A record number of tourists flocked to Sha Tin for FWD Champions Day on Sunday, with Jockey Club chief Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges hailing the event a success despite the death of superstar Japanese filly Liberty Island.
Crowd numbers were up 37.5 per cent year on year, the club said. Fans, meanwhile, wagered north of HK$1.5 billion, which was 3.34 per cent down on 12 months ago, a dip the CEO attributed somewhat to the absence of local star Romantic Warrior.
And while the club celebrated following such a big event, they were muted after Liberty Island broke down in the Group One QE II Cup (2,000m).
The five-year-old suffered a leg injury in the feature and had to be euthanised.
“We normally celebrate with champagne but I feel today in honour of the tremendous filly that this is not the right thing to do. I’m really sad about that but unfortunately this is part of racing,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said. “I want to really honour a filly like Liberty Island, who was one of the great race fillies.”
Among a bustling crowd of 41,943 at Sha Tin were nearly 10,000 tourists, with the club’s collaboration with the China Travel Service and a pilot of a soon-to-be-launched tour initiative for high-end visitors contributing to the numbers.
There was also a 12-strong group from Australia travelling with Ontrack Racing Tours, with the Jockey Club estimating each person would inject HK$70,000 into the Hong Kong economy.
“We had a record for Champions Day of 8,244 mainland visitors and we had nearly 1,100 overseas visitors coming,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said, adding there had been a “targeted test where we had 200 high-net-worth people from Japan”.
Engelbrecht-Bresges said while the tests were “not the full monty”, the club hoped to roll the initiative out in collaboration with the Hong Kong Tourism Board in the next few weeks.
“Then we have the collaboration with the China Travel Group, who were responsible for a lot of people here today, and that will go even further,” the CEO said.
Engelbrecht-Bresges was full of praise for the HKJC team’s “terrific effort to put a marvellous event on” even without Romantic Warrior running in the QE II Cup, which he said was a difference of around HK$40 million in betting terms.
“I think today’s race meeting had a tremendous atmosphere and we saw tremendous performances on the track,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“The feedback we got from everybody was that this was a really successful meeting. We dialled up the entertainment and it was a tremendous atmosphere.”
On the track, Ka Ying Rising was the star attraction with his victory in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m), while rank outsider Red Lion also did the locals proud in the Group One Champions Mile and Tastiera flew the flag for Japan by taking out the Group One QE II Cup (2,000m).
“Today there was one performance which was completely dominant and we are very glad we have, I would humbly say, by far the best sprinter in the world. He showed how good he is and that created a tremendous atmosphere,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said of Ka Ying Rising.
“We feel that Hong Kong racing is going, despite significant geopolitical and economic issues, from strength to strength.
“We look forward to even more horses coming to Hong Kong to make this day even bigger than it is currently, even if I would say it is the biggest [Champions Day] that we have had for a long period of time and we see it as a success.”
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