A world class array of Group 1 stars will go to war in Hong Kong for horseracing’s annual year-end major, the HK$83 million LONGINES Hong Kong International Races, on Sunday, 11 December.
There are 26 Gr1 winners among the 56 selected runners, including all four of last year’s champions: Japan’s outstanding Maurice and the mercurial yet brilliant A Shin Hikari, Ireland’s remarkable Highland Reel, and Hong Kong’s own Peniaphobia.
Maurice – Japan’s Horse of the Year and G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile victor in 2015; notched fifth G1 win and first at 2000m in recent Tenno Sho (Autumn).
The LONGINES HKIR comprises the HK$25 million LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m), the HK$23 million LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m), the HK$18.5 million LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) and the HK$16.5 million LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m).
With 28 overseas runners and 28 Hong Kong representatives, horses from nine international jurisdictions are set to compete at this year’s Turf World Championships.
Maurice won an epic edition of last year’s LONGINES Hong Kong Mile and will return this time to attempt a rare LONGINES HKIR double, with victory in what is shaping to be a stellar edition of the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m).
Japan’s 2015 Horse of the Year is two from two at Sha Tin, having carried off the G1 Champions Mile in May. Trainer Noriyuki Hori’s superstar bounced back from two excusable defeats to slam a top-class field in October’s G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) – a fifth G1 triumph and first win at 2000m.
Maurice is set to lead a record 13-strong Japanese contingent at the LONGINES HKIR and is one of 10 G1 winners among the 14 selected runners for the Cup.
A Shin Hikari – Won last year’s Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup and topped the LONGINES WBBR in the spring after a 10L win in the G1 Prix d’Ispahan.
A Shin Hikari dominated last year’s race with a stunning front-running display and topped the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings this spring after a wide margin victory in France’s G1 Prix d’Ispahan.
France’s standout trainer Andre Fabre will seek a third HKIR win with Elliptique, while Germany’s Potemkin, a G1 winner, too, is another European challenger for the event’s showcase race. Four-time G1 winner Designs On Rome took the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup for Hong Kong in 2014 and will lead the local challenge.
This year’s LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (14 selected) is shaping to be an epic. The home team is packed with talent, Japan’s big two are set to face off, Australia and North America are represented and the Europeans are sending three of their best.
Big Arthur looked to be the heir to two-time Hong Kong Sprint winner Lord Kanaloa’s weighty crown when winning the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m) in March. The five-year-old encountered traffic problems in the second of Japan’s two G1 sprints, the Sprinters Stakes (2 October), as Red Falx powered wide on the track for a breakthrough victory. The pair heads to Sha Tin to decide championship honours.
Meanwhile, Highland Reel is heading back to Sha Tin in an attempt to become the third dual winner of the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase in the race’s 22-year history (Luso, 1996 & 1997; Doctor Dino, 2007 & 2008). The four-year-old cut his own slice of history in 2015 when he provided Ireland’s champion trainer O’Brien with a first success in Hong Kong.
Highland Reel – well travelled!
Highland Reel is perhaps the world’s most widely-travelled top-class racehorse of recent times, and certainly the most successful globe-trotter currently in action. The Galileo colt has contested 14 G1s in seven international jurisdictions since May, 2015, winning four (Breeders’ Cup Turf; King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes; LONGINES Hong Kong Vase; Secretariat Stakes), as well as placing second in October’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
