The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges has lauded the 2024 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) as ‘one of the best days of racing’ in Hong Kong racing history.
“I personally think it was one of the best, if not the best, LONGINES Hong Kong International Races and an incredible week. Starting with the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship, it was an amazing success. Today (Sunday), we hoped to create a highlight and I personally think everything went to perfection,” he said.
“When one looks purely at the results, it was a tremendous success for Hong Kong horses but our overseas horses also ran really well. When you talk to the overseas owners, even if their horses finished second or third, they say it was a wonderful experience to come to Hong Kong and support the meeting.
“This meeting was broadcast into 29 countries live and in Hong Kong, we saw tremendous attendance figures with overall attendance of 80 000. We also had 6 511 visitors from the Mainland, which is a record – 40 percent more than we had last year.”
Sha Tin hosted 69 916 attendees, while Happy Valley drew 10 775 people for a total of 80 691 – the highest LONGINES HKIR attendance since 2018.
HKJC Executive Director, Racing Andrew Harding and Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges at a media briefing on Sunday (Pic – HKJC)
The Sporting Post was privileged to attend a superb celebration of racing passion and excellence and endorse Mr Engelbrecht-Bresge’s views.
On a day when Hong Kong racing shimmered on the international stage as Ka Ying Rising (Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint), Voyage Bubble (Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile) and Great Britain celebrated its first win at the “Turf World Championships” since 2012 with Giavellotto (Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase), Romantic Warrior created history with victory in the Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup.
Danny Shum’s champion stayer became the first horse to win the Hong Kong Cup three times and, in doing so, took his career prizemoney earnings to HK$177 million – a world record – and overtook Golden Sixty’s mark of HK$167 million.
“When you look at the sporting performances, Romantic Warrior is the best 2000m horse in the world. It was an absolutely dominant performance, he showed that he is absolutely world-class and to win this race (LONGINES Hong Kong Cup) for the third time is an incredible effort.
“He has now broken the world prizemoney record of Golden Sixty with total prizemoney of HK$177 million, which is an amazing achievement.
“It was a very good win by Giavellotto. It was the first time since 2012 for a British horse and with Ka Ying Rising, he had tremendous competition from another Hong Kong horse (Victor The Winner), which disrupted his rhythm, but he is an amazing sprinter.
“Voyage Bubble has shown how good he is and I think it was a tremendous performance from the runner-up (Soul Rush).”
Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges thanked international and local owners, trainers and jockeys as well as Club staff for the staging of a landmark meeting as turnover reached HK$1,716.3 million, including a commingling record of HK$473.8 million – an increase of 10 percent on last year’s LONGINES HKIR.
“Our strategy to bring the best races from Hong Kong and show them overseas is really proving a great success with our races today for the first time under the World Pool banner, which shows our racing product is extremely well received,” Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“Today is not about the turnover. Today is about the sport – it was a fantastic spectacle. The crescendo was the fireworks to close this wonderful meeting. We have one new racing fan in Sir Alex (Ferguson). He was absolutely enthused about Hong Kong and what he saw, so he promised me to come back.
“This meeting attracts a global audience, global recognition and this reflects positively on Hong Kong.
“We would like to thank all the owners, trainers, jockeys who have brought their horses here because we can make this a global event only if we have the support of the owners, trainers and jockeys from overseas.”
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Executive Director, Racing Mr Andrew Harding described Sunday’s race meeting as “an amazing day of sport, capping an amazing week of sport.”
“The emphasis was on international. We were so pleased to see the entries from so many countries, including for the first time for a little while from Australia, and the quality of the entries was outstanding – I would like to acknowledge our team in achieving that,” Mr Harding said.
“We saw today of the 80 000 people who came to the races here at Sha Tin and also Happy Valley, so many of those people were from all over the world. Of the many things we work at the Club, it is putting Hong Kong on the world stage.
“We are always excited to stage events of the quality we have seen this week for our partner, LONGINES and I would like to thank the many teams at the Club who have worked so hard to make this week a success.”
Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges thanked Club staff in staging the flagship meeting and for allowing Hong Kong to shine.
“I want to thank our tremendous teams because of the work they do behind the scenes to make Hong Kong such a wonderful place to visit and to be able to connect to the world as a vibrant, world-class city,” he said.
