California Memory is all class

Class told in the season's final Group One as California Memory brushed aside lesser mortals in the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup and trainer Tony Cruz finally added one of the few majors to elude him as a trainer.

Cruz won everything as a jockey, including three Champions & Chater Cups, but his last win in the race had been a dead-heat victory for John Moore sitting astride Makarpura Star in 1995 and it was Moore that he foiled, not once but twice, in landing the quinella yesterday.

Moore send out the favourite Dominant (Zac Purton), who finished third and well-backed Irian, fourth, but it was Cruz's day and Willie Cazals (Gerald Mosse) surged home to take the runner-up spot.

"I think if we'd got a wet track, Willie Cazals would have won it but California Memory is an international champion and he and Matthew have a relationship - Matthew knows him like the back of his hand and I'm sure California Memory knows Matthew," Cruz said. "We know the problems this horse has got. We have to medicate his joints and the new rules they brought in this season have made that more difficult to get the timing right for his races - that's one of the reasons why he didn't perform in the Gold Cup. But he was better prepared for the QE II and today."

The win takes the grey out for the season on a high note, with Cruz targetting him for another Hong Kong Cup in December when he returns later in the year.

"That's the end, there's no other race to run in unless we take him elsewhere and when we did that before, he got injuries and went lame so he'll be sticking to Hong Kong races," Cruz said of the seven-year-old.