World-Beating Horses

Hong Kong has about 1,250 racehorses in training, or less than one per cent of the global total. Despite this, and despite having no breeding industry, Hong Kong has some of the world’s best racehorses.

In 2024, a total of 12 Hong Kong horses featured in the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, with Romantic Warrior leading the way in joint fifth.

Many famous horses have been trained in Hong Kong over the years, including the legendary Silent Witness, whose 17 straight wins made him the world’s top sprinter in 2004 and 2005. Following in his footsteps, Sacred Kingdom was the world’s top turf sprinter between 2007 and 2009, and Vengeance of Rain was the winner of the World Racing Championships Series in 2005. More recently, three-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty retired in 2024 with 10 Group 1 wins to his name.

Hong Kong horses have also enjoyed success overseas. Following Fairy King Prawn’s breakthrough victory in the 2000 Yasuda Kinen in Japan, 31 Hong Kong horses have won 41 overseas races, including 21 at Group 1 level. In 2023, these included a first-ever victory in Australia’s W.S. Cox Plate, won by Romantic Warrior, who went on to win the 2024 Yasuda Kinen – Hong Kong’s third victory in the race – and the 2025 Jebel Hatta in Dubai.