Street Scream and Excellent Peers line up in the Class 3 Sing Woo Handicap (1200m) at Happy Valley tomorrow night (Wednesday, 8 February) chasing a vital 15 points and the outright lead over Nearly Fine in the DBS x Manulife Million Challenge.
The DBS x Manulife Million Challenge comes to a close this Wednesday after kicking off on 14 September last year, while victory for either Street Scream (45 points) or Excellent Peers (42) will see them leapfrog Nearly Fine (53) into first position ahead of Yo Beauty (42), Comet Splendido (39) and California Deeply (36).
The competition is for horses racing in Class 3 and above, with 15 points awarded for first, six for second, four for third and three for fourth place. Either Street Scream or Excellent Peers must win if one of them is to overhaul Nearly Fine – who also runs tomorrow night – for the HK$650,000 first prize.
Street Scream returns with 135lb assigned as the race’s top-rated horse. He was desperately unlucky over the concluding stages in a Class 2 1000m contest last month after giving away a sizeable head start. Vincent Ho rides again from gate three.
“When I entered the straight there was a huge gap until the last 100 or 200 metres, then everyone just came together and jammed up.
“But he is very well, he’s probably just a bit lazy – he thinks too much. He’s a funny horse, if he picked up a little bit earlier (last start) it would have been ideal. He’s a good chance,” Ho said.