Season’s unbeaten star Ka Ying Rising claims Horse of the Year title at Hong Kong’s Champion Awards

Ka Ying Rising’s outstanding performance during the 2024/25 racing season saw the record-breaking speedster earn the Horse of the Year title at a special presentation held at the Grand Ballroom of the Rosewood Hotel in Hong Kong tonight (Friday, 11 July). In addition, he was also named Champion Sprinter and Champion Four-Year-Old at the ceremony.

Ka Ying Rising is crowned Horse of the Year.

Owned by Ka Ying Syndicate and trained by David Hayes, last season’s Champion Griffin improved sharply in his sophomore season, scoring one of his biggest wins of the season in the HK$26 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m), and completing a record-equalling season with a commanding victory in the HK$22 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) in April to secure this season’s Champion Sprinter mantle.

Ka Ying Rising is crowned Horse of the Year: Michael Lee (first from right), Chairman, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, presents the trophy and souvenir to representatives of the Ka Ying Syndicate, owners of Ka Ying Rising, Leung Shek Kong (second from right), Wong Choi Ha (third from right), Ip Chi Ming (centre) and See Ching Chuen (third from left); the owner representatives are accompanied by trainer David Hayes (second from left) and jockey Zac Purton (first from left)

His triumph in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize not only left him unbeaten with eight wins from eight starts during the season, but also took his unbeaten streak to 12 consecutive races. The four-year-old Shamexpress gelding completed a clean sweep of the Hong Kong Speed Series and collected a HK$5 million bonus, emulating the feats of Mr Vitality (1995/96), Grand Delight (2002/03), Silent Witness (2003/04 and 2004/05) and Lucky Sweynesse (2022/23).

Ka Ying Rising broke Sacred Kingdom’s Sha Tin 1200m record with a gallop of 1m 07.43s in the G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m), lowering a mark which had stood since 2007. He broke his own record just two months later in a time of 1m 07.2s in the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m). He is currently the world’s highest-rated sprinter, with the international rating of 126, sitting joint fourth alongside Romantic Warrior in the latest LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings at 126 behind joint top-rated horses Field Of Gold, Forever Young and Ombudsman (127). He was also named the Champion Four-Year-Old based on his brilliant performance throughout the season.

Voyage Bubble is named Champion Miler and Champion Stayer

The Ricky Yiu-trained Voyage Bubble also enjoyed a stellar season, especially when he rewrote Hong Kong racing history with an impressive victory in the HK$13 million G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) in May to become only the second horse in Hong Kong racing history after River Verdon in 1993/94 to complete the Triple Crown by winning the HK$13 million G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m), HK$13 million G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup in the same season, snaring a HK$10 million bonus.

Voyage Bubble has dominated this season’s mile and stayer divisions, winning this term’s HK$36 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) and consecutive HK$13 million G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) and, with these outstanding performances, the six-year-old Deep Field gelding was crowned Champion Miler as well. His LONGINES Hong Kong Mile win was further boosted by seven runners, including himself, from that race who subsequently achieved Group one successes. He also scored in the HK$5.35 million G2 BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile (1600m) and in total won five races, including four Group 1s, from seven starts this term. Based on his outstanding achievements, he was named Champion Miler and Champion Stayer for the 2024/25 racing season.

Romantic Warrior is crowned Champion Middle-Distance Horse

Romantic Warrior secured a fourth straight title as Champion Middle-Distance Horse, following his outstanding wins in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m), G1 Jebel Hatta (1800m) and G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m). The Danny Shum-trained globetrotter also finished gallant second in the G1 Saudi Cup (1800m, dirt) and G1 Dubai Turf (1800m), taking his career earnings to a world record-extending HK$214.7 million.

The seven-year-old Acclamation gelding clocked a sensational record-breaking time of 1m 45.10s to beat a group of global top middle-distance runners with more than four lengths to spare in the G1 Jebel Hatta and became the first Hong Kong-trained horse to achieve Group 1 successes in four different racing jurisdictions, namely Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and Dubai.

My Wish is this season’s Most Improved Horse

The Mark Newnham-trained My Wish is this season’s Most Improved Horse. After starting the campaign rated 54, the Flying Artie gelding soared 51 points to 105 after achieving four wins, two seconds, two thirds and a fourth from nine starts in his second season, including his career-best performance when winning the Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) in January.

My Wish ran well in the other two legs of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, finished second in both the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) and BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m).

Zac Purton takes top honours for an eighth time

Zac Purton is now an eight-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey. The Australian rider enjoyed another remarkable season of dominance, including reaching 1,800 career wins in Hong Kong and breaking Douglas Whyte’s all-time record for Hong Kong win. He also reached 700 and 1,000 career wins on Happy Valley races and Sha Tin turf events respectively in the term.

This season’s Most Popular Jockey and Most Popular Horse will be announced at the conclusion of Sunday’s (13 July) 87th and final Sha Tin meeting this season. The presentation ceremony for the 2024/25 Hong Kong Champion Trainer will also be held this Sunday following the races should any trainer gain an unassailable lead ahead of Wednesday night’s (16 July) 88th and final fixture of the racing season, while this season’s Champion Griffin and Tony Cruz Award will be announced at the conclusion of Wednesday’s (16 July) 88th and final fixture this season at Happy Valley.

2024/25 Champion Awards held at the Rosewood Hong Kong tonight (Friday, 11 July). Participating horse connections and guests enjoy a fabulous evening at the Champion Awards.

The Champion Awards Judging Panel announced the winners for the 2024/25 season during this evening’s presentation ceremony as follows:

CFS to follow up certain batches of powdered infant and young children formula with possible presence of Cereulide produced by Bacillus cereus

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (January 10) said that, it took initiative to meet with Nestlé Hong Kong again today, and confirmed the company's today announcement of an additional batch of powdered infant and young children formula suspected to have possibly used the raw material concerned. Nestlé Hong Kong has voluntarily stopped sales, removed from shelves the affected products and has initiated a precautionary recall. The CFS has collected samples of powdered infant and young children formula from the market for Bacillus cereus testing, the test results so far were satisfactory. The Environmental and Ecology Bureau is also closely monitoring the supply situation of other formula milk powder and maintaining communication with other major suppliers. It is noted that there is sufficient formula milk powder to meet the demand.

The spokesman said, the CFS has been actively following up on Nestlé company's voluntary and precautionary recalls of certain batches of its powdered infant and young children formula in certain areas in Europe due to possible presence of Cereulide produced by Bacillus cereus in the individual raw material. According to the latest information from Nestlé Hong Kong today, an additional batch of its powdered infant and young children formula imported into Hong Kong might have used the raw material concerned. The CFS had earlier enhanced surveillance in the market and collected a sample from the above batch for testing of Bacillus cereus. The test result of the sample was satisfactory. Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, Nestlé Hong Kong has voluntarily stopped sales, removed from shelves the affected products and has initiated a precautionary recall.

Product details are as follows:

Product name (Net weight): NAN PRO 1 2 HMO (800g)

Batch number: 51670742F2

Best-before date: June 16, 2027

Place of Origin: Germany

"The CFS met Nestlé Hong Kong again today, urging them to properly handle the product recall issue and respond to public enquiries, in order to safeguard consumers' legitimate rights and interests. In addition, the CFS and Nestlé Hong Kong have jointly followed up, six suspected affected batches of infant and young children formula products that had not entered the market were marked and sealed. An additional 15 batches are currently en route to Hong Kong and will also be marked and sealed upon arrival. The CFS will continue to closely monitor the recall matters and remain fully committed to ensuring food safety, " the spokesman said.

Nestlé Hong Kong has initiated a recall of the affected batches of the products concerned. For enquiries about the recall, members of the public may contact the company through the following channels:

Consumer services hotline: 2599 8874 / 2797 6031/ 2179 8136 (Monday to Sunday, 9am to 9pm)

Email: consumerservices@hk.nestle.com

WhatsApp: 5283 4139 (NESTLÉ® NAN®) / 2599 8871 (Wyeth® Nutrition)

Online form: forms.office.com/e/BhqMhWfsUG?origin=lprLink

Consumers may choose to bring along the products (brand new or opened) for refund at place of purchase, or at exclusive service counters of Nestlé Nutrition Services from January 13 (Tuesday) onwards, to settle the recall and refund of the batches of the products concerned. Details of the exclusive service counters are as follows:

Kowloon Services Counter

Address: G/F, Park Hovan Commercial Building, 18 Hillwood Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon (MTR Jordon Station Exit D)

Contact number: 3996 8196

Office hour: Monday to Saturday, 11am to 7.30pm; Sunday, 1pm to 5.30pm (except public holidays)

Hong Kong Services Counter

Address: 1/F, Ka Nin Wah Commercial Building, 423-425 Hennessy Road, Hong Kong (MTR Causeway Bay Station Exit B)

Contact number: 3996 8197

Office hour: Monday to Saturday, 11am to 7.30pm (except Sundays and public holidays)

The CFS, through its Food Incident Surveillance System, noted earlier that certain batches of Nestlé powdered infant formula were being voluntarily recalled in Europe due to possible contamination with Bacillus cereus. Upon learning of the incident, the CFS has immediately initiated follow up actions, published food incident posts to inform the public and the trade about the issue, and has been actively following up on the incident and enhanced surveillance.

Over the past three days (as of 4pm on January 9), the FEHD received a total of 18 food complaints and enquiries suspected to be related to the infant and young children formula products, including one anonymous complaint without contact information. The CFS and the Environmental Hygiene Branch have promptly followed up on all cases, including contacting the parties concerned to obtain details and collecting samples for testing. In addition, the CFS has referred the cases to the health department for follow-up. At present, no food poisoning cases related to the formula have been recorded.

Bacillus cereus is commonly found in the environment. Unhygienic conditions in food processing and storage may give rise to its growth. Cereulide is a heat-stable toxin produced in food by some strains of Bacillus cereus. Consuming food contaminated with excessive Bacillus cereus or its heat-stable toxins may cause gastrointestinal upset such as vomiting and diarrhoea.

The spokesman urged members of the public not to let infants and young children consume the affected batches of the products, and to seek medical treatment for infants or young children who felt unwell after taking the products concerned. The trade should also stop using or selling the affected batches of the products immediately.

"The CFS continues to closely monitor the developments of the situation, follow up and take appropriate action," the spokesman said.

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