Open For Business is a sign that has been displayed by institutions large and small with increasing relief since Covid-19, the greatest worldwide pandemic of modern times, struck in early 2020. Horseracing in Hong Kong is no exception, and the forthcoming LONGINES Hong Kong International Races represent an important stepping stone to normality, not only for the special administrative region itself but also world horseracing.

After two years of severe lockdown measures, the door to LONGINES HKIR has been opened – not completely but definitely wider than it has been since 2019, the last time, for example, that many of the overseas media observers who will be on duty this year were at Sha Tin. Three days of testing and monitoring is a small price to pay, now that the Hong Kong government has removed seven-day quarantine for visitors on arrival.

Continuing to race during the early stages of the pandemic, in alignment with Hong Kong Government regulations, was a masterstroke by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and proved a huge positive for the sport and the country. It meant that the bedrock of betting activity could be guaranteed, benefiting the local community beyond the usual projects and programmes, while ensuring that some semblance of normal life was possible.

Looking to the wider picture of horseracing and its international reference points, the importance of LONGINES HKIR cannot be underestimated. Tracing back to a single race in January 1988, the event has developed over the intervening 34 years to four races, of which three figured in the first 44 in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities’ list of the world’s top 100 races in 2021.

The 1988 race was titled the Hong Kong Invitation Cup – invitation in just about name only since horses from just Malaysia and Singapore were allowed to enter. Those from Australia and New Zealand followed the next year, and it was opened to allcomers in 1993. Six years later came the final accolade with the recognition of Group 1 international status.

The gradual addition of the Sprint, Mile and Vase has cemented LONGINES HKIR’s place at the top table of worldwide horseracing events. Together, they show what can be achieved with careful planning around a programme designed to attract and foster overseas competition. Direct comparisons highlight the catastrophe that can occur when international rivalry is curtailed.

Singapore opened its borders in 2000, when the magnificent new facility at Kranji was used for the first time, and a year later the similarly sponsored KrisFlyer Sprint was added to the Singapore Airlines International Cup. Both were highly successful in attracting international runners and media coverage.

Meanwhile, racing in South Africa has struggled in vain to make an international impression since 2013. Measures imposed following evidence of the deadly African Horse Sickness mean that horse movement, which is often not easy even within South Africa, is impossible overseas without lengthy, inconvenient and expensive quarantine conditions.

As well as putting a stop to the regular export of South Africa’s racing and breeding stock, the measures have halted the enterprise of such as leading local trainer Mike de Kock, who ran a most successful satellite stable of up to 30 horses in Dubai, until the expense of getting there through a three-month period of quarantine in Mauritius and another few weeks’ lock-up in the UK proved too much for owners who were already feeling the squeeze at home.

De Kock was so successful that he took on another satellite yard in Newmarket but that too has gone by the wayside and he has not had a runner in England since 2015. Nor has he been back to Hong Kong since 2009, when he saddled Eagle Mountain to finish fifth in a bid to emulate his success in the previous year’s Hong Kong Cup.

De Kock’s reputation as a trainer of high regard would not have blossomed without such as the LONGINES HKIR events to aim at. The same goes for all those overseas connections making a beeline to Sha Tin with their top horses in a few days’ time.

Conversely, Hong Kong needs the internationals – horses in numbers and races – as an attraction for its race-going and race-watching public and a testing ground for its best horses. Mainly Open For Business might be this year’s slogan, but Fully Open For Business will be the hope for 2023.