Hong Kong Cup 2013

Akeed Mofeed wins the Hong Kong Cup after scraping paint and squeezing out off the rail in the stretch to overtake Tokei Halo with Cirrus Des Aigles finishing third. The GB bred Akeed Mofeed is the grandson of Dubai Millennium whose amazing story you can read about in an earlier post. All top 3 finishers were descendants of Northern Dancer.

1) Akked Mofeed (GB) - great great great grandson x5 through Dubai Millennium/Dubawi
2) Tokei Halo (JPN) - great great grandson x2 through the Dancer's daughter Near
3) Cirrus Des Aigles (FR) great great great grandson through Nijinsky and Lyphard


So another Hong Kong Cup day is in the books and at the end of it 11 of the top 12 finishers were descendants of our little Canadian hero. They added another $8M to the family earnings. To understand the International impact Northern Dancer had on his sport they were bred in 5 different countries off 3 different continents if you include the fourth place finisher Cerise Cherry and none from North America or Australia where The Dancer's roots are so deep and wide.

All photos from HKJC - while I wait for the Cup photos above you can see what an event this is - that free white souvenir cap would look good along side my Woodbine International scarf. You can see the massive crowds and top notch entertainment and fashion finished off with award winning fireworks. This event would definitely be on my bucket list and we have contacts in Hong Kong. Maybe one day.

video of the race

http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20131208&no=08&lang=eng

link to post about Dubai Millennium - No Ordinary Joe - he died so very young after covering only 65 mares in his brief career as a stallion but his legacy lives on today
http://northerndancerblog.blogspot.ca/search?q=dubai+millennium

link to HKJC results, videos, form charts etc
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/Info/Meeting/Results/English/Local/20131208/ST/8

Hong Kong Mile 2013

In a rare occurrence even for Hong Kong and Australia, the winner Glorious Days was not a descendant of Northern Dancer. The second and third place finishers Gold-Fun and Packing Whiz were great grandsons of The Dancer.

1) Glorious Days (AUS) - no relation
2) Gold-Fun (IRE) - great great grandson x2 through Danzig and El Gran Senor
3) Packing Whiz (IRE) - great great great grandson through Danzig and The Minstrel


Photos from HKJC

video of the race
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20131208&no=07&lang=eng

Hong Kong Sprint 2013

It was the Japanese bred Lord Kanaloa winning the Sprint for the second year in a row with two more European breds finishing second and third in Sole Power and Frederick Engels. The South African bred Cerise Cherry finished fourth. All 4 were grandkids of The Dancer.

1) Lord Kanaloa (JPN) - great great grandson x4 through a Storm Cat mare
2) Sole Power (GB) - great great great grandson x2 through Nuryev
3) Frederick Engels (GB) - great great grandson x3 through Nuryev

Photos from HJKC

video of race
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20131208&no=05&lang=eng

Hong Kong Vase 2013

Andrew Lloyd Weber's brilliant filly The Fugue had a terrible trip but still almost caught the winner Dominant in deep stretch with Dunaden finishing third. All three European breds are descendants of Northern Dancer. It was the first win of the Vase by a Hong Kong trainer in 15 years. Trainer John Moore has now won all 4 prestigious Hong Kong races.

1) Dominant (IRE) - great great grandson x5 through Danzig/Danehill
2) The Fugue (GB) - great granddaughter x3 through Danzig/Danehill and a Sadlers Wells mare
3) Dunaden (FR) - great great great grandson x2 through El Gran Senor


Photos from HKJC

video of race
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20131208&no=04&lang=eng

Hong Kong Cup 2013

In just over 15 hours the Hong Kong Cup races will go from beautiful Sha Tin Race Course in Hong Kong. Fifty-two thoroughbreds from 9 different countries on 5 different continents will be competing for the $70M in purses ($10M US) over 4 races culminating in the Cup. Let's see how many are descendants of our Canadian Athlete of the Year 1964.

The Trackside Breakfast with the Stars is under way right now.

Link to site - usually great coverage
http://campaign.hkjc.com/en/2013-hkir/2013-hkir-eventlist-3.aspx