KUALA LUMPUR: March 25, 2026

The cream of the country’s gallopers are once again gathered for the 2026 running of the Equine Sanctuary Tunku Gold Cup (1200m) at Sungai Besi this Sunday.

Last year’s winner Noah Khan, now renamed Mega Khan, is not defending his title after some poor recent results but Antipodean and Platinum Emperor, second and third respectively a year ago, will head the field with 59.5kg.

Pacific Vampire, who set a sizzling pace only to compound badly in the straight, and Arigato are the only other two members of last year’s cast to return for another tilt.

The four horses named above are coincidentally the top four in the ratings in this year’s Cup as well.

Platinum Emperor has raced just five times in the past 12 months. After back-to-back wins over 1400m and 1600m, the Sweynesse galloper was brought down during the running of the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) last September.

Resuming after a long spell after that, Platinum Emperor surprised many with a come-from-behind last-stride victory over 1200m in January before finishing third to Banker’s Two Six over 1600m last month.

Antipodean, the star of the 2024 season, has been racing over much longer trips than 1200m in the past few months, beginning with a third-place finish behind Lucky Magic in the Selangor Mile (1600m) last July.

His only win in this period came in the RM300,000 NZB Ready To Run Open Championship (1400m) last October.

With Platinum Emperor and Antipodean, it will be a question of whether they can find the luck in the running and get going early enough to stand a chance. 

Pacific Vampire has performed consistently since last year’s Cup, chalking up five wins. After being caught on the line by Platinum Emperor in January, he led all the way over 1300m in his last start.

Pacific Vampire loves to race in front but he might have to battle for the lead with speed horses like Bransom and Stop The Water. Filial Dragon, Cavalry and Fright will be up with the pace no doubt.

Then there is the surprise package this season: Always A Gentleman.

The son of Put It Back won two races including a Group 1 over 2000m and was fourth in the Derby (2400m) in his native Brazil. Thus trainer Lawon Moy has been racing him over trips up to 2000m last year.

But Moy discovered the sprinting side of the gelding when he finished fourth in his seasonal debut in January. Moy pressed further and Always A Gentleman rewarded him with back-to-back wins over 1300m and 1200m.

If the results of recent Group 1 races were anything to go by, be on the lookout for the ‘newcomers’ who are well-weighted in this set-weight contest.

Mega Ace and Pacific Energy finished 1-2 in a recent Class 3 race over 1020m on the No. 2 track.

Mega Ace has won four of his six starts since landing in the country unraced. The only time the Earthlight galloper finished out of the money was when fourth to Duma over 1200m last month.

Duma is one of the top gallopers of his class with already five wins from 13 starts, winning the NZB Ready To Run 2023 Graduate Cup (1400m) and was second to Antipodean in the NZB Ready To Run Open Championship (1400m).

The Frank Maynard-trained galloper is one of the early favourites for the Selangor Mile this year but he could not rule out in this top-level sprint.
 
Pacific Energy galloped into the Cup picture with three wins and two placings in his last five runs.

The Super Seth gelding was a ‘city’ winner in Australia with two wins at Caulfield and was also placed once at Moonee Valley, so definitely a galloper with a proven pedigree.

Perhaps the lightweight to watch is AI Rocket.

With a win and two placings in as many starts at three in Australia, the Highland Reel gelding had followed up with two wins and two seconds in five runs in the country.

Trainer HY Cheng has called up Australian jockey Liam Riordan to ride AI Rocket, no doubt confident that the four-year-old has what it takes in this first major sprint of the year.

All told, it’s hard to pin-point a standout runner in this year’s Cup, which makes the race an intriguing contest and one to look forward to.

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