AIDAN O’Brien has withdrawn his three entries from next weekend’s three Group 1 races in Hong Kong.

Lancaster Bomber, Washington DC and War Decree had been invited to run in the Champion’s Mile, Chairman’s Sprint and QEII Cup respectively but it appears that the Charlie Appleby-trained Blue Point (Sprint) will now be the sole European runner on the April 29th card at Sha Tin.

Available at 8/1 with Bet365, Blue Point is actually the highest-rated horse due to run at the meeting. His official mark of 126 leaves him 1lb above local sprinter Mr Stunning, who is 9/4 joint-favourite for the Sprint with Beat The Clock.

A Gimcrack winner as a two-year-old, Blue Point competed with Europe’s best speedsters last season, including Caravaggio and Harry Angel. He went to Dubai for the winter and was strongly fancied to win the Al Quoz on World Cup night, only to be withdrawn at the start when blood was spotted in his nostrils. The race was won by stable companion Jungle Cat.

The ante-post favourite for the Champions Mile is Seasons Bloom, trained locally by Danny Shum and the probable mount of star jockey Joao Moreira. The John Moore-trained Beauty Generation, winner of the International Mile here in December, is the 4/1 second favourite.

Heading the market for the 10-furlong QEII Cup is Ping Hai Star (7/4), a recent surprise winner of the Hong Kong Derby under Ryan Moore. Time Warp (9/4), winner of the International Cup last December the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup – both over this course and distance this term – is another leading contender.