The Hong Kong Bloodstock Review Special - The modern kings of Hong Kong

Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club

As opposed to the Australian and New Zealand Sires' tables, Champion Sire status in Hong Kong is awarded to the stallion which produces the most winners. Little Avondale Stud's Per Incanto (USA) claimed the honour last year and leads the battle this year, with 10 to date, including one on Sunday, one clear of Newgate's Deep Field.

The commerciality of both those sires in Australasia has boomed off the back of their progeny's success in Hong Kong and that speaks to the value of being seen as a proven sire by that aspect of the buying bench. Just this week, eight of Deep Field's latest crop of yearlings were purchased by Hong Kong buyers at the Inglis Classic Sale.

Gallery: Hong Kong's current leading sires

Deep Field now has 17 winners in Hong Kong, including recent Group 1 winner Sky Field, while Per Incanto's progeny have made their mark with 29 winners from just 40 runners.

They are following in a fine tradition of Australasian stallions dominating in Hong Kong and since the 2009/10 season, Exceed And Excel has won three Champion Sires' titles, Encosta De Lago and Fastnet Rock two and Commands and Savabeel one each, along with Per Incanto.

Table: Leading Hong Kong sires - 2021/22

The Exceed example

Exceed And Excel is the modern benchmark when it comes to successful Hong Kong sires and a look at his record in the jurisdiction really shows up how dominant he has been.

The Darley legend has had the most winners of any stallion in Hong Kong since that 2009/10 season with 62, two more than the late Waikato Stud star O'Reilly (NZ). His progeny have clearly earned the most money, with nearly AU$51 million, while he has the equal most amount of Hong Kong stakes winners on the Australasian-based stallions in the past 12 seasons, with six, level with Encosta De Lago.

In terms of total wins by his progeny, he has 211 in that time period, 26 more than O'Reilly, with his best-performed horse the triple Group 1-winning sprinter Mr Stunning, who earned close to AU$11 million in prizemoney in his career for John Size and Frankie Lor.

Table: Leading Australasian sires by winners in Hong Kong since 2009/10

Exceed And Excel's dominance over the selected time period is obviously aided by the fact that he has been active across those 12 years, a lot of the time in both hemispheres. Eighteen of his 62 Hong Kong winners were bred in the Northern Hemisphere, including one stakes winner.

O'Reilly died in 2015, so has not added to his record in recent years, while Encosta De Lago ceased being active at stud in 2014. However, it is also worth noting that Exceed And Excel has had just one more Hong Kong runner than O'Reilly in that timeframe, 104.

The money makers

As mentioned, Exceed And Excel far and away leads the Hong Kong progeny earnings since 2009/10 with AU$50.95 million, AU$18 million more than his nearest rival Fastnet Rock.

Progeny of the long-time Coolmore resident, who has had 57 Hong Kong winners in that time, have earned AU$32.9 million, with three stakes winners in that time. He has also shuttled extensively in the past decade, and 11 of those Hong Kong winners have been bred in the Northern Hemisphere.

In third place in the earnings table is the perennial New Zealand Champion Savabeel, who has followed in the footsteps of his former Waikato Stud barnmate, O'Reilly, in being a prolific producer of Hong Kong talent. Savabeel's progeny have earned AU$32.6 million in Hong Kong, with 48 winners and four stakes winners from his 66 runners.

Table: Leading Australasian sires by progeny earnings in Hong Kong since 2009/10

Now pensioned Arrowfield Stud stallion Not A Single Doubt has also punched well above his weight in Hong Kong when it comes to impact versus opportunity. Since 2009/10, he has had 51 individual runners for 30 winners, with progeny earnings of AU$29.2 million, the fourth highest of any Australasian-based sire in that timeframe.

What has helped that is that he has had two Hong Kong Group 1 winners, Southern Legend and Stronger. He is one of just three Australasian-based stallions to have had multiple Group 1 winners since 2009.

The other two are Pins, with Ambitious Dragon (NZ) and Aerovelocity (NZ), and Encosta De Lago, with Sacred Kingdom and Chautauqua.

Encosta De Lago's ongoing influence in Hong Kong can be measured in the fact he has been the leading broodmare sire in the past three completed seasons, and he leads by a big margin this season. He is also, of course, the paternal grandsire of Deep Field.

There are a couple of stallions who have benefited greatly from having one major flagbearer in Hong Kong, no more so than Darley's Medaglia D'Oro (USA), who no longer shuttles to Australia. His Element Hill-bred superstar Golden Sixty has won 13 stakes races, including five Group 1s.

That horse alone has earned $17.8 million in his career, the lion's share of Medaglia D'Oro's Hong Kong progeny earnings of $25.1 million.

Late sires Sebring and Hinchinbrook had great flagbearers in Lucky Bubbles and Beat The Clock respectively, as did Tavistock (NZ), through Werther (NZ).

Table: Leading Australasian sires by stakes winners in Hong Kong since 2009/10