Rarely in horse racing do things go as perfectly to plan as they did for Rebel’s Romance in Sunday’s Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m), with Godolphin’s superstar dismissing his rivals to become the first overseas winner of the final Group One of the Hong Kong season.

Sent off at $1.45 for his first run since surging to victory in March’s Group One Dubai Sheema Classic (2,400m), Rebel’s Romance worked over from the widest barrier to sit outside leader Moments In Time in a race run outside standard through the first 1,600m before a blistering finish.

Star jockey William Buick got going on Rebel’s Romance about 800m from home, with the globetrotting six-year-old assuming the lead at the top of the straight and swiftly putting the race to bed with a powerful burst.

“We were under no illusions about the task we had ahead of us but I sort of had in my head how it would work out and that’s definitely how it did. He’s done it really well,” said Buick.

“The race kind of went the way I hoped it would and it suited him – that sort of even gallop the whole way and keep building it up. He’s become a very uncomplicated horse and he’s a real international superstar.

“You always respect the local horses here in Hong Kong and obviously [Rebel’s Romance] had to travel over here and everything else. The team have done a great job with him, I thought he looked magnificent beforehand, as he always does.

“Hong Kong is a special place. I’ve been coming here for many years now and it’s tough to win at any level.”

Buick added a second Sha Tin Group One success to his victory aboard Pakistan Star in the 2018 QE II Cup (2,000m), while trainer Charlie Appleby broke through for his first triumph in the city six years on from Blue Point’s last in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m).

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin tasted its first success in Hong Kong since Mastery’s victory in the 2010 Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m), with Appleby suggesting the win of Rebel’s Romance could pave the way for more calculated Sha Tin raids.

“I’m delighted for Sheikh Mohammed and Team Godolphin to have this horse travel the way he has,” Appleby said.

“He’s been to America, Qatar, Dubai, Germany and now Hong Kong, which has always been on our bucket list to try and win a race here. We’re delighted to have the right horse.

“Obviously my last visit here with Blue Point was a learning curve and I’m always trying to find the right horse to be competitive.

“We felt [Rebel’s Romance] was a horse we could be competitive with and hopefully in the near future we’ll be looking forward to finding more horses to come over here.

“The whole concept of Godolphin was built on being an international stable and hopefully dining at the top table as we fortunately are today. Hong Kong racing is one of the pinnacles and to come here, you have to have the right horse.”

Rebel’s Romance, who is now a Group One winner in four countries, is expected to continue his campaign in the United States before a potential return to Sha Tin for December’s Hong Kong Vase.

Of the local brigade, Tony Cruz-trained pair Five G Patch and La City Blanche filled the placings, with the former two lengths adrift of Rebel’s Romance in second, while Moments In Time stuck on for fourth and dual Champions & Chater Cup hero Russian Emperor could only manage seventh in what was likely his final race.

“[Jockey Hugh Bowman’s] report was that they went a good gallop from the get-go and he had nothing to drag him into the race,” trainer Douglas Whyte said of Russian Emperor.

“He’s run a nice race and he’s probably come to the end of his career now. I’ll have a discussion with the owner and possibly look at retiring him.”