Half of the 2025-26 season will be in the books after Sunday’s Sha Tin meeting and it has been an intriguing five months of racing in Hong Kong.

Some of the city’s stars – both equine and human – have dominated once again while the battle for the trainers’ championship looks set for an exciting finish.

Peerless Purton

It has been business as usual for Zac Purton, with the eight-time Hong Kong champion jockey building a huge lead in the title race after racking up 73 wins from the first 43 meetings of the season.

While that is slightly down on the figure of 82 from the same time last year, it still puts him on track to ride about 149 winners this campaign and puts him a whopping 41 in front of nearest rival Hugh Bowman.

The Australian star is also closing in on another milestone by becoming the first jockey to ride 2,000 winners in Hong Kong. He currently sits on 1,951.

Most of the other riders are travelling similarly to what they were at this stage 12 months ago. Apprentice Ellis Wong Chi-wang is the biggest improver with an additional 11 wins, while Matthew Poon Ming-fai and Brenton Avdulla are the biggest sliders.

Trainers’ title wide open

Francis Lui Kin-wai’s stunning finish to win four of the last five races and pip Pierre Ng Pang-chi by one victory in 2023-24 might never be repeated, but this season’s battle for the championship promises to be a thriller all the same.

In his third Hong Kong campaign, Mark Newnham raced to an early lead and has withstood several challenges from Caspar Fownes to head the standings on 34 wins – up from his 26 at this time last year.

Fownes and David Hayes sit just one triumph behind, with the former the biggest improver in the training tanks after bagging an additional 12 wins than this time last year.

Danny Shum Chap-shing, who is renowned for his strong starts, is also close behind Newnham on 30 wins, while John Size is building momentum after his usual slow start to the campaign.

With 24 wins, Size is only two behind the same figure from 12 months ago and he went on to claim his 13th premiership in July.

The next biggest improver behind Fownes is Me Tsui Yu-sak, who was last on the table this time 12 months ago with seven wins and has doubled that tally this term.

Brett Crawford has hit the ground running in his first Hong Kong campaign with 13 wins at an impressive strike rate of 10.6 per cent, while Ng is the biggest slider with 13 less wins than at this stage of the 2024-25 season.

Trio dominates Group Ones

Just like last term, the six Group One victories achieved by Hong Kong gallopers this season have been spread evenly between superstars Ka Ying Rising, Romantic Warrior and Voyage Bubble.

As it stands, Ka Ying Rising is on track for a second straight Horse of the Year title after winning the Group One The Everest (1,200m) in Australia, the Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) and Group One Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m).

Romantic Warrior will make his bid for the award when he chases Triple Crown glory, having won the first leg, the Group One Stewards’ Cup (1,600m), after his record-extending fourth consecutive Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) triumph in December.

Reigning Triple Crown hero Voyage Bubble will be out to spoil the party, but it looks a difficult task with Romantic Warrior maintaining close to peak form.