Hong Kong’s premier jockey elect and latest ‘poster boy’ Joao Moreira roared with delight and waved exuberantly to the crowd as he returned to scale after a heart-stopping win on Designs On Rome in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m).

It was, perhaps, partially a reaction to his relief at taking the coveted prize by just a short head from chief premiership rival Zac Purton aboard Military Attack – especially as Moreira conceded he thought he’d been beaten.

But more likely his exuberance reflected the significance of the day for him and the winner’s trainer John Moore as they had combined, just 40 minutes earlier, to also win the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile with Able Friend.

If Able Friend’s win was effortless, then that of Designs On Rome was in marked contrast but nonetheless impressive given the quality of the vanquished Military Attack who was formerly trained by Moore but now resides with Caspar Fownes.

Moreira was hard at work on Designs On Rome from the half way mark. “That’s the sort of horse he is. I learned a lot about him in my two previous rides on him. You’ve got to get going early with him but you know he’ll keep responding and he did that today,” Moreira said.

And if anyone doubted the quality of this year’s HKG1 Hong Kong Derby form then it was well and truly erased after this afternoon’s meeting as Designs On Rome and Able Friend quinellaed that March feature.

Designs On Rome has now had four starts over the 2000m course at Sha Tin for wins in the Cup, the Derby and in the G1 QEII Cup and while he’ll continue to race in Hong Kong, Moore hopes that he will join Able Friend campaigning in Dubai in the new year.

“We had set him for this,” Moore said, “and I said all week I was confident he would peak for this race. Joao (Moreira) had him stoked up at the right time and he was very tough. It was an excellent win and I’d be keen to campaign him overseas.”

Moreira described his International Day success as a ‘dream come true’ after he was suspended and missed the corresponding day last year and he was full of praise for Designs On Rome. “He’s an amazing horse. He gave me a great kick today and was so strong through the line,” he said.

Zac Purton was gracious in narrow defeat. “My horse ran great but the winner’s a very good horse and there were no excuses. He just got us today,” Purton said.

Former Hong Kong trainer David Hayes, now training back in his native Australia, was delighted with the third placed performance of his charge Criterion. He filled the minor placing behind the ‘locals’ just as was the case in the Sprint and the Mile with internationals finishing third behind a Hong Kong trained quinella.

“He was the first international home and he ran very well, “ Hayes said of Criterion, “if he’d drawn in and got some cover early, who knows, he might have won. He raced to a different pattern today and gave a great kick. I’m very happy.”

The winning time was 2m 1.96s.

Former champion Douglas Whyte, 13 times the Hong Kong premiership winner, had a remarkable day as he rode four winners on the undercard and finished second in three of the day’s Group 1 events. Among his winners were the exciting four-year-old’s Got Fly and Giant Treasure, both trained by Richard Gibson, who provided three legs of Whyte’s four-timer.