Superstar Fastnet Rock mare Atlantic Jewel was a champion on the track and has also done the job at stud as the dam of blue-blood Irish bred Galileo gelding Russian Emperor won his second Group I event in Hong Kong on Sunday when taking out the Standard Chartered Chater Cup (2400m) at Sha Tin .
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 scored another big win when surging home from last under Blake Shinn to win by nearly two lengths running away.
Racing without blinkers for the first time this season, Russian Emperor confirmed his status as the kingpin of Hong Kong’s staying division with a domineering last-to-first win.
“To win two Group 1s on him now and to win the last Group I in Hong Kong (of the season) is real big buzz, I tell you,” Blake Shinn said.
“It’s a team effort and it’s a really big thrill to win today.
“I must thank Douglas because after his last run at 2000 metres, he pulled quite hard and I thought going to 2400 metres, we’re not going to win if he pulls.
“So, I suggested considering taking the blinkers off. Douglas stewed over it, he thinks about it very carefully and he said it was the right call and honestly the horse switched off the whole race and his turn of foot is electric when he switches off.”
Douglas Whyte is excited about the future for Russian Emperor, who has the overall record of four wins and seven placings from 20 starts.
“He is part of the family. I learned in my time as a jockey that you can get on one good horse one season and you might not get another good one for three seasons, so when you get a champion in your hands, you take care of him and there is pressure involved but I love and thrive on pressure, it’s one of the things that keep me going but at the same time, you still have to get the horse to the races and perform, same as a jockey,” said Douglas Whyte.
Russian Emperor will now take a break until next season and is expected to follow a similar pattern of races as this term including a tilt at the 2022 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races.
“He’s a much more rounded horse, you can see in his racing patterns and mannerisms that he can go to sleep and any horse that can do that over this kind of trip and has a good turn of foot, they’ll stay even further. It’s the first 600 to 700 metres that’s critical and he literally went to sleep. If he can do that, he’ll be very competitive in the big races next season,” Whyte said.
“The reason for the improvement is that he was a younger horse, still on the up and maturing. He had gone through a big stage of his career with the pressure of Hong Kong and he hadn’t quite adapted to the firmness of the ground. I think he had a lot of things against him leading into this race last year but we’ve come out on top this year.
“There’s a lot of people I have to say thanks to especially the owners. They have stuck by me and been the biggest supporters.”
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 sold by Coolmore at Inglis Easter this year for $240,000 to Dermot Farrington Bloodstock.
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 21% stakes-winners to runners.
The same nick the other way around has also been spectacularly successful producing 26 stakes-winners, nine of which are Group I winners with a stroke rate of 20% SW to runner.
