At Sha Tin today (1 July), we honour one of the most auspicious occasions on the Hong Kong racing calendar by celebrating the 28th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with the running of the Hong Kong Reunification Cup Handicap (1400m).
Evoking the spirit of ‘Ma Zhao Pao’ (racing goes on), the Hong Kong Reunification Cup marks the enduring achievements of Hong Kong’s most popular sport and the integral role horse racing plays as part of Hong Kong’s image as a world-class city. Hong Kong horse racing has not only continued but has excelled and is internationally regarded as world-class.
Since 1997, Hong Kong horse racing has thrived to become one of the global leaders in relation to the quality of horses and races as a well as being one of the leading racing organisations with many leadership positions in horse racing globally held by members of our management team.
While we had always very competitive racing and some excellent jockeys riding in Hong Kong, we now also have horses of world-class quality and international Group 1 races.
In 2025, while Hong Kong has only 0.7% of the world’s thoroughbred population, ROMANTIC WARRIOR and KA YING RISING are ranked joint-second in the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, which is a remarkable achievement from a horse population of about only 1,300.
The same applies to the quality of our elite racing, which is crowned by 12 International Group 1 races, while LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) in December has become one of the most important global racing events.
The Club, through its unique integrated business model and strong operational performance, acts continuously for the betterment of society with substantial charitable and community contributions and today is one of the success stories of Hong Kong under the “One Country, Two Systems” practice.
Our contributions to the community have increased significantly since 1997 with betting duty, profits tax and Lotteries Fund contributions growing from HK$14.2 billion in 1996/97 to HK$29.9 billion in 2023/24 while our charity donations have grown from HK$1.04 billion to HK$10.2 billion and we are now one of the global most recognised charities organisations.
Today, we also acknowledge Hong Kong’s deepening collaboration with Guangdong with the staging of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup Handicap (1000m).
Guangdong has long been at the forefront of Mainland-Hong Kong collaboration and, through the concerted efforts of both sides, collaboration between Guangdong and Hong Kong has proved fruitful across a wide range of areas, notably sport and development of the equine industry.
With the on-going development of the Guandong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the scope for sports exchange and cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong has expanded significantly and the potential for growth continues to be unleashed. The Club has long leveraged its world-class expertise in equine sports and its international strength to actively support collaboration and exchange between Guangdong and Hong Kong in sports, equine industry development and many other areas.
The Club has a longstanding association with Guangdong, especially since 2010, as their strategic partner in holding the Asian Games and the establishment of the first equine disease-free zone, which was essential to build the Club’s Conghua Racecourse, which has been a tremendous success with its incredible training and veterinary facilities.
We have also created significant value for Hong Kong racing by expanding our horse population as well as significant value for the economy in Conghua with our multi-billion investment as well as creating approximately 1,000 employment opportunities in a rural area. These contributions will grow further when we will start world-class racing in October 2026, which will be one of the many highlights in the Year of the Horse and is one of the most significant projects ever undertaken by the Club.
Hong Kong Reunification Raceday celebrations will start at 2pm today with free admission to the public enclosures at both Sha Tin and Happy Valley Racecourses. At Sha Tin, a spectacular opening ceremony is scheduled for 2.45pm with the appearance of the newly-crowned top three singers from “Midlife, Sing & Shine! 3” – Bo Huang, Vic Teo, and Liu Yang – who will showcase their vocal talents in a special performance.
There will be entertainment throughout the twilight meeting with the appearances of fellow “Midlife, Sing & Shine! 3” contestants Li Jin Kai, Gary Chiu, Dan James and Yanji Chan as attendees enjoy Reunification-themed snacks and drinks while enjoying 10 world-class races.
The Tony Cruz Award for leading homegrown jockey continues to grow in stature with the success in this esteemed category of Vincent Ho, Angus Chung and Derek Leung and the battle for honours this season is tantalisingly poised.
Matthew Chadwick won the 2021/22 Tony Cruz Award and is again strongly in contention for this season’s award after moving to within just two wins of Matthew Poon with only five meetings left in the 2024/25 season. Leading 36 wins to 34, Matthew Poon takes eight rides at Sha Tin today (1 July) while Matthew Chadwick has nine mounts.
I wish both riders the best of luck for the remainder of the season.
The Hong Kong Reunification Cup is carded as Race 5 at 6pm and will be run over 1400m for prizemoney of HK$2.84 million.
The pace will be good with HEALTHY HAPPY (Karis Teetan) likely to lead from barrier seven. SOLEIL FIGHTER (Andrea Atzeni) should settle behind the leader from gate two with BRILLIANT EXPRESS (Alexis Badel) going forward gate 12. GUSTOSISIMO (Angus Chung) and TOURBILLON PRINCE (Matthew Poon) will also be prominent.
LIGHT YEARS CHARM (Zac Purton) has won three races in his debut season, including his past two. He was dominant last start when he lacked early speed and tailed the filed until the home turn when Zac took him to the outside and he raced past DANCING CODE and YOUNG CHAMPION impressively. That win gave the impression there was more to come from LIGHT YEARS CHARM and he is my win and place selection.
YOUNG CHAMPION (Brenton Avdulla) is one of three runners for champion trainer John Size. Last start, YOUNG CHAMPION loomed up at the 250m mark but could not match LIGHT YEARS CHARM in the closing stages, peaking on his run to finish third. YOUNG CHAMPION has been at Conghua since and trialled well there last week. YOUNG CHAMPION is racing consistently and is a place chance again.
John also has BRILLIANT EXPRESS and MICKLEY (Ben Thompson) engaged. BRILLIANT EXPRESS has won three times this season over this course and distance. He maintained his good form when going forward from a wide gate to settle just off the speed and stayed on well in the straight to be second to SUPERB KID on 8 June. BRILLIANT EXPRESS is up in class but drops to the limit weight from his last start and is a place chance.
SOLEIL FIGHTER has finished in the top three at his past ten starts and he is also a place chance, along with last start winner TOURBILLON PRINCE and CHIU CHOW SPRIT (Derek Leung). LO RIDER (Harry Bentley) is an interesting runner, having run an excellent fourth in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) in March at his last run. This looms as being too short for him but he has talent and can surprise.
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