Flawless Flintshire finally seals big win in Hong Kong Vase
Four-year-old breaks frustrating sequence to make it sixth time lucky
Persistence paid off for prolific owner Prince Khalid Abdullah as Flintshire's class prevailed in a slowly run Longines Hong Kong Vase, snapping a sequence of seconds in big races for the four-year-old and finally giving Juddmonte Farms a long sought-after international day success at Sha Tin.
He ran a huge race in the Arc, and a blinder in the Breeders' Cup, but the huge thing was the way he trained into this race.
Flintshire had gone winless in five frustrating starts this year, finishing second four times, including three successive runner-up finishes and capped by seconds in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Breeders' Cup Turf, while Abdullah was trying to go one better in the Vase after three previous seconds.
History was also counting against Flintshire - no horse had come through the Arc and won the Vase in 14 attempts, while seven Breeders' Cup Turf runners had travelled east and failed to deliver, including last year's vanquished favourite, The Fugue.
Come race day it was not history that was the Andre Fabre-trained stayer's biggest hurdle, it was a typically slack race tempo that turned into a test of the odds-on favourite's turn of foot - which was unleashed to surprising effect by jockey Maxime Guyon and proved too much for a local brigade punching well above their ratings weight.
The half-length victory well and truly shed the unfair tag of "non-winner" for a horse that has been beaten by quality performers including Cirrus Des Aigles, Ruler Of The World, Treve and Main Sequence in Group Ones this year.
"I would like to have a few more like him," quipped Abdullah's racing manager, Teddy Grimthorpe. "He ran a huge race in the Arc, and a blinder in the Breeders' Cup, but the huge thing was the way he trained into this race. These big races you have to bring your A game and he is coming to fruition."
Grimthorpe said his organisation was taking particular pride in the fact Flintshire was by a home-bred stallion, Dansili, and out of a Juddmonte-bred mare, Dance Routine.
