Talent for miles but where are the middle-distance stars?

As the dust settles after a dramatic BMW Hong Kong Derby it's time to take stock of what the future holds for Hong Kong racing.

First, the good news: the four-year-old "Class of 2025" has abundant quality and depth.

The bad news? Most of that talent are sprinters or milers and there doesn't seem as much help for Hong Kong's middle-distance ranks.

The Derby contained some obvious future Group 1 contenders and there is even more talent among this season's four-year-old crop than there was in Sunday's 14-horse field.

David Hayes bypassed the classic series entirely with sprinter Ka Ying Rising, winner of 10 races in a row, who returns in this Sunday's G2 Sprint Cup. Sunday's undercard also features Mark Newnham's Mid Winter Win, another promising sprinter that did not contest the four-year-old races. Throw in last Sunday's Class 2 winner Packing Hermod and you have a solid group of horses that didn't appear in the Derby.

This analysis isn't to diminish Cap Ferrat's Derby victory, the winner's terrific training performance by Francis Lui Kin-wai and a first-rate ride by Craig Williams. But when a 17-start maiden wins the Derby after box-seating and gaining a rails run on a track favoring those tactics, the quality of the race will always be questioned.

Behind the winner Cap Ferrat, the Derby contained a group of horses that will be Group 1 contenders, starting with the obvious: My Wish, who flew home for a heart-breaking second in a record-breaking sectional. Third-placed Packing Angel, and even fifth-placed Rubylot and Johannes Brahms in sixth, have all shown enough to suggest they'll be competitive in open-age features. But they are all milers and it is clear the middle-distance ranks lack depth.

Could it be that Romantic Warrior's history-making achievements have papered over the cracks in Hong Kong's middle-distance Group races?

A sign that there is a lack of local quality at 2,000-meters is that Zac Purton - who can choose to ride just about any horse in Hong Kong other than Romantic Warrior - picked New Zealand visitor El Vencedor, and not a locally trained horse, to ride in the FWD QEII Cup on April 27.

"You can't knock horses that are winning and you take Romantic Warrior out of the race here from Hong Kong, Voyage Bubble's going back to the mile, so there's not really anything else around here over the mile-and-a-quarter," Purton said in a recent Australian radio interview.

Purton was even more scathing back in November, before the 2024 G2 Jockey Club Cup.: "To be honest, I didn't even want to take another ride in the race because I thought the rest of them were rubbish," he said on why he was sitting the race out after being overlooked for the Romantic Warrior ride. The Australian jockey went on to joke (we think) that he was warming the bench on the off chance that Romantic Warrior's jockey James McDonald's flight was delayed and that he could swoop on the plum ride.

Back to the good news, Hong Kong's traditionally strong Group 1 sprint and mile ranks are about to get even better.

Up at 2,000m though, it will probably be a long time before we see the likes of Romantic Warrior trained at Sha Tin again and the declining depth behind him seems to be an ongoing concern.