HKJC CEO Blog

Sha Tin’s final meeting of 2019 this Sunday has a lot to live up to following our Boxing Day fixture at Happy Valley. The party was in full swing and there was much to learn from the action on the track with three of our best young jockeys – namely Alexis Badel, Grant van Niekerk…

And so we come to a special time in the Hong Kong racing calendar, highlighted by Boxing Day at Happy Valley, but the international racing circuit never stops and Japan was in the spotlight again with a memorable renewal of the Arima Kinen. It seems fair to draw several conclusions from Sunday’s big race at…

Jockeys are seldom far from the headlines in Hong Kong and recent weeks have been busy with news of several departures and an imminent arrival. The experienced French rider Tony Piccone is the new recruit after the Club’s Licensing Committee granted him a two-month licence beginning on 1 January. We wish him well as he…

The aftermath of HKIR week always leaves a series of important business decisions to be taken and this year is no exception. One of the most notable this season relates to replacing the Happy Valley meeting cancelled due to concerns about public safety in September. After close consideration, it has been decided that the fixture…

Analysis of every aspect of major events is the key to making them better and the last few days have been spent taking stock of HKIR 2019. First and foremost, there is a lasting sense of pride that we were able to stage one of the world’s great racing festivals at a time when so…

Sunday 8 December will go down as one of the most significant days in Hong Kong racing history. That is a bold statement considering what has gone before but I firmly believe it is true for any number of reasons. The last six months have been extremely challenging for every citizen of Hong Kong and…

The thrill of being part of a huge event like the LONGINES HKIR never pales and this year has been no exception. Of course, the build-up this year has been very different to previous years. For sure we have encountered significant challenges along the way, but the Club’s collective determination to show Hong Kong’s sporting…

And so we come to the night that perhaps shows off the colour and excitement of Hong Kong racing more vividly than any other. The list of riders who have won the International Jockeys’ Championship features some incredible names and this year’s line-up is surely one of the best we have ever had. It is…

Make no mistake, the news that Almond Eye will not be coming to Hong Kong to compete at the LONGINES HKIR next week was not what any of us wanted to wake up to on Saturday morning. But these things happen and, when you set something like this in the context of the challenges everyone…

There is nothing like a flying visit to the Japan Cup to whet the appetite for Hong Kong’s biggest meeting and last weekend’s trip to Tokyo did just that. The race itself was unusual, with no international challengers for the first time, but the atmosphere from a crowd of over 80,000 was as intense as…