Kevin Staut was the star of tonight's show winning the main event, the Longines Speed Challenge, on his 10-year-old mare Quismy des Vaux in a time of 65.37 sec.
His countryman Simon Delestre finished in second position on Napoli du Ry (65.77sec) and Julien Epaillard completed the French trifecta finishing third on Mister Davier (65.87sec).
The amazing dominance of the French tonight continued the benchmark of success set by Patrice Delaveau at the inaugural Longines Hong Kong Masters in 2013.
“It must be the spicy food in Hong Kong,” quipped Staut at the official press conference that took place immediately after the event.
Some time ago Staut, who also competed at last year’s Longines Hong Kong Masters, hatched a plan to try and win the Longines Speed Challenge and his strategy paid off tonight with a victory.
“It is very challenging to win this event and you really need the right sort of horse and tonight my horse went so well,” he said.
Only three riders completed clear rounds in this edition of the Longines Speed Challenge which demonstrated the challenging nature of the course set by renowned Belgian designer Luc Musette.
“It was a very tough course and he really made it hard for us all tonight,” said Staut.
Day two of the Longines Hong Kong Masters begins tomorrow at 12:30 with the Prix Euroasia (1m 45cm) and the highlight of the evening will be the Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy (1m 55cm) at 9:30pm.