Sprinting queen out to fly flag for Britain in Hong Kong highlight
Malton's mighty mare Highfield Princess is ready to attempt what no other British-trained horse has done before and pull off a famous win in one of the world’s richest sprint races.
After another profitable season, in which she captured the Prix de l’Abbaye and Goodwood’s King George V Stakes, the rags-to-riches star of the John Quinn stable will sign off the year in the £2.6 million Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin on December 10.
She left her Yorkshire stable yesterday to catch a 13 hour flight to the former British colony where she will be one of only two British-trained runners.
British horses have not enjoyed success in any of the four Hong Kong International Races since 2012 and never in the 24 year history of the Sprint.
Yet Quinn will travel full of confidence in six-year-old Highfleld Princess, winner of nearly £1.8 million in prize-money, having picked Hong Kong over another trip to the Breeders’ Cup this year.
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The trip was confirmed after she rebounded from a shock defeat in the Flying Five at the Curragh to land the Abbaye from one of the worst possible draws.
“We really wanted to try to have a bash at the Abbaye this year, which we had avoided last year to go to America,” said Quinn.
“So we thought after the Abbaye we would give America and try and have her as right as we can for Hong Kong. The balls had been up in the air until she rediscovered her form.”
The Sprint is a 6f dash around a right-hand bend against a field containing two local favourites, last year’s winner Wellinigton, and Lucky Sweynesse.
“Six furlongs holds no fear for her at all,” said Quinn. “It’s a good trip for her. She has run some mighty races and won some very good races over six.
“I ran her once round the bend at Goodwood and she seemed to go very well. She finished third but it wasn’t the track. It was blowing a gale that day and you couldn’t make the running but she ran a great race.”
John Quinn trains Highfield Princess (Mick Atkins/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)Quinn respects his mare’s opponents but said. “The boots aren’t scared off me.
“Her performance in the Prix Maurice de Gheest last year was out of the very top drawer. She beat some serious horses.
“She was very good at Goodwood too and whilst it mightn’t have been a vintage Abbaye, you don’t win many from stall 14. All in all she has coped with the lot.
“Lucky Sweynesse looks a very good horse but he hasn’t travelled to Royal Ascot and Wellington finished behind her in the Jubilee. There are other of horses there that we don’t know a lot about but she is a very good mare in her own right. I couldn’t be happier with her.”
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