The Jockey Club's executive director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, celebrated three years in the job yesterday with what he described as a 'dream result'. The first winner, Tikki, was a graduate of the Club's International Sale, the second, Easy Star, gave Way Leung his first victory since a successful trip to Australia to gain experience, and the Triple Trio jackpot has given next Sunday's Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup meeting an added promotional bonus. 'We have the horses, we have a big jackpot and all we need is perfect weather for the QE II Cup,' he said.
The win by the John Moore-trained Tikki was the second this season by a graduate of the International Sale, in which horses selected and bought by the Jockey Club overseas are resold at auction in Hong Kong.
'So far this season, we have also had Green Century out of that sale, who has won twice, and there are some others which have not won but shown promise,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said. 'We think this sale offers an important extra option for owners to acquire horses without having to work through a bloodstock agent overseas and obviously these kinds of results make us believe we are on the right course.'
Tikki was purchased in New Zealand by the Club at an auction where a number of Hong Kong trainers showed keen interest in the son of Geiger Counter. 'John Moore and some others were quite keen on him when he went through the sales ring in New Zealand,' Engelbrecht-Bresges recalled. 'When he was finally bought by the Jockey Club for our sale, I said to all of them: 'Now you have a second bite at the cherry and would get the chance to buy him in Hong Kong'.'
The win by Way Leung on Easy Star for Tony Millard in the second race justified the faith shown in the young jockey in sending him to Australia for three months. It also eased some of the pressure put on the club with the reintroduction of 10-pound claiming apprentice riders to Hong Kong. 'Way has done a very good job, and rode a fine race,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said. 'You can see the horse was wanting to lay in with him a little bit but he showed great skill to keep Easy Star going straight and still riding him to the line.'
It was Leung's third win for the season and just his fifth overall but gave the young man a great thrill. He had scored six wins in Australia, but rated this one more highly because of the names he left in his wake. 'I think in Australia I was not always riding against the best, but in Hong Kong they are all top jockeys,' Leung said.
