The Japanese runner A Shin Hikari could not have been more impressive. He went immediately to the front from barrier 11 and YutakaTake then let him run along at a very strong tempo, spreading the quality field out over many lengths. He turned for home with a clear lead and was never threatened in the straight to a score brilliant win in very fast time, 2:00.60. Another Japanese runner Nuovo Record settled well back in tenth spot, improved to a distant seventh at the home turn and fought gamely for a good second. Blazing Speed was back in fourth place, behind the hectic pace, to the 600m and fought very well for a good third. Designs On Rome was a distant 13th until the 600m and showed his quality in making many lengths to finish (3.8 lengths) fourth. Lucia Valentina was 12th on the rails, got through on the inner rounding the home turn and impressed in fighting gamely for a very good (5.3 lengths) fifth while Australia’s other representative Criterion was always well back and some ground in the straight after being last in the 13-horse field at the home turn to finish (7.6 lengths) ninth.