Letsgohorseracing - Hong Kong & Asia

Details: Published: 28 January 2011; Created: 28 January 2011

AFTER spending 11 years in Singapore, Australian trainer John Meagher and his sons have made the shock decision to bow out of the scene to return home.

Meagher ended the mounting speculation about his departure by officially tendering his letter of resignation to the Singapore Turf Club on Wednesday. He will be relinquishing his licence with effect from 20 February 2011.

MICHAEL LEE reports on the SINGAPORE TURF CLUB web-site that The 62-year-old Melbourne Cup-winning trainer will therefore saddle his last two runners – Monkey Man and Village – this Friday before he trains his binoculars towards his next venture: Set up a training partnership with sons Chris, Paul and Daniel in Brisbane while training from their recently-acquired 84-acre Rivermead property in Nerang on the Gold Coast.

Details: Published: 22 January 2011; Created: 22 January 2011

SHA Tin on Sunday sees the running of the Hong Kong Group One Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile, unofficially the first leg of the four-year-old series.

Last year it was won by Beauty Flash who went on to further glory by taking the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile in December. This year those looking to follow in his hoof prints include rising stars Lucky Nine and Little Bridge.

Details: Published: 14 December 2010; Created: 14 December 2010

AMERICAIN is sporting battle scars following his gallant third in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase (2400m) but the lacerations inflicted during the run will not jeopardise his racing future.

BRENT ZERAFA reports in the SYDNEY TELEGRAPH that owner Gerry Ryan yesterday rejected claims that his Melbourne Cup winner's racing career may be in doubt after being injured when third to Mastery at Sha Tin on Sunday night.

Details: Published: 13 December 2010; Created: 13 December 2010

THE 2010 running of the HK$20 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday unveiled a new start of world racing and produced the sort of finish that would quicken any pulse.

Internationally-acclaimed jockey Ryan Moore is justly famous for his taciturnity, but the brilliant hoop was positively voluble by his standards after the thrilling victory of European filly Snow Fairy.

Details: Published: 09 December 2010; Created: 09 December 2010

RYAN Moore, who shared last year's Cathay Pacific International Jockeys' Championship in a three-way tie, was crowned champion on his own with 24 points at Happy Valley in Hong Kong on Wednesday night after two thrilling wins in the four-race competition on Wednesday night.

Moore, a three-time champion in Britain and fresh from winning the World Super Jockeys Series in Japan last month, was seen at his brilliant best on both his winners.

Details: Published: 07 December 2010; Created: 07 December 2010

AUSTRALIAN Brett Prebble is confident he can defy the best jockeys from around the world in Wednesday night’s Cathay Pacific International Jockeys’ Championship after faring well in the allocation of rides at Sha Tin on Monday morning.

“It looks like I’ve drawn three serious winning chances and the barrier draw is OK for all of them,” Prebble said in reference to Classa, Nordic Star and The Untouchablelad – his mounts in the final three legs of the four-leg challenge.

Details: Published: 06 December 2010; Created: 06 December 2010

FEW trainers will be looking forward to Sunday’s Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races with as much enthusiasm as John Moore who, on a perfect Monday morning with a hot sun shining brightly, was full of optimism about his team which has strength in depth in every one of the four Group Ones.

His pair for the G1 CXHK Cup, Irian and Collection, are both pleasing Hong Kong’s all time leading trainer, with Irian in particular raising hopes that he may be capable of even better form than he showed when winning the G2 Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Cup on 14 November.

Details: Published: 29 November 2010; Created: 29 November 2010

THE jubilation was short-lived for Christophe Soumillon as he rode Buena Vista across the finish line to what he believed was a win of the Japan Cup on Sunday.

It was, however, not the sweet taste of the victory champagne that awaited Soumillon but bitter disappointment, when nearly half an hour later, a lengthy inquiry ended in the win of the 30th Japan Cup going to Rose Kingdom.

Details: Published: 25 November 2010; Created: 25 November 2010

THE Hong Kong Jockey Club has released the latest list of invited runners for the Cathay Pacific International Day meeting at Sha Tin on Sunday, December 12.

Only one Australian has been included in the four rich Group One events and that is the outstanding mare, Ortensia, in the $A1.8 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint, 1200m.

Details: Published: 20 November 2010; Created: 20 November 2010

SUNDAY'S inaugural G2 Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint and G2 Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Mile provide a fitting overture to the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races on 12 December.

The races formerly known popularly as “the Trials” still perform that implied function. But their newly elevated status now establishes them as major contests in their own right, and the quality of the fields assembled for both races guarantees that they will be thrilling as well as informative.