A total of 33 international group I winners, including Twinspires Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) victor Mongolian Saturday, are among the 56 entries for the Longines Hong Kong International Races Dec. 12 at Sha Tin.
The four-race event will offer a combined HK$83 million ($10,708,779) in purses.
The Hong Kong International Races comprises the HK$25 million Longines Hong Kong Cup (at about 1 1/4 miles), the HK$23 million Longines Hong Kong Mile, the HK$18.5 million Longines Hong Kong Sprint (at about six furlongs), and the HK$16.5 million Hong Kong Vase (at about 1 1/2 miles). This year's selected runners—including 23 Hong Kong-trained horses—are from eight countries/jurisdictions spread across four continents.
Other foreign-based contenders for the International Races include French-based Longines Hong Kong Vase defending winner Flintshire, Japan's outstanding miler Maurice, brilliant French mare Esoterique, Australia's top-class galloper Criterion, and Ireland's crack middle-distance runner Free Eagle.
Last year's Hong Kong Mile winner Able Friend is selected to attempt a repeat win, as is Designs On Rome, who battled to victory in the 2014 edition of the Hong Kong Cup.
Four-year-old Maurice, also expected fo the Hong Kong Mile, is unbeaten in five starts this year, with notable wins in the Yasuda Kinen (Jpn-I) and most recently the Mile Championship (Jpn-I). Adding further allure to the Mile line-up is the Andre Fabre-trained Esoterique, second to Europe's champion older horse and elite miler Solow in the Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-I) at Royal Ascot in June, in which Able Friend finished a below-par sixth. Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) runner-up Mondialiste and Godolphin's group I winner Toormore, fourth in the Queen Anne, are selected to represent Great Britain.
In the Hong Kong Cup, trainer Dermot Weld's Prince of Wales's (Eng-I) winner Free Eagle is likely to meet the Australian-based four-time group I winner Criterion, who finished third in the Melbourne Cup (Aus-I) Nov. 3, and top-class mare Lucia Valentina. Japan's contingent includes the 2014 Japanese Oaks (Jpn-I) heroine Nuovo Record and Staphanos, runner-up at the course and distance in Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth II Cup (HK-I) in April, and second last time out in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (Jpn-I).
Mongolian Saturday will attempt to add the Logines Hong Kong Sprint to his recent Breeders' Cup triumph and the gelding is set to meet fellow U.S. raider Green Mask, who was third in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. Japan's Straight Girl was a third in last year's Mile and has since landed a pair of group I events, including the Sprinters Stakes in early October. The tough mare heads a strong Japanese trio that also features Sakura Gospel and Mikki Isle. Five-time group I winner Sole Power, for Ireland, is also slated to take on a home team that is set to include last year's runner-up Peniaphobia and potential favorite Gold-Fun.
Flintshire is selected to once again bring outstanding form to the Hong Kong Vase, having most recently placed second behind Golden Horn in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I). The race also features fellow French stars Cirrus des Aigles and Erupt, as well as the progressive Dariyan, whose dam Daryakana won this race in 2009. Also, Ireland's champion trainer Aidan O'Brien is set to send the globe-trotting 3-year-old Highland Reel, successful in the Secretariat Stakes (gr. IT) at Arlington International Racecouse in this summer and third in Australia's W.S. Cox Plate (Aus-I) last time out.
"The Longines Hong Kong International Races is well-established in the elite echelon of the sport's most prestigious occasions. It offers outstanding prize money, it delivers a fantastic atmosphere, and most importantly, it showcases exceptional talent from across the world," said Bill Nader, the Hong Kong Jockey Club's executive director of racing. "In keeping with that tradition, we are pleased to see, once again, such a depth of quality to this year's selected runners, with 33 individual winners of 64 group I races.
"This is international racing at the highest level and everyone is in for a real treat."
[www.blooodhorse.com] Photograph - Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
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