A total of 54 of the world’s top turf horses, including 26 international
Group/Grade 1 winners, have been extended invitations to the Hong Kong
International Races to be staged December 11. With an increase in purse money
for the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile to HK$20 million, the meetings four Group 1
events offer total purses of HK$68 million.
Whereas the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase is perennially something of an appetizer
to the day’s other events, this year’s renewal could be one of the best ever, as
the invitees include Snow Fairy, the 2010 Group 1 Hong Kong Cup hero who opts
for this 2400-meter test over a defense of her title. She could square off
against the top two finishers from the Group 1 Melbourne Cup, Dunaden and her
stablemate Red Cadeaux, who carries the colors of former Hong Kong Jockey Club
Chief Executive Ronald Arculli. Perfect Shirl, upset winner of the Grade 1
Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, was a late supplement to the field.
Reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon will fly the flag for
the home team in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup over 2000 meters, but will face a
foreign challenge from the in-form Cirrus des Aigles, who is exiting a win in
the Group 1 Champion Stakes on October 15. Victoire Pisa, this year’s Group 1
Dubai World Cup hero who is slated for a start in this weekend’s Group 1 Japan
Cup, could return to his pet distance, while the race could also attract Group 1
Prince of Wales’s Stakes hero Byword.
The Group 1 Hong Kong Mile has its defending champ back in the form of the
locally based Beauty Flash, and he is but one of several chances in a field
which includes top New Zealand miler Jimmy Choux; Group 1 Prix du Moulin winner
Excelebration; Sahpresa, third in last year’s Mile; and Japanese Filly Triple
Crown winner Apapane.
J J the Jet Plane has seen his season derailed by injury and will be unable
to try to double up in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint, but Singapore’s Rocket Man
will try to atone for a narrow defeat 12 months back. To do so he’ll need to
best a top-class field including two-time Sprint hero Sacred Kingdom; Grade 2
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint victor Regally Ready; the filly Curren Chan, recent
Group 1 Sprinters’ Stakes winner; and the twice-defeated Entrapment.