Hong Kong trainers welcome PP import ratings change
Champion trainer Caspar Fownes has welcomed the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s recent change which sees horses imported into Hong Kong on a Private Purchase (PP) permit given a five-point lower initial rating than was the case previously.
“I’ve been talking about this for years, so to finally see it come to fruition is outstanding,” Fownes told Asia Bloodstock News. “The PP system as it was, at the end of the day, it just tells you they were coming in too highly-rated off moderate form.”
The HKJC’s handicappers assign every imported horse a new rating, weighing up its overseas form against where it will fit into the Hong Kong system. Horses must rate to at least a minimum benchmark to achieve clearance from the Club to enter Hong Kong.
The initial minimum rating given to already-raced horses imported into Hong Kong on a normal PP permit or normal replacement permit has been reduced 63 rather than 68; those brought in on a standard special replacement permit benefit from the initial minimum rating being dropped from 85 to 80; a three-year-old which has not raced more than five times, imported on a special replacement permit, can now start out on a rating of 75 rather than 80; and a horse introduced by an owner using a special replacement for the first time can be given a minimum rating of 75 instead of 80.
There has been some confusion around a HKJC press release announcing the new scheme, which left some trainers, owners and bloodstock agents believing the change would expand by five points the spread of horses qualified to import to Hong Kong.
The HKJC has since confirmed to Asia Bloodstock News that the lower minimum initial rating will not expand the pool of horses available to Hong Kong buyers. Rather, it is a case of the same horses being available but they will be introduced on a five-point lower rating.
The announcement released said the change had come about after a “holistic review of the horse population” and was in part a response to a bias in the system towards unraced Private Purchase Griffins (PPGs), which enter on a much lower rating than PPs, as well as to address “market conditions” that have impinged Hong Kong owners’ ability to acquire quality horses.
“It is important to note that the new minimum levels of initial ra(t)ings will not reduce the required level of ability in the assessment of overseas horses to qualify for import to Hong Kong. We will not compromise on quality. These changes are intended solely to improve the value proposition for horse owners importing PPs and increase the competitiveness of these horses as they make the transition to Hong Kong,” the Club’s executive director of racing, Andrew Harding, was quoted as stating.
While the release was at pains to douse any notion that the reduction of initial ratings would lead to a drop in the quality of horses arriving at Sha Tin. But, the wording of that announcement has also left several trainers, owners and agents less than certain as to how the change might place Hong Kong parties in a better position to source viable horses at value in a difficult marketplace.
It does not seem to mean, as some have thought, that Hong Kong buyers will be helped by a five-point expansion to the pool of available horses, which would have allowed into the system horses rated five points lower than what the HKJC handicappers currently consider to be an acceptable mark. The HKJC did not respond to requests for clarification, leaving the official press release as the only guideline.
One statistic nods to a deeper issue in sourcing horses that such a ratings adjustment alone will likely struggle to address. In the first seven months of this year, the number of PPs imported to Hong Kong from Australia stood at 26 compared to 53 in the same period last year, whereas the PPG figure was only marginally down, at 74 by the end of July this year against 80 in 2020.
What is clear – and what participants are applauding – is that the HKJC has no doubt improved the lot of those PPs who do enter one of the toughest handicap systems in the world. The Club has even acted to implement the change retroactively.
“I had a few PPs that came in on the 68 scheme last season, they didn’t race and they’ve now dropped them to 63, so bravo. It’s the right way to do it so I commend the Club on that,” Fownes noted.
PPs arriving on a normal permit now have the chance to start out at the lower end of Class 3, which has a rating band of 60 to 80. And those in the higher bracket, the standard special replacement PPs, could start out at the top of Class 3 if they are given a minimum initial rating of 80, or at the foot of Class 2, which has a regular ratings bracket of 80-100.
“The horses here are outstanding when you get up from Class 3 to Class 1. The Class 3 horses are genuinely Saturday class horses in Australia – I’m talking once they’re performing in Hong Kong at a good level – and sometimes a Listed horse,” Fownes added.
“So, for these horses that are coming in off a one-start win or two starts off moderate form, coming in on a 68 to 70 rating, they’re not at that mark, they should be on 63 which is where they finally are now. If those horses come into the system and settle into the environment, which is always tough, then they have the opportunity and the chance to go upward, which is great. And, if they don’t and they happen to drop into Class 4, at least the owner gets his win and gets it sooner.”
With no breeding industry, all of Hong Kong’s horses are imported and must acclimatise to the tough Hong Kong environment with its heat and humidity, noise and pollution. There are few, if any, guarantees that a galloper will reproduce its overseas form within the Sha Tin regimen and the list of failures – both relative and resounding – is significant, particularly of those brought in on the higher ratings PP permits.
In the past three seasons, around half of Australian-sourced PPs have failed to win a race in Hong Kong, and last season that included two-time Australian Group 1 winner Shadow Hero (Pierro), who started out rated 92 and returned south after a five-loss failed Hong Kong Derby (Listed, 2000m) campaign.
“What they’ve wanted to do is just make them a bit more competitive when they arrive,” said trainer Tony Millard. “Going straight into Class 2 is very difficult for a horse: if you can win in Class 2 first-up, that’s like winning a Group race in any country because the Class 2 races here are very tough.
“Some of those horses, they take time so now the horses have a chance in Class 3, but the Class 3 races are not easy to win either, you’ve got the horses progressing out of Class 4 at the bottom. That’s also very tough at certain times of the year, it’s not easy to win at all.”
The HKJC has sought to achieve some parity with PPGs emerging from Class 4 which, like current superstar Golden Sixty (Medaglia D’Oro), are able to arrive unraced off perhaps a couple of smart barrier trials in Australia or New Zealand and can enjoy the easier task of finding their feet in Class 4 before hitting Class 3.
“These good PPGs come in and start on 52, they come out and win by three lengths, they go to 62 and they’re racing against older horses in one of the toughest racing jurisdictions in the world,” Fownes said.
“But even good PPGs like Courier Wonder and Killer Bee, they’d win impressively first-up and then they were still eight points less than the PP horses coming in from an average win in Australia, that’s the difference. It wasn’t working, you’ve got to do the right thing and I’m glad to see that they’ve finally fixed it. I think the system is good now.”
For all of that, Hong Kong’s owners still face high hurdles when attempting to purchase suitable horses. Prices in Australasia and Europe have increased, notably in Australia, where the bloodstock market is booming off the back of a vibrant racing product. High prize-money and a proliferation of ownership syndicates has diminished the attractiveness of selling good horses to Hong Kong and has pushed up prices.
A highly-rated PP, bought with the Hong Kong Classic Series in mind, will bring little change from AU$3million. That represents an approximate doubling in price over the last seven or eight years. Lesser-rated PPs with perceived upside will still fetch a cool AU$1 million or thereabouts.
It is difficult to say with confidence that the HKJC’s adjustment will help address what it refers to as “market conditions”, particularly in Australia. Even if the change had allowed a widening of the pool to include lesser-rated horses, the nature of a capitalist market is such that the cost of those horses would likely rise with demand anyway.
And sourcing is difficult in Europe, too, where the elite races are dominated by major owner-breeders with little to no reason to sell a Group-class juvenile or mid-season three-year-old to owners wanting a horse for the Hong Kong classic series. That leaves a very limited selection of horses available in the right ratings range for any Hong Kong owners holding a special replacement permit and hoping to find a Derby runner.
Trainer Francis Lui, like Millard, is pleased with the change but will also wait and see how it pans out before taking a firm view as to whether or not some of the touted positives turn out to have an element of ‘so what?’ about them.
“I think it can help,” Lui said but noted, too, that, “All around the world, everybody wants a good horse and whatever we do, there are only so many good horses available for us to pick from.”