Old hands chase further honour in APQEII Cup

23/04/2016

Three trainers’ names - John Moore, Mike de Kock and Tony Cruz - stand out in the contemporary honour roll of Sunday’s G1 HK$20 million Audemars Piguet QEII Cup (2000m) and each has a chance for further glory this weekend.

Plus, there’s a fourth in David Hayes who would very much like to add his name to the winner’s list after being confined to the place-getters stalls on three previous occasions.

Moore has made the race something of his own with four wins since 2007 and while de Kock’s two wins and Cruz’s one do somewhat pale in comparison, they’ve each gone close to winning on several other occasions.

And remarkably, each of the three men had their first AP QEII runners - post the race’s promotion to international Group 1 status in 2001 - in the same year, 2004. The South African de Kock fared best that year with his charge Right Approach finishing nearest to the winner’s podium in fifth place.

Since 2004, Moore has had no fewer than 28 runners in the AP QEII Cup for a yield of four wins (Viva Pataca in 2007 and 2010; Military Attack 2013 and Designs On Rome 2014) plus three seconds and two thirds. His minor placings came with Best Gift, Viva Pataca (twice), Mighty High and Military Attack.

In the same period, de Kock’s winning strike rate is precisely the same as Moore’s with two wins from 14 runners. His victories came with Irridescence (2006) and Archipenko (2008) but he’s also had three minor place-getters in Grey’s Inn, Lizard’s Desire and Vercingetorix.

Any AP QEII frustration which Cruz may have felt was erased last year when he scored with Blazing Speed (his first success with his 20th runner). He had earlier twice finished second with California Memory and was third with Russian Pearl in 2005.

Hayes enters the fray this year with the same record (from 10 fewer runners) as Cruz had 12 months ago, two seconds and a third. Hayes’ quality mare Elegant Fashion was runner-up in 2003 and 2004 and last year his charge Criterion finished third.

The odds may be against him with his hopes resting on the mare Rising Romance as de Kock’s Irridescence is the only previous female winner of the race. However, Hayes takes heart from the ‘close’ efforts of Elegant Fashion and that he believes Rising Romance’s credentials hold up well in comparison with Elegant Fashion.

“This is a race I’d dearly love to win after coming so close a few times and given my connection to Hong Kong. I think that Rising Romance is not dissimilar to Elegant Fashion in terms of ability and we’re hopeful she can run well,” Hayes said.

Moore, this year, is represented by Designs On Rome, Werther and Helene Happy Star and says all three are ‘peaking at the right time’ while Cruz has defending champion Blazing Speed along with Helene Super Star.

Moore says he would take particular satisfaction from winning with the New Zealand-bred Werther. “My previous three winners were northern hemisphere bred. It would be nice to show that you can do it with one from the southern hemisphere and the Derby - QEII double is something special,” he said.

Hoofnote: Here’s a link to de Kock speaking to Howard Wright, on the AP QEII website.

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