HKJC CEO Blog

This has been another intriguing week on the news front in Hong Kong racing. There was a great atmosphere at Happy Valley for the first of three French-themed nights on Wednesday and the growing influence of Conghua was on show like never before, with four consecutive winners travelling down from our Mainland Base culminating with…

Our Simulcast season is gathering pace at the moment and last Sunday’s French Guineas programme will be followed by another big international show for Yushun Himba Day in Japan this weekend. Godolphin stole the show at Longchamp, winning the French 2000 Guineas with Andre Fabre’s exciting Persian King and then recording their 300th global G1…

The wet weather didn’t dampen spirits at Sha Tin this week on a night when Me Tsui recorded the 500th winner of his training career. Me has always gone about his business with a quiet professionalism and it came as no surprise to hear him downplaying his latest achievement after Sky Treasure had given him…

It has been a dramatic few days on the global racing front, with Newmarket staging Britain’s first Classics of the season and America locked in debate about a controversial finish to the Kentucky Derby. Events at a stormy Churchill Downs on Saturday made headlines in an unprecedented way as the Derby winner Maximum Security was…

Nothing stands still for long on the Hong Kong racing scene and, hard on the heels of a memorable FWD Champions Day, a new face stole the headlines at Happy Valley on Wednesday. It often takes time for new riders to adapt to the special demands of our challenging city track so congratulations to Aldo…

A little time always helps provide a clear perspective on our major events and, having assessed all aspects of FWD Champions Day, I believe the occasion lived up to all expectations as a wonderful sporting event that can gradually build into something similar to HKIR. The timing presents challenges, especially in regard to European horses,…

The build-up has been intense but soon it will be time for some world-class horses and their riders to do the talking on FWD Champions Day. This is the second time we have run all our three spring Group 1 contests on the same day and, as with any young, ambitious project, we are building…

Optimism is what oils the wheels of horse racing and there was excitement in the air after Voyage Warrior made it two wins from two starts in impressive fashion at Sha Tin on Monday. Helped by a tailwind but never fully tested in the last 50m, Ricky Yiu’s gelding stopped the clock in 54.89s for…

The Easter weekend marks another important milestone as we are now three quarters of the way through the 2018/2019 season. And, as we move towards next week’s FWD Champions Day, this is building into another highly significant time for Hong Kong racing. The clean sweep of all four HKIR races for Hong Kong horses in…

Certain charismatic stars form a bond with a global audience that elevates their entire sport to a whole new level. We saw it with Winx on a memorable day in Sydney on Saturday. We saw it again with Tiger Woods on an amazing day at the Masters golf in Augusta on Sunday. And we may…