HONG KONG – Meet racing’s nomad mare, Deirdre. Deirdre, second a year ago here in Hong Kong to Glorious Forever in the Hong Kong Cup, shipped from Japan to Dubai to finish fourth to Almond Eye in the $6 million Dubai Turf in March. She returned to Japan, finished sixth in the QEII Cup in late April – and hasn’t been home since. Deirde spent the summer and fall at Newmarket in the Abington Place Stables of trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam while overseen by Seiko Hashida, daughter of trainer Mitsuru Hashida. Deirde finished a distant sixth in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, her first European start, but followed up with a victory in the Group 1 Nassau at Goodwood, a troubled fourth in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes, and a commendable third over heavy ground in the Group 1 Champions Stakes at Ascot in October. By that point, Japanese quarantine protocols viewed Deirdre as essentially a European horse, and rather than ship her back home and go through a lengthy quarantine period, her connections kept her in England to ship with the other European horses here to Hong Kong this past weekend. Deirde runs Sunday at Sha Tin in a deep edition of the 2,400-meter Hong Kong Vase and figures to be among the shorter prices. “Japanese horses always travel to Hong Kong well because there’s only a one-hour time difference and a four-hour flight,” said Oisin Murphy, the Irish rider who was champion jockey in England this season and rode Deirdre in her last three starts. “She’s like an English horse now. It’s a long way to come, it’s a tough ask, but this is the right race. As long as she eats and drinks and sleeps, I’ll be pretty hopeful she’s the right horse on the day.” Murphy, a 24-year-old on the rise, has been in Japan far more recently than his ostensibly Japanese mount in the Vase. On Nov. 24, he scored one of the most important wins of his career when he piloted Suave Richard to victory in the Japan Cup. Murphy also knows Hong Kong racing, having ridden here during 2016. :: Hong Kong: Free PPs, picks, and analysis