Docklands and Royal Champion were the first of the internationals set for FWD Champions Day to arrive in Hong Kong on the weekend, but there were two absentees from the travelling party after the withdrawals of Andreas Vesalius and Native Approach.

Docklands and Royal Champion arrived from Britain on Saturday night, with Japan’s six representatives following soon after in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Group One winners Masquerade Ball, Jantar Mantar and Satono Reve headline the Land Of The Rising Sun’s squad, which is rounded out by Strauss, June Take and Giovanni.

French star Sosie and Irish galloper Comanche Brave were the final two arrivals on Sunday afternoon. The former will take on Romantic Warrior in a much-anticipated edition of the QEII Cup, while the latter clashes with Ka Ying Rising in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m).

“We are very excited for next week,” Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said.

“Masquerade Ball on 128 is the highest-rated horse we have ever had coming from overseas.

“He is the real deal. This will probably be the stiffest test for Romantic Warrior on turf he faces.”

United Arab Emirates duo Andreas Vesalius and Native Approach joined the growing list of Champions Day withdrawals when they were ruled out of the QEII Cup and Chairman’s Sprint Prize respectively following under-par gallops ahead of their flights out to Hong Kong.

Fownes hits the Target

Caspar Fownes jumped back to the top of a roller coaster trainers’ championship after Target Audience made a successful return from a tendon injury at Sha Tin on Sunday.

At his first start in nine months, Target Audience led under Joao Moreira and fought on strongly to narrowly win the Class Four Enabling A Sustainable Future Handicap (1,200m) on dirt.

“He did a good job on his tendon, so it’s always hard to bring those types of horses back,” Fownes said.

“But we spent a lot of time with him rehabbing him obviously – it’s been about nine months since his [last] run and he was ready to go to the races. I just gave him a nice, soft 800m trial – he trialled good the other day and he’s had a great, long preparation for this race.

“We just thought the last sort of 50m he might be a bit vulnerable. I said to Jo ‘you’re going to run well but he might just be a bit vulnerable, first up for so long’.”

Target Audience’s victory by half a length over Armour War Eagle was his first from five local starts. The son of Derryn won his only New Zealand start on Cambridge’s synthetic track pre-import.

After moving to 49 wins for the season, Fownes reclaimed the title lead from Mark Newnham who is on 48 wins.

Wong doubles up

Apprentice Britney Wong Po-ni fired in an early double on Sunday, striking in two of the first three races with victories aboard Foremost Teddy and Parents’ Love.

Wong made a perfect start when guiding Danny Shum Chap-shing’s Foremost Teddy to an all-the-way triumph in the opening Class Five Racing For Charity Handicap (1,800m) on dirt.

She then produced a brilliant ride on Parents’ Love in the Class Four Promoting Health For All Handicap (1,000m), showing patience after the Tony Cruz-trained speedster jumped slowly to deliver an upset victory at $22.85.

“I’m very happy. Today, we started off with a good note,” Wong said.

“[Foremost Teddy] drew barrier one and back in Class Five, so I knew he would stand a chance as long as we stuck to the lead. We worked a bit to get to the lead, but he held on very well.

“It didn’t work totally to plan [with Parents’ Love] because we thought we would be positioning a bit more forward, but it’s OK because it’s down the straight and we had time to get into it slowly and the horse responded very well.”

Cruz lauded Wong for her ice-cool ride on Parents’ Love, who surged from midfield down the centre of the straight track to beat Master Payment by half a length.

“What happened was Britney actually called out to the starter ‘he’s not ready yet’ – anyway, the gate opened, didn’t get that real early kick,” Cruz said.

“Britney just took her time and she rode a perfect race.”

Foremost Teddy’s third all-weather success this season was Shum’s 46th of the season, placing the veteran handler in third on the championship table.

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