The Hong Kong Jockey Club has given the green light to a request from trainer Andre Fabre to have British champion jockey Kieren Fallon ride the crack German mare Borgia in the Breeders' Cup and the Japan Cup.
French trainer Fabre and the mare's owner, Dietrich von Boetticher, are convinced that Fallon, who finished second recently on Borgia in a rich Hollywood Park Group One event, was the man guaranteed to get the best out of her in Florida and Tokyo.
But Fallon, who chalked up his third double century of winners earlier this week in Britain, will be licensed by the Jockey Club here from November 1 until March 15, 2000, and is not expected to take rides outside the SAR if they clash with local meetings.
The fact that both the Breeders' Cup and the Japan Cup are legs of the inaugural World Series Racing Championship weighed heavily in favour of Fallon getting permission.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said yesterday: 'We are committed to supporting the World Series and Fallon has been given permission to be away from Hong Kong for both these races. He will miss two local meetings.' Engelbrecht-Bresges also met trainers yesterday to announce a refinement to the largely successful five-day entry system, which will ultimately make it more media-friendly.
Effective from Tuesday, entries will close 30 minutes earlier at 9am and in the event of certain races being re-opened, those entries will close at 11am on the same day.