Hong Kong Part 5
Apart from golloping on the training tracks ot the course proper, the HK trainers have at their disposal a straight 1000m grass track that they can use. Behind the hedges on the right of the picture is the back straight of the course proper. Horses can jump from these practice stalls and gallop for 1000m before linking up with the course proper at the turn out of the back straight.
The bedding in HK is unusual in that they don't use shavings or straw so as to keep the dust down. The bedding used is actually shredded newspaper.
We caught up with this local farrier while he was shoeing this galloper. The local farriers only average 3-4 horses shod each per day.
Hong Kong Part 4
After breakfast we were taken on a tour of the stables by Head Farrier Paul Cumming. Paul is originally from Melbourne and is the second Australian in a row to secure the Head Farrier role at the HKJC. Left is the view down one of the alley ways in the stable complex. Not that different to Australia really. There are many stable blocks just like this on many racecourses throughout Australia.
While the horses don't get to enjoy a run around a yard during the day. They look forward each afternoon to getting on the horse walker.
Left is the view up the ramp of one of the double storey blocks. There is quite a bit of distance between the stable blocks so it is not quite as cramped as you might first think.
Right: The indoor swimming pool for the horses is probably better and more well maintained than most council pools in Australia. The water is crystal clear and cleaned every day.
No need to worry about the wind and the rain and the sun here. As the pool is indoors the horse and strappers are protected from the elements.
Hong Kong Part 3
After watching trackwork for a couple of hours we wandered over to where all the press were assembled to have coffee. Nobody objected to our being there, so we took our seats and enjoyed a nice morning coffee. Local trainer Almond Lee then invited us up to the dining room at the Jockey Club to have a smorgasbord breakfast. We informed them that we were just there for a holiday and had nothing to do with the international horses, but they insisted that we were their guests and hoped we enjoyed our breakfast.
During breakfast we were joined by another farrier from Australia holidaying in Hong Kong, Mark Cumming. Mark's brother Paul has recently taken up the role of Head Farrier at the HKJC. Paul's predecessor Greg Murray has left the racing side of things to take over the management of the Equestrian side. Even once the racehorses retire, the HKJC are still responsible for their welfare, so many of the retired horses end up at the equestrian centres and riding schools in Hong Kong. Paul was kind enough to show us around the stable facilities. Right is one of the farrier's in the workshop.
As you can see the workshop is well set out with plenty of light and ventilation. All the forges run on gas as they are not allowed to use any solid fuels such as coke.
Right: This is Paul's office, as the head farrier Paul is responsible for the day to day operations of all the farrier's working at the Jockey Club. Paul's job is the only ex pat job for farrier's. All the farriers under Paul are local chinese. Some of the farriers have worked there for 20 years or more.
Left is the plaque on Paul Cumming's door. A title that we probably wouldn't see in Australia. Who know maybe in the future.
Hong Kong 2008 Part 2
At Sha Tin racecourse there are no crossings at all. All the horses come onto the track from the warm-up area via a tunnel under the course proper. They come out of one tunnel and return via another one. this ensures there is no crossing traffic which is much safer for both horse and rider.
The photo at right shows a horse doing slow work on the dirt track. Note the saddle cloth number and the riders blue cap. Each horse has it's own saddlecloth number to uniquely identify it and the work riders for each trainer all wear the same coloured cap. This means trainers can quickly identify their horses and riders from among the 1100 horses that work on the track daily.
While in the trainers hut we were lucky enough to catch up with champion Hong Kong trainer John Moore and his right hand man, son George. They were kind enough to pose for this photo for us and had a quick chat. Three days later John Moore won the International Sprint over 1200m with one of his gallopers.
Hong Kong 2008 Part 1
In December I was fortunate enough to travel to Hong Kong to watch the International races at Sha Tin racecourse. My companion on the trip was Toowoomba farrier Wayne Nugent. We were warmly welcomed by the racing and farrier fraternity there and over the coming months I will show some snippets here of the places we traveled to and the people we met. Come back to this page on a regular basis and see what's new. I will try to put something new up each week but bare with me if I'm a little slow and putting things on here.
We arrived late on Wednesday night. The races were on at Happy Valley that night but unfortunately we arrived too late to go. We stayed at the Royal Park hotel in Sha Tin which is a very comfortable hotel to stay in and only a five minute cab ride to the racecourse. We got up at 4am so we could go and watch track work at Sha tin. There are 1160 horses stabled there and all of them work on the training tracks each morning. Just getting that many horse worked on one track is an amazing feat.
Here's Wayne 5am in the morning just near the winning post at Sha Tin.
One of the first people we ran into was former New Zealand trainer and long time resident in Hong Kong, Paul O'Sullivan of the famous O'Sullivans of New Zealand. Paul was kind enough to take us over to the trainers hut to watch track work. What a great vantage point, we could watch everything from there. Paul spent quite a bit of time with us and explained how things worked in Hong Kong when training gallopers.
You can tell Wayne hasn't had much sleep but look at how fresh Paul looks.
Come back next week for the next installment.