Of the four international races, locals tend to struggle over the longer distance of the Group One Longines Hong Kong Vase (2,400m), and it's likely to be the case again with three Hong Kong-trained horses to tackle some of the world's best stayers, including reigning Vase champion Red Cadeaux.

Ed Dunlop's charge has proved a warhorse, travelling to six countries - the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia - since last year's Vase triumph. Hong Kong will be his seventh destination this year, and he comes here having finished a bold second in the Melbourne Cup last start.

Red Cadeaux, owned by former Hong Kong Jockey Club chairman Ronald Arculli, leads a strong British contingent including Mount Athos and Dandino - third and fifth respectively in the Melbourne Cup, which has produced the last two winners - and three-time Group One winner The Fugue.

The entry of The Fugue adds some spice and the presence of her owner, Andrew Lloyd Webber, in Hong Kong will ensure star power for the event. She is clearly the top-rated runner and the only entrant rated among the world's top 50 horses.

Ireland is yet to win the Vase, but they have two of the more fascinating runners this year.

Willie Mullins-trained Simenon runs in Sunday's Japan Cup, meaning he will be the only horse from the formline which has produced Vase winners Ouija Board, Collier Hill and Red Cadeaux as well as a number of placegetters, while Galileo Rock from the David Wachman yard represents the European three-year-olds, having placed in the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the English St Leger at his last three runs.

France has won four of the last six runnings of the Vase, but the sole Gallic representative this year is three-year-old filly Ebiyza for the Aga Khan. She has only won one from six, the Prix de Royalieu, and that was on protest.

Instead, it will be the German contingent who will arrive in force with three Group One winners - Feuerblitz, Seismos and Nymphea - while Japan's Asuka Kurichan completes the international raiders.

It has been 15 years since Indigenous took the Vase in what remains the only victory for the home team, and it looks unlikely the locals will add a second triumph this year.

John Moore's Dominant is highly rated but he has looked out-of-sorts in two runs this season, the latest when eighth in Sunday's Jockey Club Cup. Joining him are Jockey Club Cup also-rans Liberator (ninth), fourth in this race last year, and Autumn Gold (last).

Comments0Comments