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The Marco Botti-trained Giavellotto has continued his stellar 2024 to record a maiden Group 1 victory in convincing style by taking out the Hong Kong International Vase at Sha Tin on Sunday afternoon.

Settled midfield on the fence, whilst there were some nervous moments in the straight as Giavellotto was checked at the 400m and required a run, the five-year-old unleashed a sharp turn of foot from the 250m when clear space emerged to win the Hong Kong International Vase by 2.5 lengths ahead of Dubai Honour.

"It's a great win," trainer Marco Botti said.

"Oisin (Murphy) placed him well in the race. I just had a little bit of panic when turning into the straight. He sort of got checked for a few strides, but then once he had a clear run, you could see he was running strongly to the line and we know he stays well. He's an amazing horse."

The Group 1 Hong Kong International Vase (2400m) is the biggest victory of Giavellotto's career, following a pair of dominant Group 2 victories during the UK summer contesting the Yorkshire Cup (2816m) and the Princess of Wales's Stakes (2414m).

"The horse has gotten better with the age" Botti said.

"We felt early in the season that this was going to be his best season because he's always been a little bit of an immature horse. Now he's strong and been a 5-year-old and likes travelling. Those kinds of horses, they don't come along very often."

Giavellotto also placed last start in the Group 1 Irish St. Leger with the run proving the catalyst for connections to consider the Hong Kong International Vase.

"I must give credit to Oisin (Murphy) because the first thing he said after the Irish St Leger, he mentioned this race and he was adamant that we should come here," Botti said.

"He said, 'I would strongly consider the race'. We followed Oisin's advice and it worked out well.

"We had a few [HKIR] runners previously, but Giavellotto. He just has been lightly-raced this year.

"He only had six runs so far and he was fresh and well coming into the race. We knew if he was going to handle a drop back to a mile and a half on a sharper track than Newmarket where he won this summer, we knew we had a chance."

Giavellotto is Oisin Murphy's first Group winner in Hong Kong from 12 attempts, having previously only managed Group placings in the country.

The dominance of Giavellotto's success allowed Murphy to savour the moment.

"It doesn't happen very often to win at these kinds of meetings and to just go away with it," Murphy said.

"When I did get some racing room, he was explosive and I was really able to enjoy the last furlong. It's really difficult in a top-level Group 1 that this sort of thing happens, that they're that impressive.

"I had a lot of confidence, particularly when he was so calm at the start. He didn't get wound up.

"In the race, he broke well and he landed in a good position. I never had to touch his mouth all the way down the back because he was in such a good place and spot. Turning into the straight, I had to wait as he got stopped. Sometimes you're worried that the race is going to go away from them but it probably served to even fill him up a little bit."