Recruiting the best available talent to enhance all fields of the Club’s racing operations is an abiding priority and we are delighted to welcome Brett Crawford as a new trainer for the start of the 2025/26 season.
With almost 1,500 winners, including 38 Group 1 victories to his credit, Brett boasts tremendous experience and expertise and, coming from South Africa, adds vital diversity to our world-class training ranks.
At 53, Brett joins compatriot Douglas Whyte as a Sha Tin-based trainer and follows in the footsteps of Group 1-winning countrymen Tony Millard and David Ferraris, whose Hong Kong careers were indelibly linked to the feats of champions Ambitious Dragon and Vengeance Of Rain, respectively.
The timing of Brett joining our trainers’ ranks also aligns perfectly with the new quarantine arrangements for the export of South African horses, which opens up opportunities to bring top-class horses from South Africa into Hong Kong.
Our training roster contains world-class horsemen from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and Hong Kong, China and one of the strengths of Hong Kong racing is the cross-pollination of ideas between trainers of all backgrounds.
It is clear from the success of homegrown talents such as reigning Hong Kong champion trainer Francis Lui and Frankie Lor, Tony Cruz, Danny Shum, Ricky Yiu, Pierre Ng, Dennis Yip, Cody Mo, Chris So and others that exposure to expatriate training methods has been extremely beneficial.
The Club is committed to providing opportunities for ambitious and talented young trainers and the influences of champion horsemen such as Ivan Allan and John Size, to name a few, has been extremely important.
I welcome Brett to Hong Kong and wish him all the best for the future.
I would like to express my deepest sorrow on the passing of His Highness The Aga Khan.
One of the world’s most generous philanthropists and global spiritual leader to Ismaili Muslims, The Aga Khan was also an incredibly passionate horseracing enthusiast and enjoyed tremendous success with champions such as SHERGAR, ZARKAVA, DAYLAMI, SHAHRASTANI, KAHYASI, SINNDAR and HARZAND.
The Aga Khan was an active participant in elite racing around the world, breeding and racing horses in at least 15 different countries and winning more than 160 Group or Grade 1s, including Hong Kong where his filly DARYAKANA won the 2009 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) for Alain de Royer Dupre and Gerald Mosse in his famous green and red silks.
Responsible for the construction of homes, hospitals and schools around the world in developing countries through the Aga Khan Development Network, the Aga Khan also made an immense contribution to international breeding and racing with his investment in bloodstock, racing infrastructure and sponsorship. He will be sadly missed.
The Club works continuously for the betterment of society through our unique integrated business model with donations via our Charities Trust, as well as the Betting Duty and Lottery Duty the Club distributes to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.
We were delighted with the popularity of the Chinese New Year Mark Six Lottery which generated HK$380.7 million turnover on 2 February.
One lucky customer won the first prize of HK$193.7 million, while there were 12 second prizes worth HK$1.2 million. With the demand being so high for tickets, I would like to thank the Club’s workforce of more than 3,000 employees – and particularly those in Off Course Betting Branches – who ably coped with customer demand.
Last weekend, 812,570 customers visited OCBBs to secure tickets while 11.5 million of the 15.7 million total transactions were completed digitally.
As with horseracing, Mark Six generates returns to the community with 40 percent of turnover being redirected in Lottery Duty (25%) and also to the Lotteries Fund (15%). In 2023/24, HK$1.3 billion was contributed to the Lotteries Fund and HK$2.1 billion to the Government as Lottery Duty.
The Lotteries Fund, established by the Government, finances the capital expenditure of welfare projects, with Mark Six being its main source of income. Since its launch, over 20,000 allocations amounting to HK$28 billion have been made to support the elderly, rehabilitation services, family and child welfare and many other areas.
At Sha Tin on Sunday (9 February), the feature race is the Class 1 TVB Cup Handicap, which is carded as Race 8 at 4.05pm and run over 1200m for prizemoney of HK$3.72 million.
The pace will be good with HARMONY N BLESSED (Karis Teetan) going forward from gate eight in search of the lead. COPARTNER PRANCE (Zac Purton) and MAGIC CONTROL (Matthew Chadwick) will also be prominent.
RAGING BLIZZARD has won his last two races, most recently coming from the tail of the field to beat GORGEOUS WIN and COPARTNER PRANCE on 5 January. RAGING BLIZZARD has spent time at Conghua since and had an easy trial there on 24 January. He has an outstanding record at this course and distance, having won four of six starts and, with Hugh Bowman aboard again, is a win and place chance for John Size.
COPARTNER PRANCE was unplaced in the G2 Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) in November behind KA YING RISING and was having his first run since he battled on strongly for a close third to RAGING BLIZZARD on 5 January. Zac has ridden COPARTNER PRANCE in all his seven career wins and goes back aboard tomorrow and COPARTNER PRANCE is a place chance.
GORGEOUS WIN (Vincent Ho) ran well when runner-up to RAGING BLIZZARD two starts ago. Last start, he settled in second last position before storming home to beat BABY CRYSTAL over this course and trip on 26 January. GORGEOUS WIN is a place chance from barrier two.
LUCKY WITH YOU (Luke Ferraris) will appreciate the handicap conditions of this race after competing at Group 1 level at his last two starts. Last start, he settled midfield and finished fifth behind KA YING RISING, who won in course record time. LUCKY WITH YOU has place claims.
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