"Hyperion" (Robert Bishop) is in Hong Kong for the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup.

Although Dubai World Cup winner Victoire Pisa was withdrawn following a minor injury, a quality field will contest the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup over 2,000 metres tomorrow at Sha Tin.

Strong local favourite at $2.50 is Hong Kong Derby winner Ambitious Dragon. The other leading Hong Kong contender is California Memory, who recently came with a powerful finish to win the Hong Kong Gold Cup. Stanley Ho''s Viva Pataca, who won this race in 2007 and 2010, is now nine and will try to defend his crown.

Overseas challengers include River Jetez, who was runner up to Presvis in the Dubai Duty Free, Wigmore Hall, who was third in that race, and the Herman Brown trained Gitano Hernando, who was sixth in the Dubai World Cup.

Interviewed at Sha Tin, Hyperion commented "The Derby form was well franked last weekend when Xtension, ridden by Darren Beadman and trained by John Moore, beat a star studded field in the international G1 BMW Champions Mile, the third leg of Asian Mile Challenge. Xtension was previously runner up to Ambitious Dragon in the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby".

"I''m in awe of Viva Pataca who has won this race twice and also finished runner up and third. It would be a remarkable performance if Stanley Ho''s horse could win or be placed for the fifth year in a row".

"Overall I feel that Ambitious Dragon will win and that River Jetez will finish runner up. Third place may be fought for by California Memory, Irian or Wigmore Hall. Ambitious Dragon will start a short price favourite and so there should be value to be found. I will be backing River Jetez, currently 14-1 in Hong Kong, in case Ambitious Dragon is not able to reproduce his Derby form".