HONG KONG – Since the first week of January, Ping Hai Star has won four straight races. Ping Hai Star won three consecutive minor handicaps in less than two months and his stakes debut in the $2.29 million Hong Kong Derby for 4-year-olds on March 18. Despite never having run in a group stakes, Ping Hai Star will be favored in Sunday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse. With a purse of $3.06 million, the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at 1 1/4 miles on turf is the second-richest race of the year in Hong Kong. The New Zealand-bred Ping Hai Star will break from post 3 in a field of eight and be ridden by leading rider Joao Moreira. Trainer John Size said Ping Hai Star “continues to do well” out of his victory in the Hong Kong Derby. “His derby will take its toll at some point,” a somewhat cautious Size said, quickly adding, “There are no bad signs.” :: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is one of three Group 1 turf races on Sunday’s Sha Tin program. The $2.29 million Champions Mile has eight runners, all locals. The $2.04 Chairman’s Sprint Prize has a strong group of locals, including five trained by Size. They will face shippers from Dubai and Japan. Two recent winners of the Hong Kong Derby have gone on to beat older horses in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Designs on Rome in 2014 and Werther in 2016. Moreira won the race last year with the Japanese shipper Neorealism. Ping Hai Star has won 6 of 10 starts in a career that began in New Zealand. The Hong Kong Derby was his first start at 1 1/4 miles, and he closed from 12th in the stretch to win by 1 3/4 lengths over Singapore Sling, who runs in the Champions Mile. In his three previous races, Ping Hai Star won rated handicaps at seven furlongs. Size thought he wanted to run in longer races. “He didn’t show me he was looking for a distance until he won a few races,” Size said. The distance of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup will suit Time Warp, who has won two Group 1 races at 1 1/4 miles at Sha Tin in recent months, the Hong Kong Cup against an international field in December and the Hong Kong Gold Cup against local runners Feb. 25. A 5-year-old, Time Warp was 10th as the 3-1 favorite in the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy at a mile on April 8. “It was too short for him,” said trainer Tony Cruz, a former leading rider here who began training in 1996. “He’s a mile and a quarter or mile and a half type of horse. I think he’s 100 percent going into this.” Time Warp, who will be ridden by Zac Purton, is the likely pacesetter. Cruz has three runners in the race, including Pakistan Star, who was second in the 2017 Hong Kong Derby, and the outsider Gold Mount. Pakistan Star has been a source of consternation of late to Cruz. He has developed a tendency to pull himself in races, only to resume running. He was fourth in the Chairman’s Trophy after dropping back to last midway through the race. “He’s full of surprises,” Cruz said in a diplomatic way Thursday. “I think he’s Group 1 material. I think he should have a good chance. “It’s easy to get him fit. His mind is a different thing.”