HKJC Hopeful About International Meeting

With the start of the new Kong Kong racing season just days away, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has told scmp.com that similar conditions for last year's Hong Kong International race day is a best case scenario. "I have to admit that I'm a little bit concerned with the Delta variant and we cannot take as [guaranteed] that everything will be the same," said CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. "We are already looking at the health protocols and what we have to do extra to address additional risk factors. It's good we proved last year we could do this but I asked for a review [and whether] we have to do more due to the Delta variant, so we have already started the discussion with the government and I am cautiously optimistic we can convince them." Horses and jockeys from Europe and Japan attended last year's meeting. "I am optimistic because I personally think we have demonstrated we have a proven system and we have not only the system but we have executed it, therefore I am optimistic that we can convince the government to repeat." Engelbrecht-Bresges opined, "I think last year's experience, for some of them, means they feel 'OK, I can do this' and I would say there is significant interest from Europe for good horses to come here."

Normcore won last year's Gr1 Hong Kong Cup (pic: hkjc.com)