A number of Hong Kong based raiders have found it hard to make it to the international arena. However, good news will be at their feet as the Hong Kong Jockey Club claimed that it was given mandate by the International Association of Jockey to initiate their 17 domestic races which was mainly meant for Hong Kong based horses to the international level. This compliment will be functional from the 2016/2017 season. This will be a massive step for the raiders based in Hong Kong as well as the entire Hong Kong Jockey fraternity as they will now have a total of 31 international raiders.
As it stands, there are a total of 14 races based in Hong Kong that have the eligibility of venturing in the international competition. Among these, 11 of them are at Group 1 level. The new rules have clearly indicated that all Group races are eligible to international racing. It doesn’t matter where a horse is born, trained or is owned by who. There were also some restrictions of rating bands that was initiated by the 14 newly opened races but were abolished following the new update.
The Executive Director of Racing Business and Operations Tony Kelly claimed that it was a huge step taken by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for the globalization as well as development of the Hong Kong racing. This portrayed the willingness of the Club to take the racing in another dimension of international level. This made the Asian Pattern Committee very pleased when they met earlier in the week at the Asian Racing Conference in Mumbai, India.
He continued to say that this is a unique logical move for Hong Kong which will concur with the new advancement in direction and consistency that the Club has incorporated over time. There has been a long existence in the LONGINESS World’s Best Racehorse Rankings and this has seen an outstanding growth in the World’s Top 100 Group 1 Races to the Hong Kong raiders.
However, this international exposure will not be awarded to the four year olds as BMW Hong Kong Derby, Hong Kong Classic Cup and Hong Kong Classic Mile will involve participants based in Hong Kong.
This article is published in: Horse Racing Betting
Tags: Hong Kong, horse racing
Recent Comments