De Sousa in face-saving Sha Tin win
SYLVESTRE DE SOUSA produced one gleaming ray of triumph for European raiders on the Longines International card at Sha Tin when taking the £1.5m first prize in the Hong Kong Cup on Glorious Forever.
Teaming up with local trainer Frankie Lor, our champion jockey executed a perfect front-running ride in the Group One contest.
Newmarket’s Ed Walker had trained Glorious Forever last year; here he had to settle for eighth with Stormy Antarctic.
De Sousa said: “Everything was in my favour with the draw and everything went to plan.”
The widely-held theory that European middle distance horses are invariably superior to those trained anywhere else took a savage corrective blow when
Hong
Kong’s
Exultant edged out Japan’s Lys Gracieux by a neck as they drew clear of the rest in the Hong Kong Vase (£1m).
In the circumstances Eziyra, trained by Dermot Weld for the Aga Khan, delivered a remarkable performance under Christophe Lemaire in finishing just under three lengths back in third, with the other Euro raiders routed.
Arc fourth Waldgeist was best of them in fifth.
Nobody expected David Elsworth’s Sir Dancealot to feature in the Hong Kong Sprint (£1m) and he duly finished last behind 2017 hero Mr Stunning, who gave Lor a big-race double.
The visitors fared no better in the Hong Kong Mile (£1.38m) with another defending champion Beauty Generation, already rated the world’s best turf miler, romping home by three lengths in the hands of Zac Purton, who had earlier ridden Exultant.