Allan, Ivan - Cheers Hong Kong
- Indigenous
- Olympic Express | Seeking a fresh challenge from his native Singapore where he had umpteen trainers titles and big-race winners to his name, Ivan Allan decamped to Hong Kong in 1992. More than 450 winners and 10 years later, he finds himself challenging for a fourth trainer's title. He has won virtually every major honour in Hong Kong racing at domestic and international level. Fairy King Prawn's success in Japan's Yasuda Kinen in June 2000 made him the first trainer to win an overseas Group 1 with a Hong Kong-trained horse. Allan won his third Hong Kong Derby last month with Olympic Express. |
Collet, Robert - Lethals Lady | Aged 53, won the Breeders' Cup Mile in 1986 with Last Tycoon as well as the French 2,000 Guineas with No Pass No Sale, the E.P. Taylor Stakes with Truly A Dream. Volochine ran third for him in the Hong Kong Cup in 1994. Collet also had great International success with Le Glorieux who was campaigned to win the Washington D.C. International, Grosser Preis der Berliner Bank and the Japan Cup in 1987. Other big winners include Son Of Love in the English St. Leger and Ukraine Girl in the French 1,000 Guineas. 2001 brought Group success with Zipping who won the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin and the highlight of last season was winning the Group 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes again at Woodbine with Choc Ice. |
Hayes, David - Helene Vitality | The trainer of Melbourne Cup (Jeune 1994) and Japan Cup (Better Loosen Up 1990) winners, David Hayes, son of Australian training legend Colin Hayes, had racked up more than 1,000 winners and landed trainer's premierships in Victoria and South Australia before moving to Hong Kong in the mid-1990s. Champion trainer in 1997-98 and 1998-99, Hayes has trained 314 Hong Kong winners. |
Head-Maarek, Criquette Christiane - Okawango | Born on November 6th 1948, first took out a licence to train in 1978 having previously acted as assistant to her father. She trained 35 winners in her first season, won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in her second season, and has been champion trainer in France once, in 1986. Numerically, her best French season was 1987 with 107 wins. She has won some big races overseas, especially with Hatoof who won the 1992 E.P. Taylor Stakes and 1994 Beverly D Stakes in America and the 1992 1,000 Guineas and 1993 Champion Stakes in England. She lives and trains in Chantilly and is president of the French Trainers Association. |
Kan, Brian - Rainbow And Gold | Brian Kan is Hong Kong's winning-most trainer with well over 800 victories spanning a 24-year career. He has won five trainer's championships and a very long list of group races, including five Hong Kong Derbys. |
Kitahashi, Shuji - Eishin Preston | Aged 66, first took out a licence to train in 1977. He is based at the Ritto Training Center and his best performer remains last year's Hong Kong Mile winner Eishin Preston, who also won the 1999 Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes (Jpn Gr.1). |
Murray, Bede - Universal Prince | Aged 66, has spent a lifetime in racing and has been a trainer for four decades. He has a country facility at Conjola, south of Sydney that he uses in conjunction with his stable complex at Kembla Grange - when horses get jaded with stable life he sends them to the ¡¡¡Ófarm¡¨ to freshen-up. He has trained more than 1,500 winners, with six coming at the highest level. Universal Prince in the 2001 AJC Australian Derby at Randwick he regards as his best win. |
Ng, Peter - Dashing Winner | Peter Ng is in his 19th season as a trainer in Hong Kong and he has trained over 250 winners in that time. Derby glory for Reliable Source in 1990 and Quicken Away's Champions & Chater Cup success in 1990 remain his biggest triumphs, but his best season in terms of total races won was in 1992-93 when he prepared the winners of 30 races. |
Oughton, David - Idol
- Precision | English-born David Oughton is in his 15th season training in Hong Kong and he is approaching the 400-winner landmark. Numerically, his best season was in 1989/90 when he had 41 successes but he has won the Hong Kong Derby (Che Sara Sara in 1996), three Hong Kong Gold Cups (Starlight 1990, 1991 and Idol 2001) and the Champions & Chater Cup (San Domenico 1989). |
Shirai, Toshiaki - Agnes Digital | Aged 56, first took out a licence in 1978. His biggest winners include Agnes Digital (2001 Tenno Sho Autumn, 2000 Mile Championship, 2001 Hong Kong Cup), Special Week (1999 Japan Cup, 1999 Tenno Sho Autumn, 1998 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby)) and Dance Partner (1996 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup and 1995 Yushun Himba - Japanese Oaks). |
bin Suroor, Saeed - Grandera | Aged 36, got his first trainer's licence in 1994. Success came quickly and in 1995 he was placed in charge of Sheikh Mohammed's Al Quoz stable in Dubai and the mighty Godolphin operation in Newmarket. He was champion trainer in Great Britain in 1996, 1998 and 1999 and has trained some terrific horses, such as Lammtarra (Epsom Derby, King George and the Arc in 1995), Halling and Swain (the King George in 1997 and 1998). In 1999 Almutawakel won the Dubai World Cup and Daylami won four Group 1 races, including the Breeders' Cup Turf, easily becoming the first ever Emirates World Series Champion and bin Suroor its first champion trainer. In 2000 a second successive Dubai World Cup arrived via Dubai Millennium while Fantastic Light's global exploits in 2000 (when he won the Hong Kong Cup) and 2001 made him the first back-to-back winner of the World Series. |
