FRANCE SPOIL THE HONG KONG PARTY AS ANDRE FABRE'S JUNKO TAKES OUT THE LONGINES HONG KONG VASE

By Darren Winningham | Sunday, December 10, 2023

Trainer Andre Fabre has won his third LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (Group 1).

Fabre joins the Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien in claiming three wins in the race. Borgia (1999) was the first win for the Frenchman Fabre and then he trained Flintshire in 2014 to win with Maxime Guyon riding on that occasion as well. (Ironically it is a French jockey that holds the record of the most winners in the race as well – Olivier Peslier riding winners in 1995, 1999, 2007 and 2008).

Fabre’s 2023 Hong Kong Vase winner Junko, who had posted his maiden Group 1 win in Germany winning the GP Von Bayem on a wet track. All week the media promoted that he is better performed on soft ground and that he would struggle on a firm surface at Sha Tin, but, prior to the race, Junko was smashed in the betting firming from $13 into $5.50 in a massive betting move on track.

Junko settled at the rear of the field in the running but always appeared to be travelling well with Maxime Guyon having a very cosy run throughout.

Warm Heart, trained by O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, made the first move into the straight, moving up to take over the lead. Her run soon ended.

It was then Guyon took control of the race and surged Junko to the lead, and he went to the line to win easily.

“I'm happy because it's time to win this race (again). Nine years ago, it was Flintshire. We didn't know before the race if he would like this ground or not because normally, he prefers the soft ground but today in Hong Kong the ground was good,” said Guyon.

The speed was slow for the Group 1 event. In fact, it was the slowest run Hong Kong Vase in the history of the race, and this probably assisted Junko in winning.

Jockey Guyon spoke about the tactics in the race telling the media, “We had a good race. We have not a lot of runners, so I'm not too far back and just after the last turn, he has a good turn of foot.

“He's very relaxed and, of course, the pace is not way fast, but the most important thing with the horse is if he's breathing good and everything is okay. That's why I relaxed with him because he's very relaxed.”

Guyon praised the legendary French trainer Andre Fabre saying, “He has done a really good job with this horse because he has just won a second Group 1. He's just won a Group 1 in Germany - and he comes to Hong Kong for a win and it's not easy to do that. I'm happy for the team. It’s a really important place, all the jockeys want to come to Hong Kong to finish the year and it's a really good weekend.”

Fabre went one better than his second place in last year's race with Botanik when beaten by the Japanese runner Win Marilyn.

“I’m really delighted, it was expected because he’s improving race after race.

“He’s not had a lot of races. He’s only four. He had a setback in Deauville so he couldn’t run in the Grand Prix, and he had the race in Germany. He hasn’t run that much. He will be back in Dubai, we kept him for that and for the international races,” said Fabre after the race.

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