I hate Twitter but it reveals only three of Hong Kong's 1,166 horses are female

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Here, he discusses the minute number of fillies and mares racing in Hong Kong, while admitting that the source of the information is generally detestable to him - as it no doubt is to plenty of others. Subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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I hate Twitter. I mean, I really despise it. It seems to me to be an endless stream of self-love, smugness, sycophancy and snark, and that’s all on just one or two accounts that come to mind.

I signed up, very reluctantly, a couple of years ago and the worst thing is I’m sure that on the odd occasion it’s sucked me into its vortex of narcissism and niggling, and so I now try to keep my interactions on the platform down to the bare minimum.

Honestly, if Elon Musk were to shut down Twitter as soon as the ink was dry on his deal to buy it, I would celebrate by cracking open a bottle of champagne, as I’m sure it would be of benefit to society. In conclusion, I don’t like it.

Having said all that, there is every now and again the odd tweet that contains an opinion that makes me stop and think or a nugget of useful information that makes being on that particular corner of social media if not worthwhile, then at least less unbearable.

One such post came over the weekend, when World Horse Racing told its nearly 60,000 followers that there are 1,166 horses in training in Hong Kong, but only three fillies or mares – an even bigger gender imbalance than that seen in many National Hunt trainers’ strings up until about ten years ago.

I was of course already aware that Hong Kong racing is dominated by geldings, as the tight confines of training facilities in the region don’t allow for temperament issues, and that there is no breeding industry there, as there is simply no physical space for stud farms.

But still, the stark figure of just three fillies or mares came as a shock, and made me think that it was worth exploring some of their pedigrees, as the fact that they had been deemed capable of coping with the unique demands of training in Hong Kong is a tribute to their families in itself.

The best known filly in Hong Kong is Bon’s A Pearla, one of the highest rated exports from Australia to the Asian jurisdiction for the 2022-23 racing season of either sex. She won a Caulfield Group 2 and ran third in the Australian Guineas at Flemington for Kevin Corstens, before flying out to join David Hayes in June.

Bon’s A Pearla is one of two Group winners from the inexpensive Belong To Me stallion Bon Hoffa’s ten crops of racing age, along with Bon Aurum, who emulated his sire by winning the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield. All three ‘Bons’ are, or were, owned by Ken King Thoroughbreds.

Bon’s A Pearla was also bred by King out of the winning Duporth mare Treasure Island. The fact that her dam is a half-sister to Refined Treasure, a four-time winner in Hong Kong including in a Class 2 event, likely stamped her plane ticket out there.

Another interesting name among the trio of fillies in Hong Kong is the unraced grey three-year-old Dragon Lady, an import from Japan who is also in the care of Hayes.

Lord Kanaloa: his full-sister Dragon Lady is one of The ThreeCredit: Michele MacDonald

She is a Lord Kanaloa full-sister to HK Dragon, a dual Class 4 winner in Hong Kong, and a half-sister to Sweet Leader, a Group 3 scorer in New Zealand. The siblings are out of Sweet Lady, a daughter of Encosta De Lago and Group 1 place-getter Swiftsynd, making the dam a half-sister to multiple Group 2 winner Le Zagaletta.

Lord Kanaloa has not only proven himself to be a fine sire through the likes of Almond Eye and Saturnalia, but he has also shown he is effective in Hong Kong through his brilliant son Danon Smash, who won the Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin two years ago.

I can’t wait to see more of Lord Kanaloa’s offspring race in Britain and Ireland. Coolmore own most in Europe, as they have used him as an outcross for a few of their many top-class and/or well-related daughters of Galileo, and Maybe Just Maybe, out of Maybe’s Group 1-placed full-sister Promise To Be True, has shown decent form at two for Aidan O’Brien this year, while Beginnings, another Ballydoyle filly out of the wonderful Winter, was a promising fourth on debut at Naas last month.

A Mariner’s Tale and Ballsbridge, colts out of Flutter and Happily respectively, are two more two-year-olds bred on the Lord Kanaloa-Galileo cross to look forward to O’Brien unleashing.

Britain has its own exciting Lord Kanaloa juvenile in Five Towns, a colt bred by owner Merry Fox Stud out of the Grade 3-winning Giant’s Causeway mare Guilty Twelve who put in a good finishing burst to win at Kempton for William Haggas last week.

Anyway, now that I know about Bon’s A Pearla and Dragon Lady, it will be fascinating to chart their progress in Hong Kong in the 2022/23 racing season, especially as history has shown us not to underestimate the few fillies who do compete there.

David Hayes has already sent out one filly to win the Hong Kong Derby, with Elegant Fashion in 2003, and don’t forget the Tony Millard-trained Sweet Sanette, who found only Prohibit and Star Witness too good in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2011.

I might even be persuaded to stay on Twitter for a little longer and follow a few more accounts devoted to Hong Kong racing to keep up to date with how they’re getting on.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

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Pedigree pick

Aidan O’Brien has been faring eye-catchingly well with his two-year-olds by top US sire Quality Road, source of 14 Grade 1 winners including stars Abel Tasman, Bellafina and City Of Light, out of Galileo mares.

This month alone he has sent out Cairo to win the Killavullan Stakes and Mohawk Chief to take a Leopardstown maiden, while Canute and Carracci have also made smart debuts.

The latest Ballydoyle two-year-old by Quality Road out of a Galileo mare to make their debut is Time To Boogie in the seven-furlong fillies’ maiden at the Curragh on Wednesday (1.05).

Her two siblings to have raced for the stable, the War Front colts Fortune Finder and Royal Navy Warship, did connections few favours but the wider maternal family makes huge appeal.

She is out of Magical Dream, a Group 3-winning full-sister to the brilliant racemare Found, who has produced Vintage Stakes winner Battleground, and to Give Thanks Stakes scorer Best In The World, the dam of sensational triple Oaks heroine Snowfall. On top of all that, granddam Red Evie beat the colts to win the Lockinge Stakes.

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