The arrival of two United States-based horses for the Longines Hong Kong International Races was delayed by almost six hours on Wednesday, but Little Mike and King Kreesa landed unharmed.
The flight carrying the two horses was originally scheduled to land at 2.45am on Wednesday at Chek Lap Kok and arrived at 8.25am - but the issues were known well ahead of time and neither horse was left stranded on a tarmac anywhere.
"The plane bringing the horses was six hours late coming in to New York," said the head of the Jockey Club's registry department, K.L. Cheng.
"But that was known well in advance and we were able to notify the trainers, and they delayed the horses' departure from their stables to the airports. The plane then arrived at the rescheduled time, picked the horses up in New York and Chicago before flying to Hong Kong via Anchorage. There should have been no impact on the horses."
Executive director of racing Bill Nader reported that neither horse appeared to have been harmed from the delay.
"Little Mike seems to be doing well. King Kreesa they are monitoring just because he looked a bit dull on arrival, but it's a long enough trip anyway and that might be the reason," Nader said.
He later added that King Kreesa had improved rapidly and both horses looked okay.
The 2012 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Little Mike (Cup) and the free-going King Kreesa (Mile) will be the first US representatives at the HKIR since Winchester finished 11th in the 2010 Vase.
Already at Sha Tin are horses from Australia, with Cup runner Side Glance accompanied by Vase entries Mount Athos, Dandino and Red Cadeaux on the first plane, which arrived from Melbourne in the early hours of Monday. Mile runner Linton followed on Monday night from Australia.
Irish horses, Galileo Rock and Gordon Lord Byron, will be getting off a flight from Manchester this morning, followed by two flights from Japan tomorrow bringing Lord Kanaloa, Asuka Kurachan, Tokei Halo and Simenon, as well as another flight out of Manchester with the Edward Lynam-trained Irish sprinters, Slade Power and Soul Power.
Another 11 horses will arrive on Saturday, while The Fugue is the final arrival on Monday.
