The Japanese took away the HK$14m, Group 1 The Audemars Piguet QEII Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday with a dominant performance by the Katsuhiko Sumii trained Rulership (JPN) after a heady ride by Italian jockey Umberto Rispoli left the field in their wake.
Rulership was never further back than fourth after leaving from barrier eight and settling behind Fay Fay (NZ) and Douglas Whyte. Racing into the back straight Fay Fay led from Rulership, Treasure Beach (GB), Pure Champion (IRE) and Zaidan (USA). California Memory settled at the rear.
The order stayed the same to the 800m mark and on the bottom bend Collection (IRE) made a move to third momentarily pushing Rulership back to fourth.
Once they straightened Rispoli did not waste a moment and he sent Rulership forward. The five-year-old entire quickly put distance on the field and with 300m to run they had a 2L margin on the field.
That was as close as the field could get to Rulership as Rispoli kept up the momentum. With 150m to run they were widening the margin with every stride and at the line the margin was 3 3/4L.
Thumps Up (NZ) (Shinko King) and Brett Prebble were second with $3.10 NSW TAB favourite Sweet Orange and Weichong Marwing third, the margin a head. Zaidan was fourth and California Memory fifth.
The time was 2.02.38 on the good to yielding track that had absorbed a considerable amount of rain in the previous 24 hours but still raced well.
“I was scared about the pace before the race, I thought it would be very slow so I chose to push forward and the run came for me on the turn,” said Rispoli.
“I'm so happy. This is a dream for me. It's unbelievable,” he added.
The win was timely for Rispoli, 23, as his Hong Kong Club contact from February finished with the meeting and he is heading to France to ride for the northern season. A former champion Italian jockey in 2009 and 2010 he broke Frankie Dettori's record all-time Italian record of 229 winners when he rode 245 for that season.
Sumii is no stranger to Hong Kong success having trained the 2005 CXHK Mile winner Hat Trick with further international success with the famous Melbourne Cup quinella with Delta Blues and Pop Rock. He also trained the great mare Vodka to her seven Group 1 wins and overall he has trained 21 Group 1 winners.
Rulership, who looked immaculately prepared prior to the race, came off a third place in the Group 2 Nikkei Sho over 2500m on March 24th. In January he won the Group 2 American Jockey Club Cup over 2200m.
He is a five-year-old entire by King Kamehameha out of the Tony Bin mare Air Groove and this was his eighth win from just 16 starts. Owned by the Sunday Racing Club he has earned stakes of $HK41,421,430, approx A$5.4 million.
