It’s great to be back with a new blog ahead of the start of the new season, with a big couple of weeks ahead, including the official opening of the Conghua Training Centre.
This week, I was in Europe attending two important racing-related events in Ireland and France. First I went to the Irish capital of Dublin, as the IFHA and LONGINES together presented this year’s International Award of Merit to the Magnier family and Irish training maestro Aidan O’Brien, figureheads of the Coolmore racing and breeding operations.
First presented in 2013, this award is designed to honour those distinguished personalities for their lifelong contributions to the world of horse racing. Having dominated Irish racing over the past few decades, the Magnier family have also enjoyed enormous success on the international racing circuit, with their top horses prevailing in many major races on other continents.
And Aidan, headlining the Ballydoyle racing outfit, is one of the most familiar overseas horsemen among Hong Kong racing fans. He has had more than 300 G1 victories throughout his career and I believe many fans have been delighted, as I have, in seeing his horses more frequently in our top races in Hong Kong – chief amongst them, of course, is two-time LONGINES Hong Kong Vase victor Highland Reel.
They are well-deserving of this top accolade and I hope to see them again in our international races in December.
On Wednesday, I travelled to France to unite with the Club Chairman, Dr Simon Ip, for France Galop’s annual Hong Kong Jockey Club day at Deauville. I was delighted to gather with so many of the Club’s friends amongst the IFHA and France Galop, as it has become a tradition for us to first meet at Happy Valley in May and then here in Deauville in August. This is the 10th year of the partnership, with the reciprocal meetings first held in 2009.
The race meeting was as exciting as ever and it was the Andre Fabre-trained Talismanic, who finished second in last season’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m), who took the feature event, the G3 Prix Gontaut-Biron Hong Kong Jockey Club over 2000m. The trainer indicated that December’s HKIR could once again be on the radar for the flashy Godolphin-owned galloper, who has proven himself as top-class all over the world.
I also had the chance to talk to Andre Fabre about Derek Leung, with the Tony Cruz Award winner having spent some time with the legendary trainer over the summer. Unfortunately, that visit was cut short due to personal reasons, but he was very complimentary about Derek’s riding ability. Once again, Derek has proven a great ambassador of Hong Kong racing on the world stage.
I will soon return to Hong Kong ahead of the opening of the Conghua Training Centre, as well as next weekend’s Pre-season Carnival at Sha Tin. CTC has been utilised by Hong Kong trainers for a month now, with some horses being shipped back to Sha Tin to prepare for the new season. The reports from the trainers who have horses stabled at the site have been overwhelmingly positive. I have noted that a number of the trainers like John Size and Chris So have made favourable comments about the facilities and staff there, which has been encouraging, especially ahead of the opening. We look forward to celebrating this momentous occasion on 28 August.
Comment
