Olympic Express wins Hong Kong Gold Cup

Olympic Express came wide from post 13 under Eric Saint-Martin to take the $1.025 million Hong Kong Gold Cup by a neck from Dr More at Sha Tin on Sunday.

A 5-year-old British-bred, Olympic Express was adding to his victories in last year's Hong Kong Derby and Hong Kong Mile. On Sunday he had Hong Kong Cup winner Precision 5 3/4 lengths behind in seventh while getting the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.90 on ground labeled good to firm.

Olympic Express will be pointed by trainer Ivan Allan to the $1.8 million 1 1/4-mile Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin on April 27. That will be the second leg of the World Series Racing Championship, which kicks off with the Dubai World Cup on March 29.

* Fairy King Prawn, the first Hong Kong-trained horse to win a Group 1 race outside of Hong Kong, bid farewell to his legion of fans Sunday with a special appearance at Sha Tin. An Australian-bred son of Danehill, Fairy King Prawn won the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo in 2000. Trained by Allan, he also won the Hong Kong Sprint in 1999, was second to Sunline in the 2000 Hong Kong Mile, and split Jim and Tonic and Sunline in finishing second in the 2001 Dubai Duty Free.

* Al Skywalker, eased in the Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham in December but previously the winner of the Carolina Cup, has been invited by the Japan Racing Association to run in the April 19 Nakayama Grand Jump, a 2 5/8-mile steeplechase worth $1.28 million.