The exciting first stage nominations for the HK$83 million LONGINES Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday, 14 December, feature 70 international Group 1 winners – four more than last year – among a total of 209 horses.

The four-race G1 extravaganza carries record prize money this year, with the HK$25 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup being the world’s second richest 2000m turf race; the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, the most lucrative mile contest on turf in the world, is worth HK$23 million; the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) carries HK$18.5 million - the highest prize money of any all-age six-furlong race anywhere; and the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) is worth a generous HK$16.5 million.

The first stage nominees for this year’s Turf World Championships represent 14 countries and jurisdictions, including the horse at the very top of the current LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, the Japanese superstar Just A Way.

The G1 Dubai Duty Free and G1 Yasuda Kinen victor holds a first choice nomination for the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, as well as a second option for the Cup. Hong Kong has held a firm grip on the Mile and the past two winners, Glorious Days (2013) and Ambitious Dragon (2012) could attempt to maintain that, but alongside Just A Way, the likes of the 2013 European Champion Miler Toronado from Britain, two-time G1 Shoemaker Mile winner Obviously from the USA, and Karakontie, last year’s Champion Juvenile in France, are among the 78 nominees eyeing the lucrative contest.

Last year’s LONGINES Hong Kong Mile runner-up Gold-Fun and the highly-regarded Able Friend could further bolster the Hong Kong defence come December, while multiple Singaporean G1 hero War Affair could also line up.

The LONGINES Hong Kong Cup’s 75 nominees feature Sha Tin regular and global star Cirrus Des Aigles, (also in the Vase) who would be having his fifth start at the LONGINES HKIR in the past six years. Should he take the 2000m route, the evergreen gelding would likely meet Hong Kong’s outstanding Horse of the Year Designs On Rome and his formidable predecessor Military Attack, as well as two-time Cup winner California Memory, who is another with a Vase entry too. Epiphaneia from Japan, Australian Derby (2400m) winner Criterion (also in Vase) and Germany’s Lucky Lion (also in the Mile) are other top-class nominees.

Al Kazeem, a three-time G1 winner and runner-up in a pulsating duel for the recent G1 Champion Stakes (2000m) at Ascot, holds entries in the Vase and the Cup, one of 83 horses with a double nomination.

Ireland’s Adelaide, winner of Australia’s G1 Cox Plate (2000m), is another standout nominee with Cup and Vase entries, while last year’s LONGINES Hong Kong Vase winner Dominant, who ended Hong Kong’s 15-year wait for a home-trained Vase victor, is among 77 nominated for the mile and a half contest.

The Vase nominees also include G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Flintshire from France, Britain’s G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes second Telescope, and Japan’s Admire Rakti, winner of the G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in Australia earlier this month. Others with the Vase on their radars are the popular G1 Irish St Leger (2800m) victor Brown Panther, owned by former international footballer Michael Owen, 2012 Vase winner Red Cadeaux, the American big gun Main Sequence – a triple G1 winner this term – and G1 Canadian International (2400m) scorer Hillstar.

A stellar list of 62 nominees for the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint features last year’s runner-up Sole Power, a four-time G1 winner, as well as top-class Irish compatriot Gordon Lord Byron. The field could also include Australian stalwart Buffering and the new kid on the European sprinting block, G Force, winner of the G1 Sprint Cup (1200m), as well as that three-year-old’s stablemate, the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye (1000m) winner Move In Time. Among the excellent home entrants are last season’s Dubai World Cup night heroes Amber Sky and Sterling City, and 2011 winner Lucky Nine.

“It’s great to once again see such a depth of quality to this year’s LONGINES Hong Kong International Races nominations. We are accustomed to seeing world-class performers at Sha Tin each December. The horses nominated at this stage give a clear indication that this year’s Turf World Championships, with its phenomenal prize money and great hospitality, will more than live up to its billing as world racing’s de facto end-of-year Group 1 showcase,” said William A Nader, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director of Racing.