PUNTERS have been getting stuck into Aidan O’Brien’s globetrotter Mogul ahead of his trip to the Far East.
The Group 1 winner has been the subject of a huge gamble in the antepost markets for the prestigious Hong Kong Vase.
The valuable race is one of four Group 1’s at Sha Tin’s glamorous ‘International Races’ fixture on December 13.
O’Brien has won the Vase twice with the legendary Highland Reel, who was successful in Hong Kong in 2015 and 2017.
And Mogul’s odds for the big race were slashed over the weekend after the fields were released by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
He was 12-1 last week and is now as short as 6-4 for the £2 million, mile-and-a-half contest.
He is the only European-trained runner in the seven-strong field, with the market headed by 2018 Vase winner Exultant.
His season got off to a slow start as he was a well-beaten fourth at Royal Ascot and sixth in the Derby at Epsom.
But he clicked into gear with victory in the Gordon Stakes at Glorious Goodwood and went on to win the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris in September.
He was unable to take his place in the line-up for the Arc at Longchamp because of contaminated feed, and he was a little unlucky when fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last time out.
European runners have a fantastic record in the Hong Kong Vase, which was first run in 1994.
In that time, British, Irish and French-trained runners have won the race an incredible 17 times.
Highland Reel was the most recent winner in 2017, while the Vase has been won by the likes of Red Cadeaux and Ouija Board in the past.
There are three other Group 1 races on the Hong Kong International Races card, which will be shown live on Sky Sports Racing on the morning of Sunday December 13.
Aidan O’Brien is likely to send two runners out to Hong Kong alongside Mogul, with the brilliant mare Magical a potential runner in the Hong Kong Cup and Breeders’ Cup hero Order Of Australia entered in the Hong Kong Mile.
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