Aussie boost for QE II Cup
The $14 million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup in April will be the strongest renewal of the event in its history with Hong Kong Cup winner Alexander Goldrun returning to chase a million-dollar bonus and Sydney's Grand Armee now likely to join him.
The Gai Waterhouse-trained Grand Armee was inoculated this week in preparation for the trip to Hong Kong where he will meet Melbourne's best older horse, Elvstroem, in a clash which Melbourne officials had been trying to stage in the group one Australian Cup at Flemington a few weeks from now. Connections of Grand Armee have announced that the Australian Cup might still be on but it is now possible the meeting of Australia's two best older gallopers will take place at Sha Tin instead.
'It takes time for a race to really reach the consciousness of people around the world, but it looks to have happened now and this QE II Cup is looking like the best ever. We may even have a problem with selection with so many strong entries but it is a nice problem to have,' said Jockey Club executive director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges yesterday. 'Alexander Goldrun is eligible for a $1 million bonus if she can win the QE II and indications are she will come here after Dubai, as will Mike de Kock's very good horse Yard Arm. Godolphin will be here too, but no decision has been made on which horse it will run.'
Engelbrecht-Bresges said the early Easter had assisted in getting the likes of Elvstroem and Grand Armee from Australia, but he also pointed to the immediate impact made by former Melbourne-based Mark Player, the club's Manager of International Races, Sale and Development. 'One of the reasons Mark joined us last November was his strong contacts in Australia and New Zealand, as participation in our international races from that part of the world had not been what we had hoped recently,' he said. 'Three months later we are looking at the very best from there coming for the QE II Cup so I am sure that will be positively noted on Mark's performance review.'
Engelbrecht-Bresges also said discussions with the Japan Racing Association were well advanced in the foundation of an Asian mile mini-series comprising the Champions Mile and Yasuda Kinen and 'it is not impossible that could start this year'.
'We are still working out the details with the JRA, including what kind of bonus will be offered for winning the two races, but it is fairly advanced. It may happen in time for the Champions Mile to be opened for foreign runners but we would not do that except as part of a series idea.'
Meanwhile, Macau continued its emergence into international competition with the Dubai victory of Change The Grange. Trained by Allen Tam Man-chau and ridden by Weichong Marwing, Change The Grange won the US$90,000 Maisons-Laffitte International Stakes (1,700m), the third Dubai winner in recent years from Taipa.
