While 2024 was the first calendar year since 2019 that Golden Sixty didn’t feature on Hong Kong’s Group One honour roll, there were still plenty of familiar faces among the thick of the city’s 12 majors.

With the Longines Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) behind us and the year’s features in the bag, the Post looks back at who shone brightest at Sha Tin in the past 12 months.

Warrior way ahead

Not only did the mighty Romantic Warrior win more Group Ones on home soil than any other horse, he added the Yasuda Kinen (1,600m) in Japan to his three local wins for good measure.

By reeling off victories in Hong Kong’s three 2,000m Group Ones – the Gold Cup, QE II Cup and last weekend’s Hong Kong Cup – Romantic Warrior compiled a 2024 to rival just about any other horse in the world.

Voyage Bubble (Stewards’ Cup and Hong Kong Mile) and California Spangle (Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup and Dubai’s Al Quoz Sprint) were the other gallopers to make multiple strikes at the elite level this year.

J-Mac and Shum get it done

While Romantic Warrior had jockey James McDonald and trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing in tow every step of the way in 2024, that pair’s insatiable quest for Group One glory didn’t stop there.

Shum grabbed victory in the Centenary Sprint Cup with Victor The Winner to comfortably be the leading Group One trainer with four wins, while McDonald’s ridiculous run saw him net five of the city’s dozen top-line contests thanks to his pair of triumphs aboard Voyage Bubble.

Throw in the Yasuda Kinen and the duo had a completely dominant 2024.

They weren’t the only ones with multiple successes to their names, however, with Ricky Yiu Poon-fai masterminding Voyage Bubble’s breakout year and the indomitable Zac Purton ensuring he was never far from the action with a Champions Mile win aboard Beauty Eternal to go with his Hong Kong Sprint victory atop Ka Ying Rising last weekend.

Jockey Brenton Avdulla and trainer Tony Cruz enjoyed two top-line wins with California Spangle – one at home and one abroad.

Welcome to the club

While Romantic Warrior and California Spangle are old hands at this Group One business, Voyage Bubble was joined by a string of gallopers in getting their first taste of elite-level euphoria.

The year’s three 1,200m Group Ones went to newbies – Victor The Winner, Invincible Sage and Ka Ying Rising – while Beauty Eternal also bagged his first top-line triumph.

While the likes of jockey Derek Leung Ka-chun (Victor The Winner) and trainers David Hall (Invincible Sage) and Yiu re-entered the Group One fray after some time away, it was Avdulla from the local brigade who tasted elite-level success in the city for the first time.

As for the raiders, by jagging the Champions & Chater Cup under William Buick, Rebel’s Romance handed Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby his first big win in the city, while Giavellotto’s Hong Kong Vase success was a breakthrough win for jockey Oisin Murphy and trainer Marco Botti.

The long and short of it

Quite remarkably, Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior made history on the same day last weekend by becoming the shortest-priced winners in HKIR history at $1.1.

They were among seven favourites to salute at the top level this year, while Victor The Winner’s Centenary Sprint Cup success at $38.75 was the longest-priced Group One result in Hong Kong since Japanese raider Win Bright scooped the 2019 QE II Cup at $48.35.

While the locals dominated the betting in most of the year’s big races, that didn’t necessarily translate to winning margins – British galloper Giavellotto’s two-and-a-half-length Vase blitz was the biggest Group One success of 2024.

It is worth keeping in mind, however, that McDonald was up in his irons and looking behind him well before the line in Romantic Warrior’s one-and-a-half-length Hong Kong Cup romp last weekend.