The month of August is about to enter its final third, which means that the Hong Kong racing scene is beginning to stir from its summer rest with the new season now a little over three weeks away. There has been plenty of racing action elsewhere to keep our attention in the meantime, and this past weekend in Deauville we hosted the annual Hong Kong Jockey Club trophy events. It’s always a pleasure and a privilege for me to attend this great occasion on France’s summer circuit, enjoying the races of course, but also meeting many friendly and familiar faces such as IFHA chairman Louis Romanet and France Galop’s Director General Thierry Delegue.
I also took the opportunity to chat with some European trainers and I was pleased to hear most of them express strong interest in our international races in December. With the prize money of those four Group 1s to be increased this year, they are a strong alternative for trainers and owners who want a level playing field and race day medication-free racing. I look forward to meeting some of these horsemen again here in Hong Kong in December.
In the meantime the Arqana August Yearling Sale was held here in Deauville last weekend. I’ve also been there many times and this year’s sale had a very upbeat atmosphere with the buyers enthusiastic about the yearlings that passed through the auction ring. The median price of the sale increased by 17 percent on last year and this is in line with the general trend of rising yearling prices we have seen at other sales worldwide this year. This is good for breeders but of course this means that owners and trainers, including those from Hong Kong, may need to pay more when they purchase quality young horses. We hope our prize money increases, particularly in the higher classes, in the new season will encourage owners to continue bringing in high quality recruits to Hong Kong.
Saturday’s racing at Deauville was good quality and I was impressed with the win of Cocktail Queen in the G3 Prix Gontaut-Biron Hong Kong Jockey Club, while Cantabrico was a worthy winner of the Prix du Hong Kong Jockey Club down the straight mile. The Club’s support of these two notable races, at one of the sport’s elite race meetings, has a positive effect as it keeps Hong Kong racing in the spotlight during our close season and enables us to make important connections with Europe’s leading horsemen.
Following Saturday’s fixture, racing fans in Deauville were entertained by the wonderful performance of a genuine top-class miler. On Sunday, Kingman again showed that he is a racehorse of genuine brilliance with his win in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. This top three-year-old colt has shown his ability to deliver an uncommon burst of acceleration at the end of his races. Like any racing fan, I would love to see Kingman improve further and deliver more shining performances during the remainder of the season. Of course, it will be good if this top horse can feature in the major races that we will simulcast to Hong Kong in the new season as he is very exciting to watch.
While Kingman shone at Deauville, I learnt that Hong Kong teen swimming star Siobhan Haughey produced some outstanding results at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing. In the space of just three days, Siobhan won her second silver medal in the Women’s 100m freestyle event last night. That followed her first silver medal at the Games in Sunday’s Women’s 200m Individual Medley.
I met Siobhan in March this year when she received the best sportsperson award at the Students of the Year Awards Ceremony 2013 – a programme sponsored by the Club and organised by the South China Morning Post – and she struck me as a very bright and hardworking young lady. Apart from swimming, she has done equally well in her academic studies at school. I’m very delighted for her and I wish this talented young athlete further success when she competes at the Asian Games in Incheon next month.
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