Flintshire went into the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase 5lb clear of his rivals on a LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings mark of 124, and the highest rated horse at this year’s LONGINES Hong Kong International Races duly claimed a deserved victory in the 2400m contest. But the French colt was forced to dig deep in the closing stages as local hope Willie Cazals mounted a strong challenge.

The win was a second in the Vase for trainer Andre Fabre, who scored with Borgia in 1999, but it was the first for owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, who had seen his famous colours carried to second place at the event on four previous occasions.

“It’s really important to get a win on the board and it’s thrilling,” said the Prince’s racing manager, Lord Grimthorpe. “We’ve had some near misses with the likes of Polish Summer and Cityscape, and to nail it today with Flintshire is just fantastic.

“I was yelling from the stands ‘would you go on’ but he has got a good turn of foot, this horse and he was travelling pretty smoothly,” he continued. “But I think he’d have liked a faster pace. It worked out really well. Maxime gave him a super ride. There were no problems in running and he came through very nicely in the end.”

Hong Kong runner Khaya set steady fractions in front and most of the field was travelling with relative ease as the 11 runners turned for home. Japanese raider Curren Mirotic was the first to press the leader, but his challenge soon faded and it was Flintshire, under Maxime Guyon, who raced to the lead 250m out. The Dansili four-year-old kept on well as the Tony Cruz-trained Willie Cazals delivered his trademark late rattle under Douglas Whyte to get within half a length at the wire. Khaya hung on for third, a length and a quarter back. The winning time was 2m 29.83s.

Flintshire was landing his second G1 win to go with his success in the 2013 Grand Prix de Paris, but his triumph was reward for three second-place finishes at the highest level this year in the Coronation Cup, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“He stays in training next season and that’s very exciting for us,” added Lord Grimthorpe. “He’ll probably have an international campaign again.”

Maxime Guyon, whose previous biggest Hong Kong win came in the 2011 HKG1 Hong Kong Derby on Ambitious Dragon, was delighted with the win.

“You are always a bit under pressure when you’re riding such a favourite, especially after two second places at the highest level,” he said. “But you have to focus on your race and once the gates open, you try to do your job as well as you can.

“We ended up pretty far away in the backstretch but I followed Red Cadeaux, knowing that he’d need to start moving early. We eventually came about the frontline in the last turn and I was happy to let him go then. He accelerated without failing, even though he sort of idled once he hit the front.

“It’s nice to win after these second places. Flintshire had a point to make here. We knew that all he needed was the proper ground to give his best. It is a great day for me as I come back here in two weeks for a six weeks stint and that puts my name in the news at the right time,” he said.

Douglas Whyte said of Willie Cazals: “Great run but the winner was too good. We were there to snap him up but Flintshire fought back and was just too strong.”