Eishin Preston won the main event at Shatin

Eishin Preston, ridden by Yuichi Fukunaga, won the $1.7m Audemars Piquet Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong for the second straight year.

The Japanese horse won the 2,000m race at the Shatin track by 1� lengths from Hong Kong's Elegant Fashion, ridden by Gerald Mosse.

Third on Sunday was Germany's Paolini, ridden by Eddie Pedroza.

There were only two foreign entries in the 12-horse field because the outbreak in Hong Kong of severe acute respiratory syndrome kept many participants away.

Sars has led to more than 130 people in the territory.

South Africa's Eventuail was scratched from the race on Saturday after officials said medication given to the horse in early April was not completely cleared from its system.

First held in 1975, when Hong Kong was under British rule, The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is the opening leg of the World Racing Series for 2003.

Next month's planned second leg in Singapore has already been cancelled because of fears over the Sars virus.