FWD QEII Cup (Group 1)

THREE of Hong Kong’s star performers headlined the three Group 1s at Sha Tin last Sunday but it was only another terrific battling performance from Romantic Warrior that saw just one of those favourites gain success.

With much rain over the weekend, softer ground conditions were blamed for the defeats of Horse of the Year Golden Sixty in the Mile and California Spangle on the Sprint.

Romantic Warrior produced a late surge for James McDonald to land a record-breaking third FWD QEII Cup.

Peter Lau’s star clinched a seventh Group 1 and overcame a difficult trip from stall 10, a muddling pace and was then pushed wide around the home turn.

Romantic Warrior held off the gallant Japanese raider Prognosis to score by a neck. The runner-up deserves credit too after breaking slowest and losing notable ground from the stalls.

“I’m speechless - he’s awesome,” an emotional McDonald said. “He was beaten at the 600m, he just finds a way. It’s incredible. I dead-set didn’t have one thing go my way. I had 10 riders dead-set against me and the horse. I just had no favours. There wasn’t one part of the race I was happy with, to be honest with you.”

Romantic Warrior, Hong Kong’s premier middle-distance horse, added to magnificent Group 1 victories in the W.S. Cox Plate last October, the Longines Hong Kong Cup in December and Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup in February.

The six-year-old will now bid to enhance his record as Danny Shum is contemplating stepping back in trip to a mile for the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo racecourse on June 2nd.

The trainer said: “Japan will be next, we want to go there but our first priority is to see how the horse is. When he came in, he seemed a bit tired.”

The front-running North Bridge finished third for Japan, while last year’s third, Dubai Honour, could only finish seventh for William Haggas and Tom Marquand.

FWD Champions Mile (Group 1)

GOLDEN Sixty’s bid for a record fourth HK$22 million FWD Champions Mile crown was ended by a familiar foe in Beauty Eternal under a fine Zac Purton ride.

Pressing forward to take up an uncontested lead, the John Size-trained Beauty Eternal settled at the head of the field.

Golden Sixty loomed large and looked poised in the home straight, but an incredible 27th victory on his 31st start was not meant to be for the world’s highest earning horse.

Lacking his trademark acceleration, Golden Sixty finished three and a quarter-lengths behind Beauty Eternal, who collected his first top-level victory ahead of stablemate Red Lion, while Voyage Bubble finished third. The winner is an Australian-bred son of Starspangledbanner.

“There was no speed in the race, which gave us the opportunity to lead. The last thing I said to John [Size] before the race was ‘I think the going is a lot better on the fence’, he just got into a lovely rhythm and controlled the race,” Purton said.

“I thought the only chance I had to beat Golden Sixty was to try to put a gap on them and see how we went and today was his day.”

Beaten before on yielding ground, the Francis Lui-trained Golden Sixty was forced to overcome the conditions, persistent rain throughout the week and earlier that morning.

Jockey Vincent Ho said: “When I hit the straight, I could already feel he could not pick up with his usual turn of foot.

“It is what it is, we can’t fight the weather. I was in a great position and everything was close to the speed, but still we couldn’t improve on that ground.”

Chairman’s Sprint Prize

Invincible Sage has emerged as the latest Hong Kong star with victory in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize providing David Hall with his first-top level win since 2008.

Invincible Sage and Hugh Bowman, stalked pace-setters Victor The Winner and California Spangle before bursting clear to win by one and a half lengths to give Hall his biggest Hong Kong success since Absolute Champion’s Centenary Sprint Cup win 16 years ago.

California Spangle appeared not to relish the yielding track and struggled when pressured early by Mad Cool, finished second with Mugen third.

“It’s been a long time between drinks, of course. As everybody says, this is what you get out of bed for in the mornings. It’s been a bit of a drought for us at the top level so this is certainly a very satisfying win,” Hall said.

“He is only a little horse and you don’t sort of dream that high. He has got the conditions to suit him again today.”

Winning rider Hugh Bowman was full of praise. “I think a rain-affected track may have assisted his performance but even on a dry I think we would have seen a winning performance today,” he said.

Italy

THE two Italian classics took place at the Capannelle in Rome last Sunday.

The Group 3 Premio Pariolo Hid Italian 2000 Guineas was won by the favourite Melfi, trained by Endo Botti. The son of Kessaar was bred by Tally Ho Stud.

In the fillies’ classic – the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena Italian 1000 Guineas, victory went to another Irish-bred in outsider Beenham, a daughter of Havana Grey bred by Hunting Hill Stud.

She won by a head and Calle Almazora, who passed the post second, was demoted to third - having caused interference.