BLAZING Speed lived up to his name by running away with the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup, Hong Kong’s springtime showpiece, last weekend.

Astride the son of Dylan Thomas, two lengths separated Irishman Neil Callan, celebrating his greatest success in Hong Kong to date, from the remainder.

It probably wasn’t as easy as it looked, but once the Kildare-born rider cut loose from a fairly prominent spot before the home turn, nothing came out of the back to chase home the 14/1 chance.

“We drew in the middle, travelled midfield with cover and there wasn’t a bother on him in the run. The pace was fairly slow and the main thing was to get him settled and relaxed and he found a nice rhythm,” Callan recalled.

“Tony [Cruz, trainer] said to me to wait for the straight before asking him to quicken and I was travelling well on the bend and I was dying to let him go but I counted to 10 because I knew I would be able to find room. When I pressed the button he responded immediately and it was an impressive win from a strong field.

“He’s been a very special horse to me. He gave me my first Group 1 in Hong Kong last year. I already had a picture of him on the wall at home and I reckon I’ll have to find a bigger one now as this race carries international Group 1 status.”

Now in his fifth season riding in Hong Kong and stationed at Sha Tin on a permanent basis for more than a year now, this was Callan’s third victory at the highest level in Hong Kong with all three coming for Cruz.

The rider now sits fourth on the jockeys’ championship behind only Joao Moreira, Zac Purton and Douglas Whyte.

“It’s been a very good stable to strike up a relationship with. Tony is always on top here, he understands the game in Hong Kong so well and his horses are always fit and ready,” Callan added.

For a trainer that has won virtually everything in Hong Kong, very often on multiple occasions, Tony Cruz was relishing a first win in this race with his versatile six-year-old.

“I won this race as a jockey a couple of times but I’ve been waiting a long time to do it as a trainer and I’m really thrilled. He’s just a very straightforward horse with a lot of talent and an impressive turn of foot. I’m lucky to have him. It was a great ride by Neil also and he carried out my instructions to the letter,” Cruz said.

“That’s the third Group 1 win for Blazing Speed in Hong Kong from a mile up to a mile and a half and his first over 10 furlongs. He’ll next go for the Champions & Chater Cup in a month, the stayers’ championship, a race he won last year.”

The judge needed to magnify the print to call Japanese runner Staphanos second, a nose in front of Australian champion Criterion, almost inseparable from local Horse of the Year, Designs On Rome, in fourth.

The last-named, likely to lose his Horse of the Year title to stablemate Able Friend at the end of the season, filled the same spot in the Dubai Sheema Classic when his chances were equally compromised by a slow pace.

“Maybe the trip to Dubai took the edge off him a little. He was a little dull in the coat but he ran his usual honest race and he could have done with them going a bit faster and he is always going to be a hold-up horse,” trainer John Moore remarked.

Red Cadeaux, nine-years-old and simply outpaced, did nothing wrong by finishing one from rear of the 12-runner field. He ran second in Australia’s version of this race a few weeks’ prior to Criterion - and some said he might have got close to them with a clear run. But that says more about the weakness of the middle-distance ranks in that country than anything else.

“He was just feeling his legs on that ground against younger, specialist horses,” jockey Hugh Bowman said.

DUNDONNELL DATE

Hong Kong could have multiple representation next month at Royal Ascot after Dundonnell entered calculations by winning The Sprint Cup from stable-companion Gold-Fun.

Richard Gibson, trainer of both, said a final decision on their participation would be deferred for another fortnight or so but that Gold-Fun was likeliest to travel with the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the final day of meeting the principal target.

Dundonnell made the most of a 5lb pull at the weights from Gold-Fun under visiting French rider Stephane Pasquier to score by just over a length.

Able Friend, the territory’s best horse, is slated to run in the Queen Anne Stakes on the first day of the Royal meeting but first he tackles just five runners in tomorrow’s Champions Mile with this season’s Derby winner Luger coming back in distance and possibly capable of providing the giant chesnut with more opposition than he has faced so far this season.