Hot Delight puts himself on four-year-old series path with Class 2 win

Hong Kong trainer Francis Lui is keen to test progressive Hot Delight in next season’s premier four-year-old races after the son of Too Darn Hot the Class 2 Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarships Handicap (1200m) under Vincent Ho.

Hot Delight, who has won four of his five starts in Hong Kong and all this calendar year, was bought for $250,000 at the 2024 Magic Millions on the Gold Coast by agent John Foote.

On Sunday, the three-year-old defeated high-class older horses Magic Control, Public Attention and Group 1 winner Victor The Winner to earn a PPG bonus of HK$1 million.

“If he can improve, I think he has very good potential. I think we can plan backwards from the Classic Series now – he’s our first choice,” Lui said.

“He’s an honest horse and I think his quality is very good. Vincent knows him really well and he got a good position and had him travelling well. Vincent said he was really happy with how he performed.”

Hot Delight was bred by New Zealand South Island-based Inglewood Stud.