ITS TIME, ONCE AGAIN, FOR THE INTERNATIONAL RACING SPOTLIGHT TO SHINE ON HONG KONG

By Darren Winningham | Saturday, December 4, 2021

LONGINES HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL RACES SUNDAY DECEMBER 12, 2021

The stage is set for a great day of racing on Sunday week. The overseas horses, trainers, jockeys, and connections have primed their horses to peak for this day … bringing horses from all around the world to Hong Kong to take on the local stars and contest the HK$100 million that is on offer for the races.

The feature races are:

The Longines Hong Kong Vase – race 4 of the program (HK$20 million prizemoney)
The Longines Hong Kong Sprint – race 5 (HK$24 million prizemoney)
The Longines Hong Kong Mile – race 7 (HK$26 million prizemoney)
The Longines Hong Kong Cup – race 8 (HK$30 million prizemoney)

All four races are listed at Group 1 level. With so much glory and prize money on offer there will be some competitive racing. This year is the 35the running of the Longines Hong Kong International Races.

Japan has launched an all-out assault on the Longines HKIR in 2021 with 12 runners departing Japan and arriving safely in Hong Kong. It is easy to see why the Japanese owners and trainers target this meeting annually. They have the most wins for overseas runners at this meeting with 17 wins in the history of the event. In 2020 Danon Smash (HK Sprint) and Normcore (HK Cup) saluted.

They will be hard pressed to win the Hong Kong Mile with local sensation Golden Sixty, Hong Kong’s reigning Horse of the Year, looking to post 16 consecutive wins and at the same time defend his title from 2020. With 19 career starts and 18 wins to his name – he looks hard to beat – I just wish that Australian quarantine laws would allow me to be trackside to witness history and hear the roar and cheering of the parochial Hong Kong crowd as he slays them at Group 1 level again!