Six days have passed since the staging of the 2024 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) and the response to the latest edition of our flagship meeting last Sunday (8 December) at Sha Tin has been overwhelmingly positive.
LONGINES HKIR was broadcast live into 29 different countries and regions, allowing us to promote Hong Kong racing and our amazing city globally and the reaction from around the world has been extremely favourable.
Many of the visitors and guests we hosted from Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Europe and New Zealand – among other regions – stayed at least four days in our city and were extremely positive with their feedback and we are delighted to showcase Hong Kong as an international destination of choice.
Overall, the combined attendance at Sha Tin and Happy Valley of 80,691 was the largest since 2018 and the fifth largest since 1997. A feature of the Sha Tin attendance was a record number of Mainland of 6,511 – an increase of 40% on 2024.
Mainland visitation to Hong Kong racing is up 100% year on year, which is a tremendous endorsement of the entertainment we provide.
Media coverage of LONGINES HKIR has been gratifying with a host of reports praising the world-class quality of the sport and also focusing on how well all our events were organised from the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) press conference in Tai Kwun before the fantastic staging of the LONGINES IJC which was won brilliantly by Mickael Barzalona.
Our overseas media friends also lauded the LONGINES Gala Dinner, which featured the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey Award presentation to James McDonald and then the wonderful culmination of LONGINES HKIR on Sunday with a great opening performance of Rain and a spectacular pyrotechnic display as the closing of a week when Hong Kong was the centre of global racing.
Attendees at Sha Tin last Sunday were privileged to witness the feats of ROMANTIC WARRIOR, KA YING RISING, VOYAGE BUBBLE and GIAVELLOTTO, who all delivered outstanding performances.
As a result of his historic third G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) triumph, ROMANTIC WARRIOR rose to a career-peak rating of 134, edging one point higher than GOLDEN SIXTY’s highest mark of 133, which is another measure of this magnificent horse’s greatness.
With world-record prizemoney of more than HK$177 million, 17 wins from 22 starts and nine Group 1 victories, ROMANTIC WARRIOR is the world’s best 2000m horse and we are fortunate to have watched Danny Shum’s gelding rise through the classes to global acclaim.
A product of the Club’s identification and selection process through Mick Kinane before he was educated by Brian Meehan, ROMANTIC WARRIOR is the horse of a lifetime for his owner Mr Peter Lau and jockey James McDonald.
Romantic Warrior’s sustained excellence is a trait shared by Tony Cruz, a towering figure on the Hong Kong racing landscape. Tony rode his first winner – CIRRUS – at Happy Valley 50 years ago on 11 December, 1974 and he continues to contribute to our sport.
Fittingly, Tony marked the milestone by training a winner last Wednesday night (11 December) with CALIFORNIA DEEPLY and Brenton Avdulla.
With 946 winners as a jockey in Hong Kong, Tony sits fourth on the all-time jockeys’ list behind Douglas Whyte (1,813), Zac Purton (1,789) and Joao Moreira (1,236). As a six-time Hong Kong champion jockey, he also made his mark all over the world, especially in Europe.
As a trainer, Tony is a dual championship winner and currently has 1,536 victories as a trainer to trail only John Moore (1,734) and John Size (1,550). Tony is sixth in the 2024/25 Hong Kong trainers’ championship with 16 wins behind Pierre Ng (24), David Hayes (21), Mark Newnham (20), Danny Shum (19) and Caspar Fownes (18).
The G1 Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini, one of South America’s premier races, will be run for the first time this weekend under the World Pool banner. Carded as S1-1, the Gran Premio Carlos Pelligrini will be run over 2400m at 6am (HK time) on Sunday (15 December) from San Isidro Racecourse in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The race has been dominated in recent years by Argentine horses and this year shapes as no exception.
EL KODIGO has been dominant this season under regular rider Gustavo Calvente, winning the G1 Republica Argentina (2000m), G1 General San Martín (2400m) and G1 Copa de Oro (2400m) – starting favourite each time.
His challenge on Sunday is to overcome barrier 20 but he should be able to find a good position in the long run to the first turn out of the straight and he is a win and place chance.
CRAZY TALENT beat EL KODIGO in the G2 Clasico Comparacion (2400m) in August and top jockey Juan Carlos Noriega should have him in a good position from gate nine and he is a place chance.
ACENTO FINAL won the G1 Gran Premio Jockey Club (2000m, Argentine Derby) and is also a place chance along with HONEST BOY, GREZZO and JAZZ SEIVER. DON FERES will attempt to land Peru’s first win in the race since 1993 while Uruguay is represented by MASTER OF PUPPETS, READY NIGHTS and STEINKEVJCZUK.
Brazil’s COLD HEART will be ridden Joao Moreira. Winner of the G1 Grande Premio Derby Paulista (2400m) in 2023, COLD HEART is a place selection.
At Sha Tin on Sunday afternoon, the Class 2 Lukfook Jewellery Cup Handicap is carded as Race 7 and run over 1000m at 4.10pm for prizemoney of HK$2.84 million.
The pace will be good with I GIVE likely to lead for James McDonald from STELLAR EXPRESS and Brenton Avdulla. FAST NETWORK, under Zac Purton, should be prominent along with JAMES TAK (Jerry Chau) and HEALTHY HEALTHY (Vincent Ho).
FAST NETWORK has risen quickly through the handicap from a mark of 52 to 82 with three wins and a third all over Sha Tin’s straight 1000m course. He was brilliant last start, winning by more than four lengths in 55.83s. He is a win and place chance.
HEALTHY HEALTHY is racing in tremendous form and is chasing a hat-trick of wins for Vincent Ho and Pierre Ng and is a place chance along with CARROLL STREET, who has five wins from 17 starts at this course and distance and should run well from barrier nine for Lyle Hewitson.
STELLAR EXPRESS has been placed five times from six attempts over this course and distance and is a place chance along with I GIVE.
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