Werther looking sweet as he bids for rare repeat in QEII Cup

Hong Kong | Sunday 9.35am GMT |

Sha Tin | Audemars Piguet QEII Cup | Group 1 | 1m2f | 4yo+ | ATR/RUK

Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year Werther faces seven rivals – notably the Silvestre de Sousa-ridden Pakistan Star – and a ratings challenge when he bids to become only the second back-to-back winner after Japanese-trained Eishin Preston in 2002-03 in 23 runnings since the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup was opened to international competition.

Injury delayed Werther’s reappearance until the end of January, since when two defeats that bookend a short-head success over Blazing Speed have resulted in his fall to a mark of 118 when the latest intermediary World’s Best Racehorse Rankings were published last week.

John Moore, whose five wins make him the race's leading trainer, believes Werther is back to his best. "Everything's gone to plan and he's ready," he said on Saturday, after supervising the five-year-old’s final all-weather track canter.

However, Moore, who holds out no better than place prospects for his other runner, 2014 race winner Designs On Rome, voiced the main concern heard from connections during the run-up. "It could be a tactical race with just eight runners and no obvious speed," he said, "but Werther will take all the beating, given he has home advantage.”

Designs On Rome and Blazing Speed, the 2015 winner, meet for the 14th consecutive occasion since November 2015 as they seek to emulate Viva Pataca, the only horse to have won back the QEII Cup title after a break.

Secret Weapon, who has yet to win in five attempts at Group 1 level, and Hong Kong’s Pakistan Star, whose last-to-first debut win in July 2016 has attracted more than 300,000 hits on YouTube, complete the locally-trained team.

A low draw on just the second occasion Pakistan Star has encountered a single-figure field is expected to help his cause.

With British and Irish entries failing to materialise into visitors, twice French Classic-placed four-year-old Dicton flies the European flag alone. A colt with a fascinating back-story, having been bought out of a claimer, he is among 33 horses trained in Maisons-Laffitte by ex-amateur rider Gianluca Bietolini but owes his appearance here wholly to the local ambitions of his Hong Kong-based Singaporean owner Robert Ng.

The rest of the overseas challenge comprises ex-Coolmore-owned The United States and Japan’s Neorealism.

QEII Cup card