A brilliant Italian rider and a super Japanese racehorse will be the names on the trophy for the HK$14 million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup of 2012, but the Sha Tin racetrack also emerged from the gloom of Sunday morning to play hero in yesterday's international feature.
Italian jockey Umberto Rispoli signed off from his brief Hong Kong contract with an outstanding display to seize the cup on the Katsuhiko Sumii-trained Rulership and put the Japanese back in the winner's circle at Sha Tin for the first time in over six years. 'This is a dream for me. It's unbelievable,' said Rispoli. He left Hong Kong hours later on his way to spend some time celebrating his biggest win with his family before taking up a job with Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Mikel Delzangles in France, but declared he would be back next season 'for a long licence'.
Japanese horses had been to the forefront of the international visitors in the early part of this century, including back-to-back QEII Cup victories from Eishin Preston and a stunning effort to win three of the four international events in December 2001, but their success, and even participation, had fallen away sharply since the Sumii-trained Hat Trick won the 2005 Hong Kong Mile.
Forty-seven international races and 27 Japanese runners had come and gone without a win for the land of the rising sun, and Rulership only emphasised what had been missing when he spreadeagled yesterday's field in the colours of one of the world's leading owners, Katsumi Yoshida, who flew in for the race.
'The horse didn't eat that well and his routine was upset by having to go on to the track later than he usually does in Japan but he had worked quite well,' said Sumii, whose record travelling horses to major races outside his homeland is the equal of anyone in the world.
'The horse had never won a Group One before, so I was worried about the big competitors, and I was worried about the weather.'
