Aladdin and Glory catching eyes of Hong Kong buyers
Trying to determine the next big thing in Hong Kong bloodstock can be a crucial asset as owners search the world over for their next import into the city.
While Hong Kong owners may generally be pretty unenlightened about breeding, they know a successful trend when they see one and – for instance – a son of Newgate Farm’s Deep Field (Northern Meteor) is an easy sell given his recent record-breaking season.
Ever-popular stallions like Holy Roman Emperor (Danehill), Exceed And Excel (Danehill), Starspangledbanner (Choisir) and, more recently, Per Incanto (Street Cry) will always be sought after as long as they have horses for sale.
However, trying to get ahead of the game with younger stallions can lead to a bonanza – as has been seen by those who took an early punt on Deep Field, especially the owners of horses like Sky Field and Winning Dreamer.
Trying to determine what will suddenly take off is sometimes like an inscrutable puzzle – the answer is right in front of you and yet it can seem impossible to decipher, so obvious and yet so difficult.
Perhaps one hint, though, can be found in the list of three-year-olds that have already been imported into Hong Kong – both those that have been three for all of 2022, as in those bred in the northern hemisphere, as well as those freshly minted three-year-olds from the southern hemisphere who aged at the start of August.
Deep Field remains the hottest commodity with nine freshly minted three-year-olds among his imports, the majority as Private Purchase Griffins (PPGs) or International Sales Griffins (ISGs) – essentially meaning they were unraced abroad, as opposed to Private Purchases (PPs) who head to Hong Kong raced.
The demand for Deep Field colts and geldings remains strong with buyers offering in excess of AUD$400,000 for trial winners by the stallion.
For those younger stallions, though, there are two stallions in particular – one based in Ireland and one shuttler whose southern hemisphere stock is soaring – who seem to have caught the attention of Hong Kong owners early. Intriguingly, the pair both have links with the city harking back to their racing days.
Those sourcing northern hemisphere buyers have quickly gravitated to Tally Ho Stud’s Cotai Glory (Exceed And Excel), a five-furlong specialist whose progeny have inherited his speed, tenacity and his aptitude on firm ground.
Owned by Hong Kong racing outfit Kangyu International Racing in conjunction with Hong Kong owner Fred Ma, the Charles Hills-trained sprinter never made the journey to Sha Tin although may have done if the Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) was still at its original journey of 1000 metres.
Three of the four sons of Cotai Glory imported already have form on the board abroad, including Prix Robert Papin (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Atomic Force and Star Appeal Stakes (Listed, 7f) runner-up Super King. They have been joined by the stakes-tested Kingboard Star, who has been renamed Circuit Ten, while PPG Forever Friends struck success at just his second Hong Kong start in July.
Placed in the Nunthorpe Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) in 2017, the performance of Cotai Glory’s two-year-old daughter The Platinum Queen to finish second in that same race against the older horses last week is sure to see his stock once again in high demand in a bid to find the next star sprinter of Hong Kong.
In the southern hemisphere, there is plenty of interest in leading Australian freshman stallions like Russian Revolution (Snitzel) and Hellbent (I Am Invincible), but the stallion with the most imports to Hong Kong comes from left field – in fact, he comes from across the Tasman, via a trans-Pacific plane trip.
It is Rich Hill Stud’s Japanese shuttler Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) who has attracted the attention of Hong Kong buyers with two colts and a gelding already on the ground at Sha Tin and more on the way in upcoming shipments.
Satono Aladdin, who won the Yasuda Kinen (Gr 1, 1600m) in 2017, was a three-time runner at the Hong Kong International Races, finishing 11th to compatriot A Shin Hikari (Deep Impact) in the 2015 Hong Kong Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) and seventh to Beauty Only (Holy Roman Emperor) in the 2016 Hong Kong Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) before ending his career with an 11th to Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) in the 2017 Mile.
While the majority of his 37 winners to date have come in Japan, some of his best performers have been from his first southern hemisphere crop, including the stakes-placed Group 1 contender Sacred Satono, unbeaten colt Grand Impact and filly Koshu, an impressive winner on debut at Randwick.