Viva Pataca cruises in Cup Trial

Viva Pataca cruised to a handy 1 1/4-length victory in the $387,000 International Cup Trial at Sha Tin on Sunday, establishing himself as the horse to beat in the Hong Kong Cup on Dec. 14.

The 3-10 favorite in a field of eight in the 1 1/4-mile Group 2 contest, Viva Pataca, trained by John Moore, never had an anxious moment under a patient ride from Darren Beadman and easily held off the hard-ridden Hawkes Bay for the victory. The winning time on good ground was 2:02.41.

At Kyoto on Sunday, Little Amapola scored a 12-1 upset in the $2.8 million Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, defeating the 4-5 favorite, Kawakami Princess, by 1 1/2 lengths, traveling the 1 3/8 miles of the Grade 1 event in 2:12.10.

* The Hungarian-trained Overdose, whose win in the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp was declared void after a false start on Oct. 5, made it 11 for 11 lifetime with a 10-length victory in the Group 3 Premio Carlo and Francisco Aloisi at the Capannelle in Rome on Sunday. Making his first start since the Longchamp fiasco, the 1-2 Overdose, a British-bred Sandor Ribarszki trainee, sped the six furlongs on heavy ground in 1:10.00 while carrying 142 pounds.