Top 10
Compelling reasons to head for the track at this year's Hong Kong International Races
It is an opportunity for locals to take part in an international event. The Hong Kong International Races is the final event in the year's World Racing Series, which includes the most important races by country and continent. The week-long event is gaining a reputation as the Turf World Championships, and becoming a pull for tourists.
Witness in shameless Hong Kong style some of the richest Group One races in the world - in one day. At $18 million, the Hong Kong Cup offers the biggest cash prize of any 2,000-metre race. The Hong Kong Sprint is the world's most lucrative 1,000-metre race, and the Hong Kong Mile is the richest 1,600-metre turf event. In total, the Hong Kong International Races is the third-richest day of horse racing worldwide, worth $56 million in prize money.
Hong Kong fans can witness the world's best in racing brilliance in the flesh. This year, selected runners include several international Group One winners: Vallee Enchantee (France), who won last year's Hong Kong Vase; Japan's leading sprinter, Calstone Light O; and Rakti (Britain), the highest-rated horse competing in this year's event. So far his wins include five Group One races. Rakti will be running in the Hong Kong Cup.
Place your bets on some of the year's biggest race winners. Most punters will probably go home out of pocket, others will be a few dollars up, but a lucky minority could go home with a bank balance as grand as a winning jockey's ear-to-ear grin.
Watch the pyrotechnics display that traditionally marks the end of the Hong Kong International Races and the end of the international racing calendar.
See the Sha Tin race track's impressive new parade ring, which features a state-of-the-art retractable roof that can open or close in about seven minutes. The $400 million construction is the centrepiece of what the Jockey Club's executive director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, calls a new racing experience in Sha Tin. Here race fans can see the major movers and shakers, jockeys and trainers. From sketch through to reality, the complex project took three years to complete.
See Hong Kong's champion horse in action on home turf against the world's best horses. Silent Witness was crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year (2003-04) as well as Hong Kong's champion sprinter. He won last year's Hong Kong Sprint to the bellowing cheers of a home crowd, and the sweet ka-ching of $5.7 million. Silent Witness will make history at this year's race when he will become the first local horse to defend an international title.
It is a platform for locals to show their passion for racing and gambling, and to support the territory's finest horses and jockeys before an international audience estimated at about a billion.
The Cathay Pacific International Jockeys' Championship, which consists of three races, has become a regular prelude to International Race Day. This year, 11 invited star jockeys will ride it out for the title. They include last year's winner Damien Oliver, Frankie Dettori, Shane Dye and Christophe Soumillon, plus Hong Kong's leading rider as of last Sunday.
Tipster's Forum: listen to the opinions of well-respected experts who, on Sunday, will be invited to comment on the races. Confirmed commentators include ATV hosts Cheung Kei, Wong Ka-ho and Fong Chung-fai. An essential event for those hoping to glean additional information before placing their bets, the forum will take place from 11.40am to 12.15pm at the new Sha Tin parade ring.
