Trainer Pat Flynn is best known for the Cheltenham Festival triumphs of Montelado and French Ballerina, but the Irish handler is bypassing the Cotswolds this year.
Instead, he is heading to Hong Kong to see his former protégé Designs On Rome contest a hot renewal of the BMW Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin racecourse on Sunday, March 16, a race in which the gelding will face imposing rival and stablemate Able Friend. Both horses are being lauded as international G1 calibre.
When Designs On Rome won the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m/9f) impressively last month, the John Moore-trained four-year-old not only emerged as the number one contender for the HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m/10f), the Irish import also justified the faith of Flynn, his previous handler.
It was at Ireland's Goffs Orby Sale in September, 2011 that Flynn first set eyes on the son of Holy Roman Emperor, and by his own admission it was something akin to love at first sight.
"When he walked out my skin tingled and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I said to myself, this is a champion!" recalls Flynn of that introductory encounter.
But that first sighting at Goffs was not the usual admiring look cast as the youngster circuited the famous sale ring to the accompanying cadence of the auctioneer. This meeting occurred outside the Moyglare Stud yearling's box after he had passed through the ring unwanted and unsold at €18,000 (euros).
Call it kismet, call it luck, call it what you will: Flynn had found himself a horse that ticked all of his boxes and who no one else wanted.
"I know the Moyglare Stud, they're one of the best studs in the world, so I always check their horses," he says. "I said to them, I probably won't be able to afford any but I'll look anyway, and they said to have a look at this horse that had come out unsold, and I said 'what horse is that?' and they said, 'it's a Holy Roman Emperor horse, have a look at him'.
"When they told me this fella was unsold, I couldn't believe it," he continues. "I had to be like one of those poker players - you know, when you get four aces you have to keep a poker face on. They rang the owner of Moyglare, Eva Bucher-Haefner, Walter Haefner's daughter, and she said to sell him to me. So I did a deal.
"I signed the form and rang my wife, and I told her I'd just bought her one of the best horses that will ever have come into our yard - an absolute champion. So from the word go we've thought that and it's been documented. I got him for 10,500 euros!"
And while the Flynn yard might be a ways removed from being one of Ireland's powerhouse stables, the County Waterford trainer knows a good horse when he sees one.
The Irishman saddled Montelado to win the Cheltenham Bumper, the last race of the 1992 Festival, and remarkably produced him to win the first race of the following year's Festival, the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
Flynn followed up when the talented mare French Ballerina won the 1998 Supreme Novices' Hurdle, while on the Flat She's Our Mark has scored at Pattern-race level in more recent times.
"Over the years, we've had over 700 winners, and the good horses I've had, you see certain things about them. There are certain traits and, when they have them, they're usually good, and he had the lot of them," he says of Designs On Rome, who has won three of six starts since making his Hong Kong debut in June of last year.
"He was just a beautifully made horse. I thought he might not make a two-year-old and in actual fact he wasn't really, I knew he'd be a better three-year-old. And he was a good size for a Holy Roman Emperor - he's an awesome sire and I didn't understand why this fella had gone unsold. Where were all the experts? 100 people must have looked at him and so it just seemed to me that I was supposed to get him and that was it, just one of those things."
Flynn decided to nurture his young charge and brought him on steadily. Racing in the trainer's wife's colours, Designs On Rome raced twice in May of 2012 before returning from a break to win his maiden over 1,400m (seven furlongs) that August.
"When we started him off, we broke him straight away and we gave him months and months of driving him and long-reining him, as well as riding him, because I wanted to get him lovely and balanced," says Flynn. "We had him long-reining, driving right, left, turning this way and that way, keeping him muscled and balancing him up either side.
"As he wasn't going to be a mature two-year-old, we just got him ready as best we could. We gave him a six-week break around June time before he came back to win his maiden. He ran lovely races but he was just a little weak."
That patient approach paid off when Designs On Rome caught the eye of an interested party with a running-on second to that year's European champion juvenile, Dawn Approach, in the G1 Vincent O'Brien Stakes, Ireland's premier two-year-old contest.
"That day Danny Grant (jockey) was convinced after the race that if he had another furlong he'd have pulled him back, because he was about fifth one furlong out and he ran on to second at the line," recalls Flynn. "We knew that day, all that we'd seen at home was right.
"The next day Peter Doyle (bloodstock agent) rang and said the people in Hong Kong were interested. I'd spoken to Peter early on and told him what I thought of the horse. We went into negotiation and got him sold. I told him to tell John Moore that this horse will be one of the best horses he's ever trained, that this horse is the business, so thank God it's turning out right.
"He'll only get better and, if he's in good form the day of the Derby, he must have a great chance!"
Flynn is looking forward to seeing his former protégé in the flesh as he is flying to Hong Kong to watch Designs On Rome contest the BMW Hong Kong Derby.
It promises to be a vintage race with the gelding's stablemate, the Australian-bred Shamardal gelding Able Friend, set to renew rivalry. Both horses have been lauded as international G1 calibre gallopers by their current trainer and the score stands at one apiece in the three-race Hong Kong Four-Year-Old Series, with the Derby the finale.
Designs On Rome was a closing second to his impressive stablemate in the first leg, the Hong Kong Classic Mile back in January, but reversed placings in the nine-furlong Hong Kong Classic Cup last month and the Derby's mile and a quarter trip is expected to be his optimum.
"I'm coming over with my son, he's my assistant trainer, and we're looking forward to it," Flynn says. "We've had Listed and Group race wins but a champion comes out only every so often and you know them when you see them. I'm looking forward to seeing this fella again.
"I wish everyone the best with the horse. His pedigree's been in the Moyglare Stud for over 35 years and they have the full-sister there now, and it's great for Coolmore with Holy Roman Emperor. I'm just delighted for everybody. He could be a phenomenon in Hong Kong if everything goes well!"
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