Vengeance Of Rain may have been Hong Kong's first World Racing Championship winner but he'll also be the last, after the international body announced that the operation would be 'paused' in 2006.
Curiously, the announcement of the death knell for the global initiative came from the offices of Australia's only series participant, the Moonee Valley Racing Club, which hosted the sole southern hemisphere leg, the Cox Plate.
'As our member organisations look forward, we must provide a sharper focus on world rankings and recognition that can be widely tracked and accepted by the entire racing world,' said MVRC chairman Don Abell in his media release.
Reflecting the inertia that has overcome the series over the past 12 months, there was no mention of its collapse on the WRC website.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has been a major participant in the series, having hosted the first and last legs of the series. The Queen Elizabeth II Cup on April 23 was scheduled to be the series opener for 2006.
Jockey Club chief executive, Lawrence Wong Chi-kong, yesterday confirmed the decision of the WRC board, which took place less than a month after the death of chairman Michael Osborne.