New Zealand Bloodstock graduates dominated the Hong Kong Racing Awards on the weekend, taking home 5 of the 11 awards.

Ambitious Dragon (NZ) was crowned the Hong Kong Horse of the Year.  Trained by Tony Millard, he won 7 races with headline victories in the G1 Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m), Hong Kong Derby (2000m) and the International QEII Cup (2000m).

Ambitious Dragon (Pins) won 7 races which equalled the record set by Entrapment last season for most victories in a Hong Kong season.  His wins also secured him the title of Hong Kong’s Most Improved Horse from a 57 rating to a hugely impressive 125.

Ambitious Dragon was also awarded the Champion Middle-Distance Horse title as well as emerging the dominant winner of Hong Kong’s Most Popular Horse.  He won the latter by a landslide with 100,000 votes.  Runner-up Beauty Flash (NZ) polled 23,000 votes.

Ambitious Dragon emulated NZB graduate Vengeance of Rain (Zabeel) who also won the Hong Kong Derby – QE II Cup double in 2005 and was crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year in 2007.

New Zealand has produced five of the last eight Hong Kong Derby winners with Ambitious Dragon (2011), Super Satin (2010), Vital King (2007), Vengeance of Rain (2005) and Lucky Owners (2004).

Ambitious Dragon has also taken his Waikato Stud sire Pins to new heights.  He is the sire of 41 stakes winners and was officially crowned the Champion Sire in Hong Kong with over HK$31 million in stakes earnings.  

Fellow Waikato Stud based sire O’Reilly claimed back-to-back titles in 2007/08 and 2008/09.

Ambitious Dragon was bred by Guy Lowry and was offered by Belvedere Farm at the 2008 Karaka Select Sale.  His half-brother by High Chaparral was purchased by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for $420,000 from Belvedere Farm at the 2011 Karaka Premier Sale and will surely be the star attraction at the 2012 Hong Kong Sale.

Beauty Flash (Golan) has also been a brilliant performer in Hong Kong this season for his trainer Tony Cruz.  A winner of the G1 Hong Kong Mile, he made it back-to-back wins over the distance when winning the G1 Steward’s Cup.

Those wins cemented his place as Hong Kong’s premier miler and he came back in distance to capture the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup clocking 1.21.74s for 1400m.

New Zealand has bred and/or sold four individual winners of the G1 Hong Kong Mile with Beauty Flash (2011), The Duke (2010), Lucky Owners (2003) and mighty mare Sunline (2000) – a feat unmatched by any other country.

Bred by Windsor Park Stud, Beauty Flash was bought by Hong Kong-based buyer Dan O’Donnell from Halidon Hill at the 2007 Karaka Select Sale for $65,000.

Entries for New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2012 National Yearling Sales Series at Karaka are due now.  To enter your yearlings please contact NZB on 0011 649 298 0055 or visit www.nzb.co.nz.