The part-owner of New Zealand champion El Vencedor could not hide his delight after drawing the inside gate for the HK$28 million G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (27 April).

David Price picked barrier one for his multiple Group 1 winner at the draw ceremony in the Sha Tin parade ring on Thursday (24 April) and he believes the stall will give El Vencedor the perfect tactical set-up come raceday.

“We’re pretty stoked,” the owner said. “He’s an on-pace horse, so it’s great to be drawn so close to the turn. There would have been a lot of pressure if we’d have picked 11, we were hoping for between one and five, so getting one is fantastic,” Price said.

The imposing son of Shocking has caught the eye of trackwork watchers at Sha Tin and Price added: “He’s a brute. When you see him trailing runners in a race it’s almost like you can play the Jaws music in the background. He’s been fantastic.”

While El Vencedor has yet to race at Sha Tin, he will be in safe hands on Sunday with seven-time Hong Kong champion jockey Zac Purton to take the mount. The rider became acquainted with the six-year-old in a turf gallop earlier this morning.

One of the pair’s biggest rivals will be the French-trained star Goliath, who will have to navigate a much wider berth in gate nine.

However, his part-owner Baron Philip Von Ullmann expressed no major concerns for his homebred, who is chasing a second Group 1 success after victory in last July’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2392m). The five-year-old is the product of many decades of careful breeding by his family.

“All the good (barrier) numbers were pretty much taken when it was my turn to go up and I jokingly said I’d like to have turned number nine upside down,” the owner said.

“We had number six in the King George and that was obviously the lucky number back then, but perhaps nine will be lucky for us now. It would have been nice not to be box 11 or one, anything in between is fine.

“For us as a family, producing a horse like Goliath just shows we’re not doing everything wrong. We bred the sire and that line goes back to 1915. We’ve also bred the dam’s side for six generations.”

Japanese horses have an excellent record in Sunday’s feature contest and connections of Prognosis were satisfied after drawing gate six for the seven-year-old, who finished runner-up to Romantic Warrior in 2023 and 2024.

His work rider Yasunari Kiyoyama, said: “Since he’s not the best at the break, we were hoping to avoid a post too far inside. Fortunately, we drew right in the middle, which should give us flexibility to adapt to any race development. From here, we’ll discuss tactics with the trainer and jockey as we finalise our race plan.” 

Liberty Island also has valuable Sha Tin experience having run a creditable second to Romantic Warrior in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) over the FWD QEII Cup course and distance. Her work rider Yuya Katayama was unperturbed after she drew the widest gate in 11, despite the fact no horse has succeeded from that stall in the past 28 runnings.

“What matters most is that she runs her own race,” he said. “We’re not viewing the outside draw as a negative.” 

Tastiera finished behind the mare in third when last seen in that Hong Kong Cup and his trainer Noriyuki Hori is looking forward to concocting a plan with big-race rider Damian Lane to optimise the 2023 G1 Tokyo Yushun (2400m) winner’s performance from stall ten.

He said: “There will likely be a lot of changes in weather and track conditions leading up to race day. Taking all factors into account – including the competition – we’ll have thorough discussions with the owner and jockey to come up with the best strategy to bring out his best performance.”

Bahrain’s G1 Bayerisches Zuchtrennen (2000m) scorer Calif drew gate two, while the best local hope and BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) hero Cap Ferrat will have to negotiate a passage from stall eight.

Straight Arron, Ensued, Moments In Time and Rubylot will break from stalls five, four, seven and three respectively.

The FWD QEII Cup will take place on FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin on 27 April.