Li lands in eye of X-ray storm

Just two months into a new job, Dominic Li might still be getting his bearings on the position as international racing manager for the Hong Kong Jockey Club but his fundamental enthusiasm swells from long before.

That's just as well, because the squalls and troughs of office have begun early. The task of managing issues surrounding the club's five international races is one side of his task - the other lies in the Piaget International Sale in December. And in this particular year, that has seen Li flung into the eye of the X-ray storm.

'Sure, our purchasing policy is a sticky point with some southern hemisphere vendors,' the affable Li agrees. 'That policy has three parts. Our assessment of the pedigree. Second, whether we feel the horse is suitable for Hong Kong. And finally, how the horse X-rays.'

The club has insisted on X-raying horses pre-sale, or having the option to do so after purchase and to return animals found to have problems. Vendors in Australasia have initially been unwilling to agree, although the winds of change eventually blew through the Magic Millions and then Karaka.

'This is a straightforward process. It is common practice in the United States, where, if anything, they have taken it too far,' Li says. 'I have most experience with France, where the big vendors will always have X-rays for potential buyers. Our concern is not every injury, just those which almost guarantee the horse won't reach the racetrack or that will lead to chronic problems and constant clinical attention. Now those faults should be unacceptable to all buyers.'

But with Sydney, the major southern hemisphere venue, the thunder clouds have closed in and the auctioneers, William Inglis And Son, will not budge. It is a storm that will now blow the Jockey Club into previously uncharted waters, buying horses outside of public auction.