For one reason or another, not all horses adjust to the concrete jungle of Hong Kong.
Lindsay Park trainers Ben and Jd Hayes have recently been the beneficiary of horses leaving Hong Kong for the wide-open green spaces at Euroa in northern Victoria.
Ben Hayes said the stable gets horses from Hong Kong for a variety of reasons.
Some have tendon problem, suspensory problems, they maybe bleeders or have had heart arrythmia.
A recent winner for Lindsay Park was Anilla who scored at Stawell on December 3.
“He was bought from here, went to Hong Kong, had two starts for dad (David) and at his second start had a heart arrythmia and then his heart wouldn’t go back into rhythm,” Hayes said.
“He had to be retired, so he came back to us, and as we saw, there’s not much wrong.”
Another two additions to Lindsay Park out of Hong Kong run at Flemington on Saturday – Helene Leadingstar in the TAB Trophy (1400m) and Monarch Of Egypt in the Festive Season Sprint (1200m).
Helene Leadingstar is no stranger to Australian racing having won the Group 1 South Australian Derby in 2018 when known as Leicester before heading to Hong Kong later that year.
In 31 starts in Hong Kong, Helene Leadingstar was successful on two occasions, back-to-back in March-April 2020 before being placed just twice 15 subsequent starts.
“He went up as a Group 1 winner and it is very competitive,” Hayes said.
“He raced well there but has come back here to finish his career in Australia.
“Luckily, we have that connection with dad, so when Hong Kong owners are looking to move horses, we’re at the top of the tree at the moment.”
Hayes said Helene Leadingstar had returned to Australia without any problems and the owners were wanting to give him a try back here before retirement.
He said the gelding had trialled well at Traralgon earlier in the month but was likely to find the 1400m on the short side on Saturday.
“This is a kick off race and hopefully he will hit the line hard,” Hayes said.
Monarch Of Egypt raced in Europe and was placed in Group 1 company in Ireland before being purchased to race in Hong Kong.
However, he failed to place in eight starts and was sent on to Australia.
“All of his trials have been sharp, and this is more of a kick-off for him, so we’ll get to learn a bit more about him,” Hayes said.
“He had good form Europe and they bought him to run in the good races in Hong Kong, but unfortunately, he did not perform.
“Some horses do not settle into Hong Kong, and he was possibly one of them.”
