Bubble does not burst and stars emerge from a season like no other

It was a season like no other, one that added a new range of terms to the Hong Kong racing lexicon.

The racing bubble took on new meaning as a protective seal was placed around a sport that is hardwired into HK life, while resilience, agility and stay-home entertainment became equally familiar as autumn anxiety about two meetings being lost due to public order concerns gave way to creating a protective bubble from coronavirus and doing everything possible to preserve it.

The HKJC Pandemic Management Committee was activated on Christmas Eve and the Year of the Rat dawned on January 27 with severe attendance restrictions for a Chinese New Year meeting that usually attracts a huge crowd to Sha Tin.

Stringent health measures were introduced and strengthened soon after, with jockeys swabbed four times a week as they committed to a programme that tracked their every work and social move, even keeping them apart from quarantined nearest and dearest if family members had travelled abroad.

Reflecting on the most turbulent year of his long career last week, Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: “At all times we knew one positive test from within the bubble could have meant racing would go the way of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens and so many other major sports and public events."

But, despite the odd scare, the bubble didn't burst. And, as most of the racing world locked down the global spotlight zoomed in on Sha Tin like never before as the new golden couple of HK racing shone brightly.

Golden Sixty: unbeaten in seven starts this seasonCredit: Hong kong Jockey Club

Sectional times marked Golden Sixty out as a budding star well before he hit the big time and, with hometown hero Vincent Ho in the irons, Francis Lui's gelding became the poster boy of racing behind closed doors, sweeping all three legs of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series and completing a flawless seven-race campaign with a last-gasp defeat of Irish import Playa Del Puente in the BMW Hong Kong Derby.

Beauty Generation lies in wait when Golden Sixty moves into open company. The world's highest-rated miler of 2019 is not the dominant force of old but he added three more big wins to his record-breaking dance card. The clash between the old king and the crown prince in the Celebration Cup on October 1 will go a long way to showing how much the balance of power in the mile division has shifted.

Hong Kong's fabled sprint division has room at the top following the retirement of former champ Mr Stunning. The admirable Beat The Clock remains top dog following two more Group 1 wins but John Size's gelding is rising seven and it will be fascinating to see whether Caspar Fownes can relight the fire that burned so brightly in Aethero during his early days for John Moore.

Fownes seems confident Rise High can be a major force once he returns from a tendon injury. The former Ken Condon galloper is one of very few horses capable of stretching Exultant, who has dominated HK's middle-distance and staying divisions for the last two years and took his career earnings to over £7m on his way to thwarting Beauty Generation's bid for a third consecutive Horse of the Year crown.

The names atop the HK jockeys' table remained the same, although subtle shifts were evident as Zac Purton got the better of Joao Moreira, the pair clear of Karis Teetan and Vincent Ho.

Zac Purton: sealed his fourth jockeys' titleCredit: Hugh Routledge

Moreira continues to win hearts but Purton has patented the way to win titles and wiped out the Brazilian's double-digit lead with ruthless efficiency to seal a fourth championship, his third on the trot. Exultant's QEII Cup win made Purton the first rider to complete a full set of all HK's 12 Group 1 contests but Teetan and Ho narrowed the gap on the big two with personal bests of 93 and 67 winners.

Teetan beat a stellar field to win the International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley and struck in the Chairman's Sprint Prize on Mr Stunning. Markets still underestimate him compared to Purton and the Magic Man. Meanwhile, Ho followed his Derby triumph with a first Group 1 success on Southern Legend and the value of having an elite homegrown rider shaking up the imported superstars is precious for the HK brand.

HK's handicap culture makes the trainers' table harder to predict than the jockeys' version but, even so, a Trifecta comprising homegrown trio Ricky Yiu, Francis Lui and Tony Cruz looked any price at the start of the season.

Yiu held the late charge of Cruz to seal his first title after 25 years with a licence, but 11-time champion Size will be hungry to make amends for a subdued year and upwardly mobile Douglas Whyte and the returning David Hayes – brought in to replace departing legend Moore – can both be fancied to launch a championship challenge when the new term begins on September 5.

Global events of the last six months make it dangerous to speculate but, as industry murmurs about British prize-money turn into a rumble, it's worth noting the Longines HKIR races on December 13 offer four Group 1 contests worth the thick end of £10m.

Japan snaffled three of the four in 2019 and, following a disrupted season chasing B-list prize funds, this year might just see a return to the halcyon days when European A-listers like Fantastic Light, Falbrav, Snow Fairy and Ouija Board starred at Sha Tin.

It is already clear 2020 is set to be a year like no other. Rounding it off with a meeting like no other wouldn't be a bad way to set a more hopeful tone for 2021, especially if crowds are back on track in something like their usual numbers.

Read more

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