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The world’s joint-highest rated sprinter Classique Legend has begun preparation for the Gr.1 Hong Kong Sprint, where he is favourite to win.
Classique Legend stands equal-fourth in the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Ranking with a rating of 125 placing him at the head of the speed division together with Godolphin’s three-time G1-winning sprinter Bivouac.
Caspar Fownes is very pleased with his new charge - the AU$8.63 million (approx. HK$48.7 million) earner.
The six-time winner is currently completing a mandatory quarantine period but is able to exercise on the track once the locally-trained horses have completed their morning trackwork.
The grey was bred at the picturesque Tyreel Stud in Agnes Banks, just outside of Sydney. He is out of Pinocchio by Not A Single Doubt and is a half-brother to 1000m Sha Tin track record holder Aethero. The champion pair now stable together under the care of Fownes.
From the sale ring, which he went through for AU$400,000 (approx. HK2.26 million), he then went to the stable of Les Bridge at Randwick and made a winning debut on the Kensington track there, and three starts later, he was a Gr.2 winner, securing the Arrowfield Sprint (1200m).
He then, contested his first The Everest, finishing sixth to Yes Yes Yes in 2019, and returned in 2020 with a first-up success in the Listed June Stakes at Randwick. He added another Gr.2 to his name, The Shorts, before a two and a half-length win followed in 2020 The Everest, defeating seven individual Gr.1 winners.
The 5YO programme will feature a barrier on the Sha Tin dirt prior to his HK$22 million first-up assignment.