One of only three 1m4f races run in Hong Kong over the year, the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup is also a Group 1 so has added significance.
UK punters will be treating it with caution, however, with a very hot odds-on favourite.
Only locally-trained runners are able to run in Hong Kong under current restrictions but this is rarely a race which attracts overseas challengers in any case. The general quality is questionable but it’s a big day for the locals, even if there are other issues connected with Hong Kong dominating the headlines at present.
Horse Racing Betting at Ladbrokes
Champions & Chater Cup Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 2006 | Viva Pataca | Michael Kinane | John Moore | Stanley Ho |
| 2007 | Viva Pataca | Michael Kinane | John Moore | Stanley Ho |
| 2008 | Packing Winner | Douglas Whyte | Peter Ho | Lee Wan Keung |
| 2009 | Viva Pataca | Weichong Marwing | John Moore | Stanley Ho |
| 2010 | Mr Medici | Gerald Mosse | Peter Ho | Shi Lap Tak |
| 2011 | Mighty High | Darren Beadman | John Moore | Albert Hung Chao Hong |
| 2012 | Liberator | Weichong Marwing | David Ferraris | David Ferraris Trainer Syndicate |
| 2013 | California Memory | Matthew Chadwick | Tony Cruz | Howard Liang Yum Shing |
| 2014 | Blazing Speed | Neil Callan | Tony Cruz | Fentons Racing Syndicate |
| 2015 | Helene Super Star | Douglas Whyte | Tony Cruz | Wilson Woo, Dawson Woo & Jackson Woo |
| 2016 | Blazing Speed | Neil Callan | Tony Cruz | Fentons Racing Syndicate |
| 2017 | Werther | Hugh Bowman | John Moore | Johnson Chen |
| 2018 | Pakistan Star | Tommy Berry | Tony Cruz | Kerm Din |
| 2019 | Exultant | Zac Purton | Tony Cruz | Eddie Wong Ming Chak & Wong Leung Sau Hing |
Only twice in the last 14 years has a horse from outside the top stables of John Moore and Tony Cruz won the Champions & Chater Cup.
Moore has won it seven times in total and Cruz has won it in six of the last seven years. Cruz was actually the jockey on Moore’s first winner in 1995. River Verdon won it four times in a row in the 1990s, though his first victory was over 1m3f. Viva Pataca won it three times in the Noughties and three horses have won in twice with last year’s hero, Exultant, looking to join that list this weekend.
Table of Contents
Champions & Chater Cup Current Best Odds
 |
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Exultant | 4/11 | 2/5 | 1/3 |
| Furore | 4/1 | 4/1 | 4/1 |
| Time Warp | 10/1 | 10/1 | 9/1 |
| Chefano | 12/1 | 12/1 | 10/1 |
| Eagle Way | 20/1 | 20/1 | 20/1 |
| Savvy Nine | 33/1 | 33/1 | 25/1 |
| Helene Charisma | 50/1 | 50/1 | 50/1 |
(Betting Odds were taken from Ladbrokes, Unibet & Betfred on May 22, 2020 at 10:30)
Is Exultant in a league of his own?
One of three Tony Cruz-trained runners, Exultant won the Champions & Chater Cup 12 months ago when Time Warp was beaten almost 17 lengths and Eagle Way was last of the nine runners.
He was an odds-on favourite that day as well, as he has been in all six subsequent starts.
It is a slight concern, for those willing to go large on the 2/5 with Unibet, that he was beaten in three of the races, including one over 1m4f, but is there anything among today’s opposition to strike fear into Zac Purton as he bids to strengthen his grip on the jockeys’ title?
It’s just possible that salvation will come from the heavens for bookmakers, rather than the form book. It has been raining heavily in the autonomous region since Thursday and that won’t suit Exultant.
Can Furore turns the table over an extra quarter-mile?
Furore runs over 14mf for the first time since finishing sixth in the 2018 Australian Derby at Randwick.
However, he was staying on behind Exultant over 1m2f in the QE II Cup last month and only beaten three-quarters-of-a-length.
Eagle Way and Time Warp were behind but bookmakers really are giving little away at a best 4/1 given he has a few pounds to find with the favourite, even on his best Sha Tin form.
Chefano may be the value
The winner of the Queen Mother Memorial Cup in 2017, the five-year-old was fourth in the same race in 2018 and won it again last month. He runs in nearly all of the select few races run at Sha Tin over 1m4f but Zac Purton prefers the favourite this time.
CHEFANO is 12/1 with Ladbrokes and that has to be better value than most in this race. He will almost certainly reproduce his form, though you will only get place odds for the first two with only seven runners. Savvy Nine and Helene Charisma were well beaten last month and it’s hard to see either of that pair turning the tables.
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