Idol, ridden by Craig Williams, led the field along in the 2,000 metres race, with the locally trained Helene Express in second, who had to use up a lot of horse to get from stall 14. In third place early on was the Criquette Head-Maarek-trained Okawango with Olympic Express in fourth.

	Eishin Preston, ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga, won the second leg of the 2002 World Series Racing Championship - the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Sha Tin, Hong Kong, on Sunday.

As the field rounded the bend Grandera, with World Champion Frankie Dettori in the saddle, led briefly but could not hold off the surge of the Japanese duo, Eishin Preston and the Hirofumi Shii-partnered Agnes Digital.

The Japanese challengers battled hard to the line with Eishin Preston getting up half a length ahead of Hong Kong Cup winner Agnes Digital. The nine-year-old Indigenous stayed on for third place with the Australian raider Universal Prince taking fourth place.

After the race Fukunaga said, "The early pace was slow, but it picked up in the final part of the race. I thought I would win at the head of the straight, but in the last hundred metres I was worried that Angnes Digital might beat me."

Agnes Digital now moves up the points rankings after his sixth place finish in the Dubai World Cup. His trained Toshiaki Shirai said, "My horse had given everything, but that's racing for you. After his trip to Dubai, perhaps my horse was only 90% of his best, but he has run very well in finishing second. He will be back."

Dettori finished in fifth place with the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Grandera, and commented, "He has run OK. He came round the bend nice and steady and I said let's go and he hit the front but then he got tired and his head came up. Maybe he is just a race short of his best."

Justin Sheehan aboard Universal Prince said, "I came there to win but at 200 metres he hit a brick wall. I feel frustrated for the horse but having said that he's just run a blinding race."