THERE are one or two big flat races to come in the US this year, but the final major international meeting came last Sunday at Sha Tin in Hong Kong, where four Group 1s took place.

It proved to be a great success for Japanese-trained horses who won three of those four, and something of a let-down for Irish-trained and British-trained ones, who managed second with Magic Wand in the Cup but were unplaced otherwise.