There will be no Australian representative at the Hong Kong International Race Meeting to be conducted on Sunday 11/12 at Sha Tin after the HJKC failed to issue an invitation to the qualified Group 1 winning Australian sprinter Atomic Force.
A race that has been dominated by Australian horses throughout its 12 year history, this year will be void of a Southern Hemisphere runner, which certainly calls into question the HKJC desire to make the race meeting the "World Championships on Turf".
No Australian representative at the meeting and only Jimmy Choux representing New Zealand. This is a mystifying decision by the selection committee for a so named "International Meeting".
Atomic Force was qualified and had been specifically targeted at the race for the past 6 months. He had undergone his 2 inoculations and had his blood work and export ID done in the last 10 days by the HKJC appointed Transport Company NZ Bloodstock on the basis they anticipated he would be on the plane leaving Sunday 27/11.
To miss out at the 11th hour on an invitation under these circumstances is disappointing.
Especially when considering the exceptionally poor statistical record of Northern Hemisphere sprinters over the history of the race.
England has had 26 runners, USA 11 and France 8 (45 runners) for 0 wins and just 4 placings. (England 1, USA 3 and France 0)
The race is 12 years old with all 12 winners being Southern Hemisphere bred, with 11 of the 12 winners bred in Australia whilst last years winner was bred in South Africa.
Australian representative FALVELON has won the race twice in 2000 and 2001 and South Africa last year with JJ The Jet Plane.
The other 9 winners have been HK locals ALL bred in Australia.
So to reject a qualified Group 1 winner from Australia is mystifying.
We have always been aware and understood that the process of selection is with the HKJC committee regarding whom they invite and whom they leave out but to be without a qualified runner from the Southern Hemisphere, especially when the Australian sprinters are world class and the results of previous international sprints statistically speak for themselves, is at best puzzling.
Something seems to have influenced their decision.
Relations between racing officialdom from both HK and Australia obviously were "frosty" after Racing NSW did not side with the HKJC over a very public affair of several years ago. The HKJC made their disapproval known on many levels over that incident including boycotting buying Australian bred yearlings from the William Inglis Yearling Sales for several years because the sale was conducted in Sydney. That decision affected the Australian breeding industry as a whole and specifically HK based owners who, through political interference, were denied access to the best Australian bloodstock during that period.
So it is impossible to know what thought processes were being considered in HK when assessing Atomic Force's invitation.
It's certainly confusing for Australians when we look at the way RVL ran their Melbourne Spring Carnival, welcoming international runners with open arms from all over the globe, often to the detriment of local horses. No better point can be made about that policy than when you listen to John Singleton regarding Saptapadi running in the Melbourne Cup over a qualified horse like Ironstein. Are we too soft here ?
As connections of Atomic Force, we are simply left to ponder (we will never know) what might have happened if Atomic Force was trained out of Victoria instead of NSW.
However - Fate works in mysterious ways in this business. We've moved on now and have re-aligned our sights. Now we have a wonderful opportunity to head to New Zealand and contest the Gr1 Railway Stakes at Ellerslie on New Year's Day. There is no doubt this decision could long term be in Atomic Force owners best interests.
Atomic Force will now contest the 1100m Welter at Canterbury on Saturday as a lead in race to the Gr1 Railway in just 5 weeks time.