Kaapstad Way was last night declared a certain starter in the Queen Elizabeth Cup in Hong Kong following his second in the $A1 million Mercedes Classic at Rosehill.
The class Cambridge stayer looked certain to pull back shock winner Curata Storm inside the last 200m, but failed by a long neck.
"He's come through that well, he ate up on Saturday night and we'll go to Hong Kong," said co-trainer Chris Wood.
Kaapstad Way is due home from Sydney today and will do some light work and swimming this week before flying to Hong Kong on Saturday.
Damien Oliver has retained the ride in Hong Kong.
Showella has run her last race for the season after tailing the field in the Mercedes and looking sore when she returned to unsaddle.
"She's aggravated her old injury," said a disappointed trainer Frank Ritchie.
Showella had to be pulled out of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups last spring when she strained a ligament in her near foreleg.
Ritchie said that while there was no evidence of damage to the same area after Saturday's race, Showella felt discomfort.
The winner, Curata Storm, is a John Hawkes-trained three-year-old who only broke his maiden status with a last-start Hawkesbury win.
Paying $A80 on the New South Wales TAB after easing from $A41 to $A91 on course, Curata Storm, aided by a magical ride from Rod Quinn, left the large Rosehill Golden Slipper day crowd stunned as he swept to the front at about the 1000m mark and defied all challengers in the run home.
The Dieu D'Dor colt beat Kaapstad Way with Giovana, just edging out odds-on favourite Tie The Knot, a length away third.
Hawkes said he had always rated the horse, who was a real stayer.
"You've got to be in these races to win them. But I didn't think he'd beat Tie The Knot. It was a brilliant ride."
Curata Storm was last in the 10-horse field on settling but, with a dawdling pace up front when 1999 Caulfield Cup winner Sky Heights was in the lead, Quinn took off a long way from home in what was to prove a masterstroke.
The colt, who won a Hawkesbury 2250m race by 13 lengths on March 25, was full of running turning for home and had too much in hand for his pursuers.
New Zealanders Kaapstad Way and Giovana tried valiantly to run him down, as did Tie The Knot, who was chasing his third straight win in the Mercedes and his 13th group-one victory.
Jockey Patrick Payne had Tie The Knot beautifully positioned fifth and sixth on the fence in the run and got him into the clear at the top of the straight, but the champion's trademark acceleration failed to materialise and he couldn't match it with the placegetters.
He wound up 1 1/2 lengths from the winner.
Racing: Kaapstad Way heads for Queen Elizabeth Cup
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