HIGHFIELD PRINCESS SEEKS CROWN IN HONG KONG SPRINT

Team British Racing’s representative HIGHFIELD PRINCESS is amongst 15 Group 1 winners and 24 international horses entered in the Longines Hong Kong International meeting at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday, 10th December.

On her most recent start, Highfield Princess won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp and passed on the Breeders' Cup meeting in favour of the Hong Kong Sprint. Trained by John Quinn in North Yorkshire and owned by John Fairley under Trainers House Enterprises Ltd, the four-time Group 1-winning six-year-old will be the only mare in a highly competitive field of 10.

Ahead of the race meeting, Great British Racing International visited John Quinn at Highfield Stables to find out more about Highfield Princess:

“Highfield Princess has been a wonderful mare for me and the yard and the owners. This year she’s run fantastically well, Royal Ascot twice without winning. She ran really well in the King’s Stand and three days later in the Platinum Jubilee. And this year also at Glorious Goodwood she was spectacular.”

Quinn explained why they targeted Hong Kong:

“We had the Breeders’ Cup in our mind as well as Hong Kong, but we thought she had quite a hard race in the l’Abbaye so we decided to miss the Breeders’ Cup and head to Hong Kong and we feel we’ve done the right thing. She’s training well, she’s nice and fresh, she’s fit. I took her away for a racecourse gallop three weeks ago and I was pleased with her.”

Finally, on the importance of international races, Quinn added:

“I think it is absolutely imperative as a trainer that you should try and sell your trade around the world. The world is a small place now and the prize money around the world is absolutely fantastic and it’s a wonderful thing to have some good racehorses to travel the world because it’s great for the owner, it’s great for the horse and it’s great for us.”

WEST WIND BLOWS has also travelled over for father-son duo Simon and Ed Crisford who train from Gainsborough Stables in Newmarket. The four-year-old gelding arrived to Hong Kong from Australia where he had a busy Spring Carnival finishing second in both the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes and the Group 1 Caulfield Cup for owner Abdulla Al Mansoori. He will line up in the Hong Kong Vase.