Jacksons in Hong Kong with One Master

HONG KONG – It’s true there are no American horses here for the Hong Kong International Races on Sunday, but there are a couple of Americans here with their horse.

Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who reside in Pennsylvania and race as Lael Stable, have traveled from the U.S. to have a first-hand look at One Master in the Group 1, $3.2 million Hong Kong Mile.

One Master won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret in October at Longchamp and finished an admirable fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile last month at Churchill Downs.

“The Jacksons have traveled here, they’re very excited about it,” said England-based trainer William Haggas, who arrived in Hong Kong mid-week. “I mentioned this race to them and said maybe we should have a look at it, and they were eager to go. They were very supportive of the whole venture.”

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One Master, a 4-year-old homebred filly by Fastnet Rock out of Enticing, might well have been retired now had she not performed so well in the BC Mile. One Master didn’t debut until August of her 3-year-old season and even after improving steadily through 2018 struck Haggas as more of a seven-furlong sort of horse. The BC Mile was both an opportunity and a laboratory to test her stamina, and even after getting stuck inside on the deepest part of the Churchill turf course, One Master stayed on encouragingly to be beaten only one length by victorious Expert Eye.

“She actually looks better to me here than she did in America,” Haggas said after seeing One Master train at Sha Tin Racecourse. “The question is whether she can get a mile. If she can, she may well stay in training again next year.”

Next year could be especially exciting for Haggas, who has just welcomed the 3-year-old filly Sea of Class back into his training yard after she was given a little more than a month’s farm rest. Sea of Class emerged this year as one of the best horses in Europe and just missed running down Enable in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Haggas said there are no specific plans for a 2019 campaign yet, but that Sea of Class would be going to Dubai for a start in March.