The Jockey Club has made all the right moves with its upgrading for the Champions Mile, except for one - it remains a very modest prize in this era of international racing and one that is clearly being ignored by the greater racing world. The Champions Mile offers gross prize money of HK$8 million, or US$1.027 million. By way of a reality check, the Yasuda Kinen on June 8 - the final leg of the Asian Mile Challenge - will offer the equivalent of US$1.85 million.
Japan is undoubtedly the benchmark in the Asian region, so surely having a prize that's a mere 55 per cent of the benchmark, after all this time, simply isn't good enough.
It's also 50 per cent of the club's own benchmark, the HK$16 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile in December, and worth not a cent more than the major January mile, the Stewards Cup, that is limited to local runners.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Gulf, the Dubai Racing Club hosted the second leg of the Asian Mile Challenge, the Dubai Duty Free on March 29, with world-best prize money for this distance category at US$5 million.
And the Emirate's leader, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, promises unspecified increases soon.
The Champions Mile, in structure and concept, is a perfect fit.
It comes one month after the Dubai Duty Free and five weeks before the Yasuda Kinen, but it has been poorly supported by foreign trainers since becoming a supposed international race in 2005 and it's time we dusted off our collective pride and admitted why.
In Sydney, some 24 hours before the Champions Mile, the Australian Jockey Club hosted the Doncaster Handicap, a time-honoured handicap mile with a history that dates back to 1866.
Doncaster prize money is A$2.5 million (HK$18.25 million) - and with the Aussie dollar riding high and handsome, that's not much different to the US$ conversion of $2,335,000, or HK$18.2 million. The Doncaster is worth HK$18.2 million and was run on the same weekend as the Champions Mile, an "international" race worth HK$8 million.
No wonder Jockey Club international racing manager Mark Player came up with just one Champions Mile visitor and that horse, Meiner Segal, was only there because he made a good travelling companion for Audemars Piguet QEII Cup contender Matsurida Gogh.
Of course, Hong Kong's excellence in the mile category must also be acknowledged as a real disincentive to potential foreign visitors. Look at the result: the champion miler of 2008, Good Ba Ba, defeated his 2007 counterpart, Armada. And who was third? No less a warrior than nine-year-old Bullish Luck, Hong Kong's champion miler and Asian Mile Challenge titleholder for 2005 and 2006.
Such foreign visitors as the Champions Mile has been able to draw in the past have never been a threat, and even the Hong Kong Mile - which has attracted some high-class visitors - has been dominated by locals in recent years, with Hong Kong runners winning four of the past six.
No wonder the overseas horses are staying away in droves. We are offering 20 per cent of Dubai's prize money and asking owners and trainers to come and get bashed by gun local racehorses.
Dubai's situation proves conclusively that money talks all languages. World Cup night is a tearaway success, to the extent it has now effectively outgrown its home, Nad al Sheba racecourse, after just 13 years.
In 2010, the magnificent Meydan track will be in operation and the bar for regional competition will be raised significantly.
Hong Kong can and must compete. The Jockey Club is an extraordinary body, with a superb record of success and community support, as projects such as the HK$1.8 billion restoration of Central Police Headquarters and shouldering the venue costs of the Equestrian Games of the Beijing Olympics proves.
It may be that, in the midst of all its community-based philanthropy, the board of stewards might need to be reminded that charity does, indeed, begin at home.
