PARIS came to Sha Tin yesterday as Benji blitzed them in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup.
Jockey Eric Legrix, one of the most popular expatriate riders to have come to the territory since racing turned professional, joked that there was as much distance from Class Four to Class One as there was from here to Paris after Benji had scored a wide-margin success on his first start for his new trainer Patrick Biancone after a high-profile move from the David Oughton stable.
Yesterday, Benji scored by a very easy two lengths from China Cruise with Victory Star, the Derby runner-up, staying on well for third in this mile contest run at level weights.
After the consummate display from Benji, Legrix was the first to point out: 'Paris has not only come to Hong Kong, but next season Benji will take it far beyond Hong Kong.
'I tell you this, this horse is still very much a baby, but by next season, when he's had more experience and we can get him thinking the right way about racing, he is going to be some horse.
'At the moment he still does a few things wrong in a race, but only through inexperience.