Hong Kong’s Group One club is a rather exclusive one, with only eight active local gallopers enjoying top-level success in the city.

The club welcomed only two new inductees in season 2024-25 – Ka Ying Rising and Red Lion – and it’s difficult to see any more than a couple joining the ranks this campaign.

Whether there are even that many probably depends as much on what the established brigade has left to offer and the quality of the raiders as it does on the ability of the current crop of wannabe A-graders.

But, with the first two Group races of the season in the bag – last Sunday’s Group Three Celebration Cup (1,400m) and Wednesday’s Group Three National Day Cup (1,000m) – My Wish looks the galloper most likely to take the next step from those we have seen so far.

While Fast Network was a nice victor of the National Day Cup and trainer Dennis Yip Chor-hong is keen for a crack at the Group One Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m), there seems little chance either he or any of his opponents on Wednesday will be toppling Ka Ying Rising this season.

It also seems likely Helios Express – who has his second trial for the campaign on Friday morning – will retain his mantle as Hong Kong’s second-best sprinter, but after seven fruitless cracks at Ka Ying Rising, his best chance of scooping a Group One may lie overseas.

My Wish certainly couldn’t have done much more in the Celebration Cup, monstering the line after being held up considerably in the straight to salute comfortably under 130lb.

Another fancied runner in that race, Light Years Charm, also raced without luck but trainer David Eustace will lower his sights with his five-year-old for now and target the 1,400m Class Two race on November 9.

Packing Hermod and Rubylot are others worth following out of the Celebration Cup, especially the latter when he gets out in trip, but for now My Wish is the most exciting of the gallopers to race this season who are not named Ka Ying Rising.

The Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m) on October 19 should reveal plenty, with My Wish to carry 20 pounds less than a returning Voyage Bubble.

If Mark Newnham’s charge can’t beat Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s five-time Group One winner under those conditions, it’s hard to see him doing it at level weights later in the campaign.

Voyage Bubble is a seven-year-old coming off an arduous Triple Crown ascent, however, and it remains to be seen if he is the same horse at 1,600m as the one who snared last year’s Group One Hong Kong Mile.

Much like the mile ranks could depend on how much zest Voyage Bubble has left in his legs, the local pecking order for the Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) will rest firmly on what Romantic Warrior has left to give as he continues his return from injury.

Sidelined by fetlock surgery in May, the world’s highest-earning racehorse has had one trial as he builds up to November’s Group Two Jockey Club Cup (2,000m).

If he remains anywhere near his best – and Voyage Bubble again stretches out to 2,000m in the New Year while Romantic Warrior potentially heads off for another tilt at the Group One Saudi Cup (1,800m) – it would seem the city’s 10-furlong ranks remain closed.

There are some sizeable unknowns in there and there’s plenty of water to go under the bridge before the Hong Kong International Races on December 14, however it would take a brave man to bet against the city’s “big three” – Ka Ying Rising, Voyage Bubble and Romantic Warrior – remaining very tough to crack in 2025-26.

Jockey Club back on typhoon watch

Little more than a week after losing a Happy Valley meeting to Super Typhoon Ragasa, the Jockey Club is hopeful Saturday’s Sha Tin meeting will go ahead despite the impending arrival of Tropical Storm Matmo.

Officials will meet on Friday afternoon to properly assess the situation, however it is hoped the worst of the weather won’t arrive until well after Saturday’s final race at 5.45pm.

“I think at the moment it looks like it’s going to be beyond Saturday – that’s the latest information we got this morning,” said Stephen Higgins, the Jockey Club’s head of race day operations, tracks and racing facilities.

“It’s not nearly as certain as the one last week. We’ll keep everyone informed as things become more certain.”

The Jockey Club’s top brass will be managing the situation from Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend in Paris, with chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges set to open Monday’s International Conference of Horseracing Authorities in his role as the chair of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.