When Olivier Doleuze slipped in to Hong Kong last winter he was able to walk around Sha Tin or Happy Valley unnoticed, without the slightest danger of anyone troubling him for his autograph.

A few months on, with an astonishing 26 winners under his belt for a strike rate of just under 20 per cent, it was a different story.

Much of his success was supplied by Derek Cruz, but in the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup Olivier teams up with Okawango, prepared for the race by his boss, French racing's first lady Criquette Head-Maarek.

The horse flew into Hong Kong at dawn on Friday and his handlers reported that he travelled well and arrived in good shape. He is to be given a quiet few days until his trainer arrives on Wednesday.

"It's hard for me to believe the success I had in Hong Kong over the winter, Olivier said. "I fell in love with racing in Hong Kong - it's crazy! I had an unbelievable three months."
The black-haired Frenchman, who is a popular figure in French weighing rooms, believes he has a real chance of lifting the second leg of the World Series with the colt who was rated the best in France as a two-year-old.

That high standing was due largely to his win in the Grand Criterium on his final outing as a juvenile, yet the son of Kingmambo was unable to build on that as a three-year-old last year.

After a close-up fourth behind Anabaa Blue in the French Derby he disappointed in the Grand Prix de Paris, and was tucked away for the remainder of the year.

Returning after a nine-month absence, he caught the eye on his four-year-old debut in the Group Three Prix Edmond Blanc at Saint-Cloud in April.

Over an inadequate one mile trip and with so many cobwebs to blow away he put up a stout performance to go down by a length and a half to the Francois Doumen-trained Bedawin.

That was enough to book his ticket to Sha Tin, with Doleuze optimistic that we will see the old Okawango on April 21.

"I think Okawango will be really well suited by the profile of the track at Sha Tin," he said. "He has run his best races going right-handed at Longchamp or Chantilly, and the faster the pace the better for him.

"He is a horse that has a great finish in him. Also, the 10 furlong trip is probably ideal - he found the mile the other day a little short.

"When you consider he was coming back from such a long lay-off, he did very well - and there's better to come!"

Doleuze would dearly love to pull the AP QE II off for his Chantilly-based stable in the colours of the yard's chief supporters, the Wertheimer brothers of Chanel fame. Can he scent victory?

"Olympic Express looks very smart, but it'll be hard to keep us out of the first three," he said with a wide smile.

A measure of the standing in which he is held in Hong Kong since his prolific winter stay can be gathered from the fact that he already has a full book of rides lined up for the big day.

Meanwhile, Japan's Agnes Digital, winner of December's Hong Kong Cup, has arrived from Dubai where he has been trained since the World Cup and also is reportedly in great shape.