The dampening defeat of Best Of The Best in the Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama on Sunday should not, hopefully, thwart the enterprise shown in sending Hong Kong gallopers overseas. It is only possible to be a truly international centre of racing if your own horses are winning international events at home and abroad.
To a large degree, Australia is excluded as it is so far from other major racing centres, with only Hong Kong and Japan as logical venues for overseas raids.
The one-time xenophobic Japanese have opened up many of their major races to overseas competition and have captured several of Europe's top prizes, not least the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp and the July Cup at Newmarket. In El Condor Pasa, runner-up to Montjeu in last year's Arc, they had one of the sensations of the European season.
The rapturous reception given Fairy King Prawn after his Yasuda Kinen win last June is testimony to the fact that Hong Kong racegoers love their heroes . . . equine or human.
From a Jockey Club standpoint, it goes deeper and is more important. Under the current enlightened management, great strides have been made to upgrade our own racing by bringing in better horses, having tighter control on the track and operating under a handicap system which produces tight and exciting finishes.
Former champion trainer Brian Kan Ping-chee recently announced plans for Industrialist which include a crack at an important race in Japan next month, a return for the International Races in December and then a season-ending tilt at the Singapore Airlines International in the island republic in May.
