It wasn’t his best work but in reality even the most imperious version of El Vencedor wouldn’t have beaten Japanese winner Tastiera, who headed home a Japanese-trained quinella with Prognosis second for Kiwi jockey James McDonald.
El Vencedor had a tricky lead-up week in Hong Kong, with a hoof abscess bursting out, but most of the horses who beat him home may simply be better than him.
That is how tough Group 1 races on the international stage are, but the trip, added on as a bonus race after a wonderful season at home, was worth the gamble.
And, it won’t stop El Vencedor almost certainly winning NZ Horse of the Year later this year.
On a tough weekend for New Zealand horses chasing overseas riches, there was still a boost for the local breeding industry when Kiwi-bred and educated superstar Ka Ying Rising destroyed his opposition in the Chairman’s Sprint to cement his claims as the best sprinter in the world.
He cruised along in fifth spot for Purdon and was only given his head at the 300m mark yet treated his rivals with distain, winning eased down.
This imposing beast is now $2.10 with the TAB to win The Everest, a race run in another country still nearly six months away. That is how giant a shadow he casts over the sprinting world.
While he started an amazing money back on the tote, meaning no profit for a winning tote bet, the day’s other Group 1 winner couldn’t have been more extreme, with Red Lion paying $90 taking out the Champions Mile.
He and jockey Hugh Bowman had to survive a protest lodged by Kiwi jockey McDonald, who argued the bump his horse Voyage Bubble from Red Lion copped 30m from the line cost him in the race.
The stewards didn’t agree and the protest was dismissed, giving Bowman plenty of verbal fodder for the next time he plays golf with McDonald, one of his best friends.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
