Red Cadeaux Chasing Back-To-Back Wins In Hong Kong Vase

Connections of veteran stayer Red Cadeaux are confident that he can finish his globetrotting season with a victory in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Red Cadeaux has the opportunity to join Luso and Doctor Dino as the only horses that have won the Hong Kong Vase in back-to-back years.

Red Cadeaux has the opportunity to join Luso and Doctor Dino as the only horses that have won the Hong Kong Vase in back-to-back years. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

Red Cadeaux has not been victorious since he took out the 2012 edition of the Hong Kong Vase but has raced well in some of the biggest events on the global racing calendar; finishing second in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2000m), third in the Group 1 Tenno Sho (3218m) in Japan, fourth in the Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) and second in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).

The Cadeaux Genereux gelding went into the Melbourne Cup as an extreme outsider, with a big weight and an outside barrier, but produced arguably the best run of his life to loom as the winner before finishing second behind Fiorente in ‘the race that stops a nation’.

Red Cadeaux will face Melbourne Cup rivals Mount Athos (third), Simenon (fourth), Dandino (fifth) and Dunaden (11th) in the Hong Kong Vase this weekend and connections are confident that the seven-year-old can be a factor in the finish once again.

Robin Trevor-Jones, the travelling head lad to trainer Ed Dunlop, told The Racing Post that he is delighted with the way that Red Cadeaux had pulled up from his Melbourne Cup run and confident that Gerald Mosse will continue his successful partnership with the tough stayer.

“He’s as fit as a flea,” Trevor-Jones said.

“Gerald has such a great record on him including winning this last year, but he has never ridden him in work and we are not planning to change that successful formula anytime soon.

“And after the amazing job Gerald did with him in the Melbourne Cup last month from such a difficult draw, I’m not even getting too worried about what gate he gets on Thursday.”

Red Cadeaux is on the second line of betting in Hong Kong Vase betting markets and Trevor-Jones agrees that favourite The Fugue is the biggest threat to last year’s winner after recording three impressive performances in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks (2414m), Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes (2011m) and Group 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf (2413m).

“We want a proper gallop on Sunday, and I’m not sure where it is going to come from but our main problem is The Fugue and we’ve got to give her 4lb,” Trevor-Jones said.

“Without her we are the one to beat.”

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Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.