GROUP 1 HONG KONG

VASE (12F)

HIGHLAND Reel narrowly failed to cap another splendid year with victory in the Longines Hong Kong Vase as Satono Crown edged him out in the dying strides at Sha Tin.

Aidan O’Brien’s charge, who won the 12-furlong Group 1 contest in 2015, won both the King George at Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup Turf this year as well as finishing second to stablemate Found in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly.

Partnered by Seamie Heffernan in France and America, the four-year-old was partnered by Ryan Moore this time around and he was positive from the off, seizing control and setting the gallop.

The Michael Bell-trained Big Orange tried to exert a bit of pressure with seven furlongs or so left to run, but he quickly dropped away as Moore appeared to have stolen a decisive advantage.

However, Japanese raider Satono Crown unleashed a telling late charge under Joao Moreira to triumph by half a length for trainer Noriyuki Hori. French-trained runner One Foot In Heaven was third, beaten over six lengths.

The winner is a four-year-old son of the Irish-bred Marju and he is a full-brother to Lightening Pearl, the Ger Lyons-trained Cheveley Park Stakes winner.

O’Brien was thrilled with Highland Reel’s performance, and said: “He ran very well, he’s had a long season but he ran a great race - he ran his heart out. He’s had a phenomenal season.”

Hinting that the competition for the lead from Big Orange had proven costly, Moore added: “He’s run very well, a cracking race given the pressure. But it’s disappointing to get beaten. We pulled a long way clear - the winner is a good horse.”

Winning jockey Joao Moreira is known to Irish racing fans as the rider of Tony Martin’s Melbourne Cup runner-up Heartbreak City. He is Hong Kong’s record-breaking champion jockey and Satono Crown’s win ensured he joined Gerald Mosse as the only rider to complete a full-house of Hong Kong International races.

Of Satono Crown, he said: “I thought this horse had a very good chance before the race and the feeling that he gave me on the track the other day was great, so I knew I had a lot of horse underneath. I was always confident I would get there.”

The time of the race (2m 26.22secs) was the fastest in the race’s 16-year history as a Group 1 event.

The victory was a second for Japan in the Vase, 15 years after Stay Gold triumphed for Yasuo Ikee and Yutaka Take.

The front two drew six and three quarter lengths clear of the field, headed by the Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe sixth One Foot In Heaven. Japan’s Nuovo Record, second in last year’s Cup, was a further three quarters of a length back in fourth.