Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has lauded the Club’s tracks staff for their efforts in the face of significant weather challenges after Romantic Warrior led Hong Kong’s clean sweep of the three FWD Champions Day Group 1 features at Sha Tin on Sunday.
HKJC Chief Executive Officer Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (Pic – HKJC)
All 10 races were safely completed despite more than 250mm of rain in the preceding week, paving the way for Romantic Warrior, Beauty Eternal and Invincible Sage to secure Group 1 glory on a yielding surface.
Referring to the tracks team, Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “They did an extraordinary job, with these types of weather conditions, the ground was extremely fair, and it enabled all the horses to participate.
“Nobody could believe that with over 250mm of rain how well our track performed and provided fair going on which to compete.
“On the track, there was a lot of excitement with an upcoming four-year-old Invincible Sage, who won the Gr1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize against several Group 1 winners. California Spangle showed his true colours even in defeat.
“In the FWD Champions Mile (Gr1, 1600m), we had a little surprise with Beauty Eternal winning. I would like to acknowledge the performance of Golden Sixty, he is still the hero of Hong Kong and with this weather, the track conditions were not ideal for him.
“The highlight of the day was definitely the FWD QEII Cup (Gr1, 2000m) with the atmosphere we had and the performance of Romantic Warrior, fighting against some of the best horses in the world and winning this race for Hong Kong.
Mr Andrew Harding, HKJC Executive Director, Racing (Pic – HKJC)
“To have three Hong Kong winners in the international races is something is that is very satisfying and a great achievement especially when you consider we have a population of 1,200 horses and to be able to compete and succeed on the international stage shows the determination of the Club and our owners and that should make Hong Kong proud.”
Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said the total attendance of 33,586 included 5,110 visitors from the Mainland, which he described as “exceptional.”
Assessing Hong Kong’s effort to land all three Group 1s, Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “I want to thank the owners who invest in bloodstock to make Hong Kong one of the icons of the racing world and acknowledge our overseas guests who brought their horses here to compete. I want to thank our customers for their support despite the weather.”
Mr Andrew Harding, Executive Director, Racing said: “This has been an extraordinary year for Hong Kong racing, and it says resoundingly that Hong Kong racing is not just world-class, but world-leading. That is the product of many people, but most crucially owners.
“I want to thank our sponsor FWD – they’re an extraordinary partner – and I’m very pleased that we were able to provide them today with a day of truly exceptional racing.
“I want to acknowledge and commend the sterling work of our tracks team – quite exceptional and, again, world-class.”
