Racing showcase gets off to a winning start
It took a deaf and dumb local artist to unlock the magic of the International Jockeys' Championship for one visiting couple at Happy Valley last night.
The man helped Australian Fiona Leahy and Sean Lonergan, from Ireland, fill out their betting slips ahead of race three. With a banker and a couple of quinella picks safely in place, the pair scored a winner at more than seven to one.
'That's one way to do it,' Mr Lonergan said of his anonymous tipster. 'It took us a while to work out what was going on ... we found the locals very helpful.'
Twelve riders competed for the International Jockeys' Championship held across three races on the seven-race card, with France's Christophe Soumillon and Japan's Yutaka Take sharing the honours with one win and one third place each.
While Take notched up his 100th international win, Soumillon basked in one of his first major offshore victories. 'It is a great opportunity to learn about the sport of racing,' he said.
Meanwhile, British followers of the international racing circuit, John Stanford and Alistair Mitchell, a former Hong Kong resident, said it was their third visit to the international event.
'We go to Paris for the Arc, Texas for the Breeders' Cup and come here every year,' Mr Stanford said. 'We're yet to get to Melbourne ... we like the quality of the racing [in Hong Kong] and we love the city.'
Mr Mitchell added: 'Hong Kong's a very funky city. I didn't want to leave.'
Their comments are likely to be music to the ears of Hong Kong racing officials, ever keen to promote the annual, week-long showcase event as a global draw.
Jockey Club executive director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said the jockeys' championship, held in conjunction with the international races on Sunday, had rapidly gained a high profile.
'It is probably one of the biggest racing events in the world ... and Happy Valley must be one of the most spectacular venues in the world,' he said.
Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said the events gave Hong Kong punters and the public a chance to get an extremely close look at some of the best jockeys in the world.
'There are few places where the crowd can be so close to the start [of the 1,650-metre race].'
He added: 'I like to walk around in the public area and have a sniff at the atmosphere. It also means I can go down to the paddock and work on my tips for our guests.'
