Silent Witness heads a star-studded Champions Mile cast

The first leg of the inaugural Asian Mile Challenge (AMC), the HK$8 million Champions Mile (Gr.1-1600m) on May 14, promises to be the most eagerly-awaited and intriguing race of the season now that Hong Kong legend Silent Witness, the world´s top-ranked turf sprinter that has exhausted every superlative en route to a record-breaking 17 straight wins, prepares to race over a mile for the very first time ? and against top class opposition from home and abroad.

The Champions Mile has drawn a capacity field with five starters from Japan, Great Britain and Australia and eight rivals from Hong Kong bidding to be the first to lower the champ´s colours in a race worth approx. US$1.026 million.

Worth approx. US$2 million, the Yasuda Kinen (Gr.1-1600m) in Tokyo on June 5 is the second leg of the AMC. A bonus of US$1 million will go to the winner of both races. That´s a total of approx. US$4 million up for grabs in just two races.

'The Hong Kong Jockey Club is delighted to join with the Japan Racing Association and further drive the internationalisation of horse racing by establishing the Asian Mile Challenge,' said Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Hong Kong Jockey Club´s Executive Director of Racing.

'It is terrific that we have attracted such strong competition both from within Asia and also through Europe. Of course, Silent Witness´ tackling a mile for the first time will stimulate global interest and that can only be good news for this exciting new initiative,' he added.

Silent Witness´s opposition for his test at a mile is formidable, headed by the dual Classic winning British filly, Attraction, the winner of four Gr.1s over the distance last season - including an unprecedented English/Irish 1,000 Guineas double. Joint-third in the current world filly/mare rankings, Attraction´s record of nine wins and two seconds (in Gr.1 races) from 12 starts led trainer Mark Johnston to label the four-year-old as the best horse he has trained and she really caught the imagination of racing fans in England last year with her gutsy front-running style.

Featured in the recently published list of the World´s Leading Horses, Cosmo Bulk is the leading Japanese entry for the first leg of the AMC. Based in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, Cosmo Bulk was voted Horse of the Year by Japan´s National Association of Racing (NAR) having finished second in both the Japanese 2000 Guineas (JpnGr.1-2000m) and the Japan Cup (Gr.1-2400m) in 2004. He also won the JRA´s Special Award of 2004. Cosmo Bulk will be the first NAR horse to race in Hong Kong.

Delzao from Australia is also poised to contest the Champions Mile. Last year he ran the great Lonhro to a head in the Australian Cup (Gr.1-2000m) and he filled the same position Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Sydney (Gr.1-2000m) on April 2. Delzao´s connections travel to Hong Kong hoping their horse can earn a maiden Gr.1 win to boost his new value before his stud career begins la terthisyear.span style=´mso-spacerun:yes´>

Brunel, winner of the German 2000 Guineas (Gr.2-1600m) last term, contributes

another Classic dimension to the British challenge for the Champions Mile. Brunel started his four-year-old season in fine style with second in a Gr.2 event over a mile at Sandown last weekend, and owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, one of Europe´s leading racing syndicates, are preparing for a first trip to Hong Kong.

Meiner Solomon from Japan completes the international line-up. The five-year-old has solid form in his homeland, running second in the Swan Stakes (JpnGr.2-1400m) and fourth in the Mile Championship (Gr.1).

The home defence could not be any stronger - nine of the top-rated 14 Hong Kong horses are poised to contest the Champions Mile, six of them winners at the highest level locally, including four successful in Gr.1 races over the Sha Tin 1600m.

Bullish Luck drops back to the mile at which he has landed this season´s Stewards´ Cup (Gr.1) and Chairman´s Trophy (Gr.2), while stable companion Perfect Partner ran second in the CX Hong Kong Mile (Gr.1) last December prior to his success in the Hong Kong Gold Cup (Gr.1-2000m).

Super Kid, winner of last year´s Stewards´ Cup, narrowly missed the money after an excellent performance in the last weekend´s Audemars Piguet QEII Cup and will be joined by his stable companion and former Horse of the Year, Electronic Unicorn, in addition to Tiber, a former victor of the Gr.1 Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile.

The Duke, winner of the Gr.2 CX International Mile Trial and third in the CX Hong Kong Mile in December will take part, as will Town Of Fionn, who continues his climb through the ratings after an excellent second last weekend to Silent Witness in the Queen´s Silver Jubilee Cup (Gr.2-1400m), and Ain´t Here, another Group winner over the Sha Tin mile this season in the Gr.3 Sha Tin Trophy.

The Champions Mile will be Silent Witness´ sternest examination to date. Make sure you are at Sha Tin on May 14 to cheer on the greatest horse in Hong Kong racing history to maintaining his perfect record against some of the leading milers in world racing.