Outstanding mare Elegant Fashion will have more than Eishin Preston and company to beat if she is to become the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner tomorrow. Heading up the local challenge against the foreign invaders is one of the tasks ahead of the powerful mare - and overcoming a growing Derby jinx is another.
And as we see so often with horses coming out of major wins, having climbed one mountain doesn't make the next one any easier. The last Hong Kong Derby winner to come out and win in his next start was Makapura Star eight years ago, when the Derby was timed slightly differently and he did not tackle a race like the QE II Cup.
Makapura Star's year was the first season the QE II was opened to overseas runners and although it became an international Group One just two years ago, the visitors have shut out the locals in six of the eight runnings.
Only redoubtable Oriental Express (1998) and Industrialist (2000) have been able to squeak home in photos for Hong Kong. Industrialist was coming off a fourth in the Derby but the blue riband winners have been unable to step up to international Group One grade to date.
The best they have managed was third in 1998 when Johan Cruyff was beaten by less than two lengths into third. In the past two seasons, we have seen authoritative Derby winners in Industrial Pioneer and Olympic Express unplaced in the QE II Cup. Arguably, both won their Derby even more emphatically than did Elegant Fashion. The mare's Derby win was a precious and unusual moment for Hong Kong racing - a win tomorrow shapes as something even rarer.
French jockey Gerald Mosse yesterday had his appeal against the severity of a suspension thrown out. Mosse was suspended for three meetings after pleading guilty to the careless riding charge on April 9 and looked likely to miss the QE II Cup. But Easter delayed the appeal hearing and he has been on a stay of proceedings, allowing him to take bookings for tomorrow. Mosse will start the ban after the meeting.