Japanese Opera right on song for Romantic date
Trainer Uemura confident his horse Bellagio Opera can lower colours of Hong Kong star
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opera12 - Bellagio Opera will go up against Romantic Warrior in the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) at Sha Tin on Dec 14.
PHOTO: HKJC
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HONG KONG - Hiroyuki Uemura is relishing the chance to pit Bellagio Opera against the mighty Romantic Warrior in the HK$40 million (S$6.67 million) Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) at Sha Tin on Dec 14.
The back-to-back Grade 1 Osaka Hai (2,000m) winner is viewed as the most likely candidate to prevent Danny Shum’s champion from landing the race for an unprecedented fourth time in a row.
Uemura is highly respectful of Romantic Warrior, but insists that he would not have brought Bellagio Opera to Sha Tin unless he thought he was capable of claiming first prize.
“It’s a big challenge,” he said. “I understand Romantic Warrior is a very big rival but I think our horse has a lot of quality and the level to compete against him. As a trainer, that’s why we have brought him – to beat him.”
What marks the 52-year-old out as different to his contemporaries is that he is a former jockey whose biggest success came aboard Sleepless Night in the 2008 Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes (1,200m).
Although retired from the weighing room for 11 years, Uemura has been riding Bellagio Opera in exercise since before his winning debut in a maiden race at Hanshin towards the end of 2022.
He has continued to be in the saddle during trackwork at Sha Tin this week.
Asked when he knew Bellagio Opera might be a special horse, he said: “Even before his debut. I selected him myself from the Chiba Thoroughbred Sale. I rode him before his debut myself, and I’ve been riding him since then.
“I understand that exercise riders and other riders should also ride him, but as I said, I’ve been riding him myself for a very long time.
“I know how he is, even detailed things. I can feel even very small differences in him.”
Bellagio Opera, who was fourth in the 2023 Grade 1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, 2,400m), became Uemura’s first top-level winner as a trainer when taking out last year’s Osaka Hai in late March.
Also third in the Grade 1 Takarazuka Kinen (2,200m), and second in that same race again on his most recent outing in June, he is a horse of great significance to the thoughtful trainer who sent out his first runners in 2019.
It has been suggested that this will be Bellagio Opera’s final start, as the Lord Kanaloa five-year-old has stallion credentials, but Uemura said he was unsure of what his owners’ final decision would be.
Asked how important Bellagio Opera was to him, Uemura said: “Not only joining the competition, but winning the big races has a lot of meaning to me.
“This time we’ve got a very big opponent in Romantic Warrior, but if we beat him, it’s going to mean a lot.” HKJC
