Sayonara, as Loves Only You signs off
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The Hong Kong Jockey Club's commentator Mark McNamara summed it all up when wonder mare Loves Only You got up to beat Hishi Iguazu in the HK$30 million (S$5.25 million) Longines Hong Kong Cup over 2,000m at Sha Tin on Sunday.
"It's Japan 1-2, Loves Only You says 'sayonara' with the Cup," he blurted in excitement.
Well, Hong Kong's richest race had been nominated as the final race of the Deep Impact mare's career.
It was soon after she created history by becoming the first Japanese horse to win America's Breeders' Cup series last month. She captured the Group 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf over 2,200m at Del Mar.
The DMMDream Club Co Ltd-owned and Yoshito Yahagi-trained globetrotting mare had led home a Japanese 1-2-3-4 in the Group 1 FWD QEII Cup over 2,000m at the same Sha Tin track in April.
Breeding is now the way to go and the world-beating mare's stock has risen manyfold with her latest international success.
Yahagi was not on hand to see his champion's Hong Kong Cup win under jockey Yuga Kawada, but stable representative Yusaku Oka said: "She won the Breeders' Cup very well and, in the spring, she came over here and had a good result, so we were always confident she would run well.
"She's got a good pedigree, so we are looking forward to the next stage of her career. As we have quite a lot of good horses in the stable, we hope we will be back in Hong Kong with them in the future."
HKJC