Cadeaux well-beaten as Callan lands big prize

Ed Dunlop's globetrotting star Red Cadeaux finished well-beaten as Neil Callan put the icing on what has proved to be a lucrative spell in Hong Kong by delivering Blazing Speed with a perfectly-timed challenge to land the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin.

Turning out just over a fortnight after filling the runner-up spot in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on his latest visit to Australia, three-time Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux failed to fire in the hands of Hugh Bowman, passing the post 11th of 12 runners.

Bowman said: "The ground was firmer than ideal, it was heavy when he ran so well at Randwick. The slow pace didn't help our cause either."

Callan swooped to conquer aboard the Tony Cruz-trained Blazing Speed ahead of a blanket finish for second in which Japan's sole contender in the HK$20,000,000 Group One, Staphanos, came off best.

Blazing Speed's triumph was described by Callan as "being right up there" as one of the best of his career, and while Cruz won it more than once in his riding days, this was his first as a licence-holder.

Callan said: "He's shown an electric turn of foot over 2,000 metres and today. He jumped great and got a nice position.

"It was just about getting him to relax and I was conscious of Tony's last words which were to wait for the straight to make my run. The race was a bit stop-start but it all worked out perfectly."

Cruz indicated that Blazing Speed would carbon copy his campaign at the same stage of 2014.

He said: "I told Neil Callan to ride a patient race and to try to get a bit of cover and wait for the straight.

"He's a straightforward horse but in the Cup last year he sprained an ankle and was lame.

"This is my first QE II as a trainer and a great day for the stable. I think he'll now head for the Champions & Chater Cup that he won last year."

French raider Smoking Sun had looked unhappy in his track training during the week, but though showing no signs of that in the race, never looked like getting in a blow.

His rider Stephane Pasquier, who earlier won the Sprint Cup on the former Roger Charlton-trained Dundonnell, said: "It didn't go too good for us and he's getting a bit old now. I think we might well have seen the best of him."

Brett Prebble was a late replacement for Zac Purton on the Caspar Fownes-trained Military Attack, who won the corresponding race two years ago but fizzled out tamely this time around.

Last year's winner Designs On Rome also failed to run up to his best.

Prebble said: "He'd had issues going into the race and on that fast ground it all combined to ensure he failed to fire."

Purton was found to have a kidney stone issue that has affected him in the past and went into hospital for an operation to have them removed by laser treatment.