Francis Lui delivers thrilling finale to seal Hong Kong title on day of record turnover

Times may be that bit tougher than in previous years but Hong Kong punters still splashed out an astonishing £184.1 million on an 11-race betting spree to establish the highest turnover of the year as the season came to a dramatic conclusion at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Across the 2023-24 season a total of £13.3 billion was bet on 88 meetings, comprising 831 Hong Kong races and 368 overseas simulcast races. Commingling turnover on local races amounted to £2.8 billion, representing a 13.7 per cent increase on last year. 

And it was Francis Lui who provided a fittingly thrilling finale to a historic season when lifting the trainers’ championship with the victory of Patch Of Theta in the very last race after looking to have blown a golden opportunity earlier in the day.

Lui, 65, forever renowned as Golden Sixty’s trainer, was winning the title for the first time, having held a licence for 28 years following a modest riding career that reaped a mere 36 winners.

He went into the final day one win behind Pierre Ng, his former assistant and a young buck who had been sailing along in the championship lead for more than six months. And after Ng’s Beauty Waves turned over Call Me Glorious, one of Lui’s ‘good things,’ in the second race, the latter’s title prospects were on the drift.

Ng also won with First Love three races later, prompting some to hail him the new champion but Lui came roaring back, saddling three consecutive winners before clinching the trophy with Patch Of Theta.

It was a dramatic end to a momentous season for Hong Kong racing in which two horses galloped their way to global recognition and a champion jockey edged his way closer to becoming the most successful in local history. However, betting on racing took a significant hit with a 4.5 per cent year-on-year decrease in turnover.

Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “We couldn’t have planned a better season finale when the on-course atmosphere and response from our 30,000 racing fans, which included a record 6,000 mainland visitors, was amazing.”

Touching on the drop in turnover, he added: “Under a challenging economic situation, our overall season racing turnover is satisfactory. While the club will continue to grow and expand its overseas customer base the decline in local racing wagering turnover underlines that it must constantly engage and re-engage with Hong Kong racing fans.”

Central to that ongoing engagement is the recruitment and development of high-class horses and in Romantic Warrior, purchased by the club and offered to owners at their International Sale, they have the prime example of what they aim to achieve with that strategy.

With five consecutive Group 1 wins in three countries - which included triumphs in two of the world’s showcase events - Romantic Warrior swept the board and carried off his first Horse of the Year trophy, which had long been the property of Golden Sixty, who was forced to settle for the title of Champion Miler this year.

Romantic Warrior is an exceptional global star. His nail-biting, last-gasp victory in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, Melbourne, in October, was achieved after a mid-year break that stretched to five months and left him half-cooked for his first Australian assignment in Flemington’s Turnbull Stakes.

His jockey, James McDonald, pressed the panic button and advised trainer Danny Shum to pour work into the gelding before the Cox Plate. Hence, he was fitter and right on his game, enabling him to mug the admirable Mr Brightside on the line in Australia’s premier weight-for-age race.

The Irish import returned home to win three consecutive Group 1s –  the Hong Kong Cup, the Gold Cup and QEII Cup – before heading off to Tokyo for a famous victory in Japan’s top mile contest, the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen in June.

Romantic Warrior and James McDonald land the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen in TokyoCredit: HKJC

Not to be outdone, Tony Cruz worked wonders with California Spangle – long-time adversary of Golden Sixty – bringing him back in trip to triumph on the international stage in Dubai’s Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in March.

From a pool of 1,200 horses, it is remarkable that Hong Kong can produce types such as Romantic Warrior and California Spangle, who have made a big impact internationally.  At one stage, the World Rankings featured four Hong Kong-trained horses as Golden Sixty and Lucky Sweynesse also earned high ratings.

A total of four Hong Kong Group 1s were included in the top 20 races in the Longines World’s Top 100 list, which is another impressive statistic.

While California Spangle was officially Champion Sprinter for the season, his stablemate Five G Patch was voted Champion Stayer, which in effect points to a lack of depth in that division, underlined when Godolphin’s Rebel’s Romance dominated the Group 1 Champions & Chater Cup in May. 

Other gongs went to Galaxy Patch (Champion Four-Year-Old) and Ka Ying Rising (Champion Griffin - unraced newcomer). 

Zac Purton had his seventh jockeys’ title in the bag long before the season’s end, finishing with 130 winners, 44 ahead of runner-up Karis Teetan. Purton now boasts a career total of 1,740 locally, which leaves him only 73 shy of 13-times champion Douglas Whyte.  Inevitably, his attempt on Whyte’s all-time record will be a major storyline next season.

Andrea Atzeni finished fourth in the jockeys’ championship with 48 winners, an excellent tally in his first season. The Italian had been weighing up whether he was doing the right thing in giving up Europe and sailing into the unknown in Hong Kong.

“It definitely turned out to be the right decision,” he said, pointing out how different he has found it. “I work to keep my weight down so I can ride at the minimum [8st 3lb], which has helped me in getting rides, and good rides, too.

“It’s well known we don’t have agents in Hong Kong, which means I have to do my own homework and book my own rides, which is something I'd never done before. There is always something going on here and the time has gone quickly. It’s challenging but it’s rewarding, so we can’t complain.  I’ve had support from owners and trainers and I’ve been busy.”

It is important also to give recognition to the World Pool, the Hong Kong-driven venture that many see as the financial future for racing globally. The number of World Pool races bet on increased from 175 to 258 in the space of 12 months, while turnover has gone up 57.1 per cent in that period. In challenging times, this is an area with enormous growth potential.

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