Where do the winners of the International Races come from?

Racing in Hong Kong is a truly international affair - especially when it comes to the origin of the contenders on course. With no breeding industry of its own all of the nation's domestic runners are sourced from across the globe, while this month's international meeting draws competitors from just as far afield. The question is, which country is winning?

Ireland and Australia are the leading producers of winners of the four Hong Kong International Races, with 18 victories apiece.

The Hong Kong Sprint over six furlongs has been a happy hunting ground for Australia - a racing nation synonymous with speedsters - which has bred a dozen winners, including Fairy King Prawn, winner of the inaugural running in 1999 and last year's victor Mr Stunning. New Zealand, Ireland and Japan have all been the source of two winners, while South African star scored in 2010.

Ireland's biggest bounties have been collected in the Vase over a mile and a half, most recently with Ballydoyle's glorious globetrotter , whose second victory in the race capped an outstanding career. Of the six individual Irish-bred winners of the Vase, only two were trained in Hong Kong - Phoenix Reach (Andrew Balding), Vallee Enchantee (Elie Lellouche) and Daliapour (Sir Michael Stoute) all notched victories for the visitors.

New Zealand lies third in the table of producers with 16 wins, breeding five of the first six Hong Kong Cup winners - Flying Dancer, Colonial Chief, Grey Invader, Kessem and Romanee Conti - and eight winners of the Mile, including 2017 hero Beauty Generation, currently favourite for this year's renewal.

Next on the list lies the United States, but although the nation has bred the winners of 14 races, recent times have been lean - its most recent victory came in the 2012 Hong Kong Cup courtesy of California Memory, doubling up on his 2011 win. An American-bred has not won the Vase since Partipral's victory in 1995.

However, the Vase has provided rich reward for British-breds, who have won the race seven times - accounting for more than half of the country's 12 wins. All the Vase winners were trained in Europe - Flintshire for Andre Fabre in 2014, Red Cadeaux in 2012 and Ouija Board in 2005 for Ed Dunlop, Mastery for Saeed Bin Suroor in 2010, Collier Hill for Alan Swinbank in 2006 and dual winner Luso for Clive Brittain in 1996 and 1997.

The last local winner of the Vase was the Irish-bred Dominant for John Moore in 2013.

France has provided the winners of 11 races, including five in the Vase. Japanese-breds have won nine races between them, while Germany and Argentina have just one on the board - Vase winner Borgia and Cup winner Motivation respectively.

What type of horse do you need for Hong Kong?

HKJC executive manager Mark Richards, who travels the world sourcing horses for the Jockey Club, gives us the lowdown.

"Soundness is one of the biggest issues because they're racing on a firm track nearly all the time - even when it pours with rain here it's still a very fast track so you're looking for sound horses. You're looking for well-balanced horses, particularly when you see the Happy Valley track here you can see you need a very well-balanced horse to go around a track like this.

"They're athletes, so you're looking for back-ends, big sprinting engines, that's what we need - 80 per cent of our racing is a mile or less so we're really after speed horses, fast horses, sound horses.

"Above all, they've got to be athletes."

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