Champion Fastnet Rock mare Atlantic Jewel scaled the heights as a broodmare on Sunday when her blue-blood Irish bred Galileo son Russian Emperor won the Group I Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin bringing a massive pedigree update to his half-brother to be offered at Inglis Easter.
A Group III winner at Royal Ascot when trained by Aidan O’Brien, Russian Emperor was sold to race in Hong Kong after finishing seventh in the 2020 Epsom Derby.
Second in the Hong Kong Derby last year, the Douglas Whyte trained Russian Emperor was having his second start for 2022 after finishing last year with a good third to Japanese raider Loves Only You in the Group I HK International Cup.
Russian Emperor revelled in the wet ground to race away and win by more than four lengths under Blake Shinn with HK Horse of the Year Golden Sixty finishing in third place as favourite.
“It’s very satisfying, this horse (Russian Emperor) deserves it more than anything but more so the owners. They have been so patient and they’re very good friends of mine and they deserve it – they really do,” Whyte said.
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“The horse has just bounced back from the International Races and he reproduced that in the mile (G1 Stewards’ Cup, 1600m) and he’s come out today and done what I expected him to do. The rain has helped but, in saying that, he still had to win and he’s just done that.”
Blake Shinn was delighted with the win.
“Look, he’s a really talented horse and he’s been running really well. Full credit to Douglas, he’s figured out how to prep him for the big days and the elite level and that’s what great trainers do – they know how to peak them on the big days and Douglas has done that again today,” Shinn said.
Russian Emperor has the overall record of three wins and six placings from 17 starts with the soft ground for this assignment bringing out his best.
“He was always going to be a good horse but he was always ‘jarry’ and always feeling the tracks, even after a gallop he would feel the tracks and only now he’s acclimatised and the more time you seem to give him, the better he gets,” Whyte continued.
A four time Group I winner by Fastnet Rock, Atlantic Jewel was sent to the Northern Hemisphere to begin her stud career for Coolmore and Russian Emperor is the best of her two winners to date.
She was returned to Australia in 2019 and covered by Triple Crown winner Justify (USA) with her colt from that mating to be offered by Coolmore at Inglis Easter as Lot 62.
Sadly, the colt is her final foal as Atlantic Jewel passed away in 2020.
Russian Emperor is the first Group I winner for the late champion sire Galileo bred from a daughter of Fastnet Rock and is one of five stakes-winners bred that way, the nick running at 26% stakes-winners to runners.
The same nick the other way around has also been spectacularly successful producing 24 stakes-winners, nine of which are Group I winners with a strike rate of 20% SW to runner.
