle - and there have been plenty of stumbles along the way. I've only just got balanced but there's still a long way to go…

Penn State finished the 2022 season at No. 7 in the final Associated Press top 25. It is poised to start the 2023 slate inside the top 10, as well. Early rankings and oddsmakers' opinions in the future market have head coach James Franklin's team anywhere from a top-five team to No. 9 nationally. Sporting News places the Lions in the latter spot in…

The LONGINES Hong Kong International 2022 racing came to a dramatic close at Sha Tin on Sunday with two hot favorites being defeated in the Group 1 races, but the events of the day did little to diminish the world class racing we got to enjoy over the entirety of the past week. The first upset came in the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase when the heavily…

The Michigan Wolverines have posted a historic 25-3 record over the last two seasons and will look to keep that momentum rolling with an experienced and talented team in 2023. While professional declarations will not be finalized until next Sunday, Team 144 is expected to return a minimum of 15 starters, with optimistic projections ranging as high…

Cheval Grand, shown winning the 2017 Japan Cup, returns seeking a repeat victory in Sunday's renewal. Photo courtesy of Japan Racing Association Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Weekend horse racing action stretches from Tokyo to Bahrain with a stop in England and a quick look at Hong Kong's preparations for its big weekend two weeks down the calendar. The Grade 1…

Hong Kong racing is back Saturday. night, running at 11:30 p.m. EST in North America. Free PPs are available at Horse Racing Nation. Hong Kong Jockey Club website.

Here are our selections and race summaries.

The first eight weeks of the 2022 college football regular season are officially in the books. But we have another loaded slate of games on tap for next weekend as conference play continues to heat up around the country. The oddsmakers at Caesars Sportsbook have already released the opening lines for most of the Week 9 matchups. The action gets…

Trained by Francis Lui and paired each time this season with Vincent Ho, the five-year-old - who had corrective throat surgery twice in 2021 - has three wins from four starts this term and once again steps up in grade after victories in Class 4 and Class 5. "His improvement surprised us, for sure, first time in Class 3 with a lighter weight might…

After starting the season unranked, a young and feisty Penn State squad end the season in Pasadena. (#9)Penn State (10-2, 7-2) vs. (#7)Utah (10-3, 7-2) Kickoff: 5 p.m., Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA The Betting Line: Penn State+2 (Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.) TV: ESPN, 5 p.m. - Chris Fowler…

The Utah Utes (10-3) take on the Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2) in the Granddaddy of Them All- the Rose Bowl- in Bowl Season. Kickoff comes from historic and iconic Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 2, at 4:00 p.m. CT. This is the final Rose Bowl as we know it. The game is a College Football Playoff semifinal next season and…

At just 14 years of age, Zac Purton made a decision that would change his life. He decided to skip school for a day. "I jumped at the opportunity," Purton recalls with a cheeky smile. Instead of walking through the gates of Coffs Harbour High, the schoolboy went to an RSL club for a jockey recruitment seminar. Not long after, before finishing year…

As the calendar year closes, greyhound racing continues to thrive with prize money and net income at record levels with no ceiling on the horizon. Annual Reports can hide as much as they disclose yet the metrics around pecking order on average per meeting prize money, breeding numbers and wagering turnover is in plain sight. And the winner in…

Hong Kong racing is back Friday night at 12:00 a.m. EST in North America. Free PPs are available at Horse Racing Nation. Hong Kong Jockey Club website.

In the 2022 VSiN College Football Betting Guide, I wrote about my process for creating team power ratings and called it an "inexact science." The same can be said for figuring out home-field advantage. Home-field advantage is variable. A noon ET kickoff against a nonconference opponent doesn't have the same juice as a primetime rivalry game on ABC.…

My phone reminded me, this morning, of what I was doing five years ago today. I had flown from Boston-a two-week research trip wherein I also flew to Maryland to watch the'Cats beat the Terps-to Evanston, where I saw one of my favorite sights: Iowa fans leaving Ryan Field. Just look at that. All those yokels, having congratulated themselves on…

It is the Group One clash to which every racing fan in Hong Kong - and millions more around the world - is counting down the days, but who will start the Stewards' Cup favourite if Golden Sixty, California Spangle and Romantic Warrior line up against each other over the Sha Tin mile on January 29? It is unlikely to be Golden Sixty, according to…

It's been a week of ups and downs in the HK jockeys' room. Matthew Chadwick's good season is on hold after he broke his right ankle in a barrier trial accident on Tuesday and the 32-year-old "will not be fit to resume riding for some time" according to a HKJC statement. Karis Teetan is heading in the opposite direction after a three-month absence…

A visit to the free-to-enter Hong Kong Racing Museum which overlooks the bend after the stands at Happy Valley racecourse gives an interesting insight into the sport's development in the former British colony. Racing in Hong Kong began as an amateur form of entertainment among the ex-pats in those colonial days but, for what remains a small-scale…

Anything good is worth waiting for and a LONGINES HKIR day that was three years in the making due to Covid restrictions created a host of vivid images. It started with Joao Moreira choking up at a packed paddock presentation to mark his exit from the HK racing scene. Win Marilyn's success in the Vase completed another memorable global year for…

The Hong Kong International Raceday has arrived with four Group Ones on the menu, highlighted by the HK$34million Longines Hong Kong Cup. Race 1 - Class 4 (1400m) The opener is a Class 4 over the 1400m and CIRCUIT MIGHTY (1) can just about make it back to back wins. The five-year-old has come back in good order this season and was too good for…

They came to bow down to the old king and left saluting a powerful new prince of Hong Kong racing as Romantic Warrior left a high-class global field trailing in his wake at Sha Tin on Sunday with a thunderous performance in the HK$34 million Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m). Hong Kong racing's biggest crowd since the corresponding day in 2019 gave…

Romantic Warrior triumphant in the Hong Kong Cup (HKJC) By Graham Cunningham They came to bow down to the old king and left saluting a powerful new prince of Hong Kong racing as Romantic Warrior left a high-class global field trailing in his wake at Sha Tin this afternoon (Sunday, 11 December) with a thunderous performance in the HK$34 million G1…

Here's the thing about the college football season. Every week is crunch time for somebody, when defeat can feel like a blindside chop block. Moments of Truth. Nebraska had one of those last Saturday in Ireland and look how that turned out. This week's selection of Moments of Truth: Wait a minute, can this be right? North Carolina is playing at…

Wednesday's Happy Valley races are highlighted not so much by the horses but the riders, as it's Longines International Jockeys Championship day. Seven jockeys from outside Hong Kong join five locally-based riders for the four-race event, which carries a first prize of HK$500000 (about $64000). The international challenge is headed by Ryan Moore,…

HK might as well stand for Hokey Kokey after another week of dramatic ins and outs. In-form Zac Purton was ruled out of Wednesday's Happy Valley meeting, along with French rider Antoine Hamelin, due to a second positive Covid test in recent weeks. Both riders are back in for Sunday's Sha Tin card but Ruan Maia and recent Aussie import Jye McNeil…

Week 12 in the Big Ten included surprising scares for the two best teams in the conference, as No. 2 Ohio State (11-0) escaped a close one at Maryland (6-5) and No. 3 Michigan (11-0) needed a last-minute field goal to survive against Illinois (7-4) at home. A possible explanation is that both teams were already looking ahead to Week 13, when…

The countdown for the Hong Kong International Races is now official on with this being the final Sha Tin card before we dive into the feature raceday on December 11. That's not to mention the International Jockey Challenge set to unfold this Wednesday as the world's best hoops converge on Happy Valley. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, however,…

Every week I log into this article to enter my picks and take care of some of the miscellany that RockyMtnBlue leaves for me as part of our work on these picks articles, and every week it says "MNW wit goes here." I am really letting you all down. We're to the end of another Big Ten season, this one perhaps simultaneously dumber and more…

Channel Cat, shown winning the Grade I Man o' War in May, is among the favorites for Saturday's Grade II Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct. Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association Nov. 19 (UPI) -- High-class graded stakes racing is spread across North America this weekend, with a turf showdown in New York, a tough mile event for fillies and mares…

The ACC has struggled with depth for years, but Week 9 marked a low point for the conference just days before the initial College Football Playoff Rankings are released. Nearly all of the excitement in the ACC is gone after the top two teams featured on Saturday fell in embarrassing fashion. Wake Forest moved into the AP top 10 and the edge of New…

The BMW Hong Kong Derby looks as even as ever but the decision to pick Congratulation ahead of Flagship Glory has raised eyebrows. The three Classic Series contests are some of the only ones in Hong Kong where the fields are decided by a selection panel, which means horses can get in on merit, rather than rating or priority (the Hong Kong…

The Hong Kong International Races have evolved over the course of three decades, and they now make up the largest annual international sporting event in Hong Kong. The four race extravaganza at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday has a rich history. Horse racing is extremely popular in Hong Kong, and its jockey club reports more than 2 million people…

Last weekend, Big Ten football witnessed one of the most brutal beatdowns that Ohio State has ever seen. No one demolishes Ohio State like Michigan did - especially not in back-to-back years - yet that is what we saw on Saturday. Michigan football is a unique team right now. After a stunningly lousy season in 2020, the Wolverines have been reborn…

Now 25, and happily married and settled in Hong Kong, Hewitson is the personification of persistence and courage in his third stint in the world-class racing jurisdiction. Hong Kong has always been a mountain South Africa's favourite son has been determined to scale, and even though he only has 12 winners on the board at a relatively humble strike…

Happy Thanksgiving! If you are reading this and still care deeply enough about the Michigan State football season to read a preview, I've got news for you... You are the best Spartan fan out there. A sick person, yes. But also the best Spartan fan this program could ask for. Let's get into the Happy Valley bonanza. That's Penn State's opponent…

Hong Kong racing continues at Happy Valley on Wednesday night with an eight-race program scheduled to take place under lights. Zac Purton looks to bounce from his five-timer at Sha Tin with another excellent book of rides, although it does look a very competitive card compared to his comprehensive book on Sunday. We're racing on the C+3 on…

To select one winner of Rivalry Weekend in college football is a near-impossible task, like picking your favorite child. We loved all the coaches, players, fans and viral moments equally, and we'd never dare to reveal which one we love most in front of the others. Fortunately, these are not our children, which allows us to be frank and say that our…

Week 12 in the Big Ten included surprising scares for the two best teams in the conference, as No. 2 Ohio State (11-0) escaped a close one at Maryland (6-5) and No. 3 Michigan (11-0) needed a last-minute field goal to survive against Illinois (7-4) at home. A possible explanation is that both teams were already looking ahead to Week 13, when…

Week 12 in the Big Ten included surprising scares for the two best teams in the conference, as No. 2 Ohio State (11-0) escaped a close one at Maryland (6-5) and No. 3 Michigan (11-0) needed a last-minute field goal to survive against Illinois (7-4) at home. A possible explanation is that both teams were already looking ahead to Week 13, when…

Fall is in full swing. The calendar is about to turn to November. What does that mean for the world of college football? Unexpected results. As the season heads toward the final weeks, there's bound to be surprises and head-scratching outcomes as the pressure of the College Football Playoff race and other factors cause teams to raise their level of…

We are so close to the final quarter of the regular season, and there are still some great races in conference play and for the CFB Playoffs. We have three matchups featured that will matter for both, including one potential national champion contender going into the most hostile environment they've seen this season. And here's a closer look at…

Where: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing. TV: Big Ten Network. Radio: WJR-AM (760). Betting line: Spartans by 10. Game notes: It's the annual battle for potentially the Big Ten's most disgusting rivalry trophy: The Old Brass Spittoon. First awarded in 1950, the Spittoon - which supposedly dates back to the 1800s, when it was filled with, well, spit -…

Check out where the value is in select races on Saturday, as determined by our site tool Punter's Edge - which endeavours to find value against the market. UNLOCK EVERYTHING PUNTERS HAS TO OFFER FOR JUST $4.99 BALLARAT Race 8 No.1 Desert Icon Punter's Price: $4 Best Odds: $31 Punter's Edge: 22% The toppy appeals to Punter's Edge in a big way in…

This year's LONGINES IJC will also be the first time that the two leading female jockeys in the world ride on the same card - Australia's Jamie Kah who makes her debut, while Hollie Doyle returns for a third time. Kah, 26, is the most successful female jockey in Australian racing history with eight Group 1 wins and over 1100 wins overall. In…