The advantage lies with championship leader Mark Newnham as the Four-Year-Old Classic Series gets underway with Sunday’s (1 February) HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin.
The Australian handler, who currently holds a narrow one-win lead at the top of the trainers’ standings, goes into the weekend’s feature with four of the 14 runners prepared in his yard.
Newnham, who has been steadily arming his stable with young talent throughout his almost three-year stay in the city, said stockpiling exciting prospects was part of his broader strategy, an approach that has come to fruition during a breakout campaign.
“I think you’ve got to have a plan for your season, and you’ve got to have a plan for the horses you buy,” said Newnham, who has accumulated 33 wins so far in 2025/26. “The Four-Year-Old Classic Series is very popular with Hong Kong owners. So you’ve got to buy horses with that in mind.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have a good group of horses that I’ve had from the start, that have made the race.”
Newnham will be represented by Invincible Ibis, who will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, Crimson Flash (Andrea Atzeni), Infinite Resolve (Alexis Badel) and Winfield (Lyle Hewitson) in the Four-Year-Old Classic Series opener, the race that brought his first major Hong Kong success, when My Wish prevailed by a neck last season.
That gifted galloper would go on to register a second place in the second leg of the Series, the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m), before going down by the narrowest of margins to Cap Ferrat in the showpiece HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m).
In this year’s renewal, Invincible Ibis, who drew gate 11, is expected to be one of the market leaders when betting opens. With four wins on the spin, the storming finisher arrives as the form horse in the field. In each of his four wins, the Hellbent gelding has rallied late to claim victory.
Newnham could have a telling influence on the pace the race is run at: in addition to Invincible Ibis’ typical late closing, Crimson Flash, drawn seven, has raced on-pace in each of his three wins so far, Infinite Resolve (gate three) parked midfield in his sole Hong Kong win to date, while Brazilian import Winfield (gate eight) dismantled a Group 1 field in his last win on home soil, dominating from the front in the G1 Jockey Club de Sao Paulo (2000m) to score by over five lengths easing down.
While Newnham acknowledged the various pace options he had at his disposal, he revealed there was no grand strategy in place for Sunday.
“You’ve got to give every horse their best chance (of winning),” Newnham said. “But for different horses, how the race unfolds will be better-suited if there’s more pace, less pace, and if they’re coming from back in the field on the day, how the track’s playing … But you’ve still got to ride the horse to its strengths.
“We’ve got a couple of on-pacers and a couple of back-markers. So hopefully it works out for one of them.”
Newnham’s runners are set to meet Sagacious Life, Little Paradise, Beauty Bolt, Patch Of Cosmo, Public Attention, Akashvani, Top Dragon, Circuit Grand Slam, Shanwah and Windlord in what is expected to be one of the most compelling runnings of the Hong Kong Classic Mile in recent years.
Sunday’s (1 February) 11-race fixture at Sha Tin starts at 12.30pm with the Class 4 Clear Water Bay Handicap (1000m). The HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) jumps at 4.05pm.
By Paul Ryding
