Sacred Kingdom wins top honor in Hong Kong

The sprinter Sacred Kingdom was named Horse of the Year by the Hong Kong Jockey Club on Sunday. A two-time Group 1 winner going six furlongs at Sha Tin this past season, the Ricky Yiu-trained 7-year-old was also named Hong Kong's champion sprinter for the third year in a row.

An Australian-bred gelding by Encosta de Lago, Sacred Kingdom swept the three best sprints in Hong Kong: the Hong Kong Sprint, the five-furlong Centenary Sprint Cup, and the Chairman's Sprint Prize. Owned by Sin Kang Yuk, he has won 15 of 23 starts to date for earnings of $4,791,273.

In two other divisions, big names Good Ba Ba and Viva Pataca were dethroned. Able One was named champion miler by virtue of his victory in the Champions Mile, in which Good Ba Ba was eighth. Collection, second to French invader Vision d'Etat in the Hong Kong Cup, clinched the middle distance title with his victory in the Hong Kong Gold Cup, in which Viva Pataca was sixth.

John Size took the trainers title with 74 winners, unseating last year's champion, Casper Fownes