Loves Only You's world tour makes stop at Sha Tin for Hong Kong Cup

Last month at Del Mar, a pair of Japan-based horses won two Breeders’ Cup races, the first time a horse from Japan had won at the Breeders’ Cup. Five weeks later, Japanese horses have a serious chance to win all four Group 1s on the Hong Kong International Races card Sunday at Sha Tin.

Danon Kingly can upset Golden Sixty in the Hong Kong Mile, and three Japanese shippers, especially Pixie Knight, look live in the Hong Kong Sprint. Glory Vase seeks a second win in the Hong Kong Vase, while Loves Only You is very much the horse to beat in the card’s richest race, the $3.85 million Hong Kong Cup.

It was Loves Only You, two hours before Marche Lorraine upset the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, who became Japan’s first Breeders’ Cup winner, getting home a half-length in front of My Sister Nat in the Filly and Mare Turf. Marche Lorraine was a 50-1 shot, an impossible winner on paper, but Loves Only You has sparkling credentials. She narrowly was defeated going the 1 1/2-mile trip, a little longer than she prefers, in the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai this past March, and in April, Loves Only You won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin by three-quarters of a length.

The 5-year-old mare clearly thrives on traveling and has done plenty of it this fall. After shipping from Japan to California, Loves Only You stayed at Del Mar until early December, flying directly to Hong Kong. Yuga Kawada, who rode the mare at Del Mar and has the mount again Sunday for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, took a seat on Loves Only You on Wednesday morning for her only piece of semi-serious Hong Kong exercise before Sunday’s race.

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“I hope she is going to the race in the same condition as she is now,” Kawada told Hong Kong Jockey Club publicity following a 1,200-meter dirt workout timed in 1:16.60.

The dozen entered in the 2,000-meter Cup are split evenly between Hong Kong-based runners and overseas shippers, and the strength of the race, even beyond Loves Only You, lies in the latter group.

Loves Only You looks clearly better than two other Japanese horses, Hishi Iguazu and Lei Papale, while three Group or Grade 1-winning 3-year-olds come from Ireland and England. Bolshoi Ballet, trained by Aidan O’Brien, won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby in July but was only sixth last out in the BC Turf and rates less chance Sunday than Mac Swiney, who ships from Ireland for owner-trainer-breeder Jim Bolger, and Dubai Honour, an England-based colt trained by William Haggas who should race competitively in the Cup.

Mac Swiney’s major win this season came in the Irish 2000 Guineas, run over softer ground that he prefers and won’t get at Sha Tin. And even under similar conditions, Dubai Honor finished one place and a couple lengths better than Mac Swiney in their common last start, the Champion Stakes on Oct. 16 at Ascot. There, Dubai Honour finished second by less than one length while making his Group 1 debut, a strong showing following two Group 2 successes. The Cup’s distance is Dubai Honour’s best, and the late-blooming colt has won before over firmer footing.

Among the Hong Kong horses, Panfield’s rise to prominence fell quickly last month when he finished last of seven in the 2,000-meter Jockey Club Cup, a race run at a shockingly slow tempo to which Panfield was unsuited. He could improve considerably Sunday, though no one in this field is going to handle Loves Only You if the mare brings her best back to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Vase

Hong Kong jockey Joao Moreira and Japanese 6-year-old Glory Vase won the Hong Kong Vase in 2019. Two years later, the two are reunited with a strong chance for a second Vase win Sunday at Sha Tin.

Glory Vase skipped the 2020 HKIR in favor of the Japan Cup, where he finished a creditable fifth of 15, but returned to Hong Kong this past April to finish a strong second, beaten less than one length, by Loves Only You in the QE II Cup. That race was contested over 2,000 meters, and Glory Vase better suits the 2,400-meter distance of the $2.57 million Vase.

Glory Vase has started only once since the QE II Cup, finishing third in a Sept. 26 prep race in Japan. Thursday morning, he tuned up for the Vase with an easy 1,200-meter turf work under Moreira.

“Joao said he felt he is in very good form, and he was hopeful ahead of the race,” trainer Tomohito Ozeki said.

England-based 4-year-old Pyledriver long has been aimed toward the Vase, and if he handles his first trip abroad, should be a key contender Sunday. Pyledriver landed his first Group 1 in June, when he won the Coronation Cup over 1 1/2 miles at Epsom, and he prepped for the Vase on Nov. 13 with a solid all-weather win at Lingfield. Regular rider Martin Dwyer, who won the Vase in 2004, travels to take the mount.

A second Japanese horse, Stay Foolish, looks overmatched, while Aidan O’Brien starts the underachieving Mogul after running stronger 2,400-meter horses Japan and Broome in the Japan Cup on Nov. 28.

The French filly Ebaiyra, second behind Broome five months ago in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, runs for 77-year-old trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre, who is retiring after 2021.