The reappearance of the past three Hong Kong-trained winners; the presence of South Africa’s two-time winner Mike de Kock; a powerful Japanese hand and the inclusion of the Hong Kong Derby winner Werther means that Sunday’s G1 HK$20 million Audemars Piguet QEII Cup (2000m) has all the ingredients which has cemented its place among the world’s great races in the past 10 years.
Add to the mix, competitors from two of the most successful stables in Europe and Australia, and it is not a stretch to suggest that this is the most accomplished line up for the AP QEII Cup since Audemars Piguet became the sponsor in 1999 of the race which is now listed in the world’s top 10 Group 1 races.
Trainer John Moore, who saddles up three runners in Sunday’s contest, says it is the best AP QEII Cup field he’s seen. “It’s a really good race. I’d say it’s the strongest QEII Cup field since I’ve been in Hong Kong, which is great from a public and world perspective but it also means we (the locals) might have our work cut out.
“We have the home ground advantage but with horses like Japan’s Lovely Day we could be up against it. It’s just down the road for the Japanese, which helps them, but they still have to come here and settle in and do it on race day. Despite the quality of this year’s race, I’m still going in with high hopes and feel my horses are peaking at the right time,” Moore said.
Moore, of course, is represented by 2014 winner Designs On Rome; this year’s Derby winner Werther and by Helene Happy Star who was runner-up to Designs On Rome in the G1 Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup, at the course and distance, on 28 February.
HKJC consultant Mark Player, who facilitates the entry of overseas runners, agrees with Moore that the Japanese will be hard to beat in this year’s renewal. “It’s a great field this year with the strongest contingent we’ve ever had from Japan,” said Player of the race, which has had international G1 status since 2001 and was first open to overseas runners in 1995.
HKJC Head of Handicapping and Race Planning, Nigel Gray says the race rivals the 2013 edition which Moore won with Military Attack.
“This is the tenth year that I have been a member of the selection panel for the AP QEII Cup, and the highest-rated renewal in that time was the 2013 race, won by Military Attack. I’d say the field we have announced for this year’s race has similar strength in depth, so I’m looking forward to a cracking race on Sunday,” said Gray.
The former victors contesting the race are, of course, Blazing Speed (2015), Designs On Rome (2014) and Military Attack (2013) and it would not be without precedent that one of the three could win again.
Blazing Speed chases back to back wins - a feat previously achieved by Japan’s Eishin Preston in 2002/03 and one which Military Attack so nearly pulled off in 2013/14. And while some may doubt Military Attack’s chance to win again, three years on - you only have to go back to Viva Pataca winning at 16/1 in 2010, which was a racing eternity after his initial win in 2007.
This trio of Hong Kong warhorses, aged from six to eight, are now opposed by the ‘new kid on the block’ in Hong Kong Derby-winning four-year-old Werther who seeks to emulate previous Derby winners to have claimed the AP QEII Cup - Designs On Rome (2014), Ambitious Dragon (2011) and Vengeance Of Rain (2005).
A victory, this year, for any one of the visitors from Japan, Australia, Ireland or the UAE, would take the AP QEII score - since it has had Group 1 status - to eight-all between the Hong Kong representatives and international challengers.
Japan this year has the well-credentialled trio of Satono Crown, Nuovo Record and Lovely Day seeking a third win for the nation. Nuovo Record returns after running second to A Shin Hikari in the G1 Hong Kong Cup last December; Satono Crown is the last start winner of the G2 Kyoto Kinen and Lovely Day the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn winner and G1 Japan Cup third last November.
Mike de Kock also seeks a third win after his victories with Archipenko (2008) and Irridescence (2006) who both progressed from Dubai as does his 2016 contender Ertijaal who was the G1 Cape Derby winner in South Africa at three and an eye-catching fourth to Real Steel in the G1 Dubai Turf on 26 March.
Completing the overseas challenge is the Aidan O’Brien-trained Highland Reel, who won last December’s G1 Hong Kong Vase; along with Rising Romance, who is prepared by former Hong Kong champion trainer David Hayes who finished third in last year’s AP QEII Cup with Criterion.
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Photo 1:
Military Attack wins the 2013 Audemars Piguet QEII Cup.
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