Hong Kong Diary: Graham Cunningham looks ahead to the HK International Races

Now I would fly six thousand miles……

And, just like that……we are back.

Six thousand miles is a long hop to salute four G1 horses on a Sha Tin Sunday in December and Hong Kong is a bit different than when I lived here between 2017 and 2020.

The weather is mint - crisp, clear, barely a cloud in the sky– and the sights and smells are as vivid and varied as ever.

And the people, colourful, considerate, cosmopolitan, haven’t changed much, either.

But no city could emerge from five years of historic democracy debates and a punishing pandemic unchanged.

The old buzz is harder to detect but this year’s LONGINES HKIR features a homegrown superstar in Romantic Warrior, a blazing young sprint star in Ka Ying Rising and a host of global G1 winners from Britain, Ireland, France, Australia, Japan and the USA chasing a share of over £12m in prize money.

And Nick would fly six thousand more….

And now to the first great tradition of early December.

No, not Nick Luck emerging from the annual Derby Awards festooned with gongs but the jockey allocation ceremony for Wednesday’s International Jockeys’ Challenge at Happy Valley.

The maestro can be relied on to put the hard yards in so other media members don’t have to at global festivals and he was in chipper form introducing assorted stars and HKJC bigwigs at

Monday morning’s draw ceremony, maintaining a brisk pace from the off after jetting in late on Sunday night.

More detailed analysis of the four races that make up Wednesday’s star-studded competition will be in tomorrow’s File but it will be fascinating to see how Colin Keane goes as he returns to HK for the first time in five years.

Keane made a strong impression in the 2018 and 2019 IJC, coming from well back to boot home a couple of winners for John Size and David Hall.

Fran Berry and David Jennings break down what makes the six-time Irish champ tick in this piece but the 30-year-old looks to have fair prospects with Circuit Seven, Sure Joyful, Romantic Laos and the Hall-trained Kyrus Dragon all lining up on the back of solid recent efforts.

Hugh Bowman and Zac Purton are previous IJC winners but the Aussie stars were in contrasting moods while digesting their Wednesday prospects.

The back-to-form Bowman fired in a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday – as did last year’s IJC winner Vincent Ho and upwardly mobile Aussie handler Mark Newnham – and described his IJC partners Gustosisimo and Jumbo Fortune as “genuine winning chances.”

Purton has drawn well in one sense – his four rides jump from gates 5, 4, 2 and 1 – but feels he has his work cut out on a quartet he feels are “not normally the horses you’d be zeroing in on in those races.”

Oh to be that man who sold 200 wines…

No prizes for guessing the name of the owner attracting most attention ahead of Sunday’s four G1 contests but early reports suggest Sir Alex Ferguson may not arrive in town until the weekend.

The former MUFC boss – along with pals Ged Mason and Peter Done – has been on a remarkable adventure with SPIRIT DANCER and global handicappers rate Richard Fahey’s gelding as the main danger to the mighty Romantic Warrior in the Hong Kong Cup.

An impressive second success in the Bahrain International Trophy last month leaves the rugged Frankel gelding on a mark of 120, just 2lb below the hat-trick seeking Warrior, and Sunday’s richest race carries a first prize of a little over £2m sterling.

But think again if you assumed that would represent the most lucrative HK haul of Fergie’s colourful life.

A helpful steer from the South China Morning Post’s Jack Dawling and a little light Googling reveals that he trousered a cool £2.2m here back in 2014 when he sold 229 lots from his extensive wine collection at the Christie’s showroom in the heart of Central.

The SCMP report of that red letter day reveals Sir Alex had built up a cellar that Lucky would certainly approve of with the top lot – a Methuselah of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Vintage 1997 – coming under the hammer to a private Asian purchaser for an eye-watering £94,815.

Now you may think a few quid shy of 95 large is outrageous for a single bottle but my wine mole informs me that a Methuselah contains six litres or the equivalent of eight standard measures.

Add in the fact that this one also included a card signed "Best Wishes Alex Ferguson" and it begins to look a steal at a little under a hundred bags!

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