Japanese superstar Maurice rolled to a dramatic victory Dec. 11 in the Longines Hong Kong Cup (HK-I), capping a day that saw Japan and Hong Kong sweep the honors on the Sha Tin turf.
 
Along the way, Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. IT) winner Highland Reel settled for second in the day’s distance race, the Longines Hong Kong Vase (HK-I), and the Longines Hong Kong Sprint and Longines Hong Kong Mile (both HK-I) were dominated by local runners before a crowd estimated at 96,400.
 
Maurice, a 5-year-old son of Screen Hero, got off to an awkward start in the Cup under jockey Ryan Moore and was third-last as the field entered the first turn. A Shin Hikari, who won last year’s Cup in front-running fashion, was out and sprinting for jockey Yutaka Take.
 
As the field hit the sweeping final turn, A Shin Hikari was seven lengths in front of the field and Maurice was some 20 lengths behind. But as the long stretch loomed, A Shin Hikari shortened stride and it was Maurice in full flight.
 
Moore came along the inside, right behind the tiring leader, swung to his outside and quickly put the issue to rest to win by three lengths. Secret Weapon (GB) finished second for the home team, Staphanos came in third for Japan, and another Hong Konger, Lovely Day, got home fourth.
 
“That was fun,” said Moore, adding the scrambling start “made it a little more difficult.” But, he said, “When we found room to run, he just let down.”

Earlier in the week, Moore was honored as the Longines World’s Best Jockey for the preceeding 12 months. He declined to compare his many top-shelf English, Irish, and European mounts with the Japanese runner, who is out of the Carnegie mare Mejiro Frances.

“He’s improved every time I rode him,” Moore said. “He’s a big, strong horse and he’s got better with racing.”

A Shin Hikari, who has misbehaved before three straight races, was loose briefly in the parade ring before the race. He stopped badly in the final 100 meters and finished 10th.

Both A Shin Hikari, a 5-year-old son of Deep Impact (JPN), and Maurice reportedly are headed for the breeding shed in the spring. But trainer Noriyuki Hori was coy about Maurice’s future. Asked if he’s done racing, the trainer said through a translator, “That’s what they’re been writing in the newspapers, anyway.”

If he is off to his second career, Maurice takes with him a record of six wins and one second at the grade I or group I level, at distances from one mile to Sunday’s 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles). He was the 2015 Japanese Horse of the Year in a campaign that included victory in the 2015 Longines Hong Kong Mile.

The scenario was similar, if less extreme, in the Vase, which opened the day’s group I card. 

Satono Crown reeled in Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Highland Reel in the final meters to take the Vase by a desperate 1/2 length for his first victory at the highest level. It was another 6 3/4 lengths back to French runner One Foot In Heaven.
 
Moore, who rode Highland Reel, had to ask him for some effort the first time down the straight to establish position after starting from post 10. He shook off a challenge from English contender Big Orange with 1,400 meters to go and opened a big lead after turning for home.

With 300 meters left, jockey João Moreira had Satono Crown out from behind traffic and into full flight, narrowing the distance with every stride in a perfectly timed ride. The 4-year-old colt, a son of Marju (IRE) out of the Rossini mare Jioconda, ran 2,400 meters on good turf in 2:26.22.

Moreira, who now has won each of the four Hong Kong International Races at least once, said he was confident.

“I had to wait a little bit, get down to the fence, and track the French horse (Silverwave, who backed up to finish 12th),” said Moreira, known locally as “Magic Man.”

“When I got him in the open, he gave me everything.”

Hori also trains Satono Crown. He and owner Hajime Satomi said they have no firm plans for the colt.

Satono Crown was a grade III winner in Japan as a juvenile and won a grade II event earlier in the year, but was not close in a trio of top-level events before shipping to Hong Kong. In his previous start, he finished 13th in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (Jpn-I) at Tokyo. In his only other start at 2,400 meters, the dark bay colt finished third in the Tokyo Yushun (Jpn-I).

Moore said he had no issues with Highland Reel’s trip.

“He’s run a very good race, but it’s disappointing to get beaten,” he said. ”We pulled a long way clear and the winner was a good horse.”

Highland Reel finished second for the fifth time in nine starts 2016—all but one of them group I or grade I races. His year started in March in Dubai and included a second-place showing behind Found in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I). 

It was Hong Kong 1-2-3-4 in the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (HK-I).

Aerovelocity (NZ), an 8-year-old New Zealand-bred by Pins (AUS), reprised his 2014 victory in the 1,200-meter fixture with a late run that got him to the front at mid-stretch. The old warrior then was all out to hold off a final charge by Lucky Bubbles (AUS), who came up just a short head short. Peniaphobia (IRE), last year’s winner, was a stubborn third after leading in the early going and Amazing Kids (NZ) finished fourth.

Purton said he had to deal with some traffic issues early in the race, then coped with Aerovelocity’s tendency to hang right in deep stretch before the issue was settled. And, he added, after a raft of physical issues that confronted the horse, trainer Paul O’Sullivan “pulled everything out of his trick (bag) to get him into the condition he is in today.”

Aerovelocity, with Zac Purton in the irons for trainer Paul O’Sullivan, got home in 1:08.80 over a course rated good after a week of gorgeous weather in the Special Administrative Region.

Lucky Bubbles’ rider, Brett Prebble, said he had a rough go.

“There are a few jockeys playing jockeys out there,” he said. ”If I get out early, he wins, full stop. He is the best horse in the race.”

Hong Kong horses have won 13 of the 18 Hong Kong Sprints on the backs of stars such as Silent Witness, Sacred Kingdom, and Lucky Nine.
 
Pure Sensation, the only American runner on the four-race international card, was scratched from the Sprint Sunday morning after a week of uncertainty. The 5-year-old Zensational gelding, third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT), was reported lame in both his left fore and left rear at various times and, when he did make it to trackwork, had difficulty dealing with unfamiliar right-handed turns.

Things were equally local in the Longines Hong Kong Mile (HK-I), even though the favorite, Able Friend (AUS), came up short with his late run. Instead, it was Beauty Only (IRE), with Purton up, who swept to the outside and ran down the speed, winning by a half-length from Helene Paragon.

Joyful Trinity (IRE) finished third, with Contentment (AUS) fourth, in a race that featured all runners from Hong Kong and Japan, bar only Ireland’s Cougar Mountain, who regressed from his eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT) to finish 10th.

Beauty Only, a 5-year-old gelding by Holy Roman Emperor (IRE), proved the value of local training, as he came to the Mile fresh from victory in the local prep, the BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile (HK-II). He finished fourth in the Champions Mile (HK-I) over the course and distance in April.

Winning trainer Tony Cruz said longer distances may be in the future for Beauty Only and Purton added, “I believe he can run 2,000 meters, so that helped him” survive the stretch battle. “He’s only a 5-year-old now. He’s matured and become fully acclimated and we’re seeing the best of him.”

The Irish-bred is owned by Eleanor Kwok Law Kwai Chun and Patrick Kwok Ho Chuen.

The race could have been the curtain call for 7-year-old Able Friend, a local favorite and 2014 Hong Kong Horse of the Year, who returned from two serious injuries to make this run, albeit with short training. The Shamardal gelding loomed a menace early in the stretch run but faded to finish sixth, beaten just two lengths but lacking the late punch that marked his stellar early career.