Being the second leg of the World Racing Championships might be over for the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin next month but it hasn't stopped the international Group One attracting impressive entries.
Entries are not a list of runners, but the 90 nominations the Jockey Club has received include 22 Group One winners from 14 different countries spanning five continents look healthy.
The $14 million QE II Cup, 2,000m, on April 23 had been part of the World Racing Championships (WRC) in its death throes, paving the way for Vengeance Of Rain's series win last year without having to win away.
With the demise of that series, the race will stand alone this year but has continued to attract the world's best owners and trainers.
'In the final analysis, I don't think that our QE II entries for the past few years were dependent upon a world championship place, whether in WRC or its predecessor the World Series,' said the Jockey Club's executive director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.
'But the race is a high class target in its own right which you can see from the nominations.'
Overall, the quality of entries for this prestigious race point to a spectacular renewal on April 23.
