Nineteen-year-old Joe Talamo takes on some of the world's best jockeys at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong on Wednesday night, when he will be the lone American in the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys' Championship. The three-race contest around the tight turns of Happy Valley offers a stern riding test in which early placement and the ability to maneuver in traffic are paramount.

Espoir City led throughout to win the $2.8 million Japan Cup Dirt at Hanshin on Sunday as the James Bond-trained U.S. invader Tizway weakened to finish 13th in the 16-runner field.

Soldier of Fortune, winner of the Irish Derby at age 3 and the Coronation Cup at 4 but unraced this year at 5, has been retired to stud and will stand at Haras du Logis Saint-Germain in Putot-en-Auge in Normandy, France.

What had promised to be a most revealing international contest, the $2.8 million Japan Cup Dirt lost much of its flavor when Summer Bird fractured his right foreleg in training last week. As a result, Tizway, whose best effort was a distant third behind Summer Bird in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, will fly the Stars and Stripes as the lone foreign entry in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 event at Nakayama on Sunday.

The four races on Sha Tin's Hong Kong International Races card on Dec. 13 have attracted a record total of 34 foreign entries, three more than ran in the 14 Breeders' Cup races at Santa Anita last month.

Conduit and his rider Ryan Moore will have to work out a trip at Tokyo on Sunday if they are to win the $4.9 million Japan Cup, as the two-time Breeders' Cup Turf champion has drawn post 16 in a field of 18 for the 1 1/2-mile, Grade 1 race.

One of the three American horses in the field, Interpatation, also drew wide in 15, but Just as Well in 7 and Marsh Side in 11 are more favorably positioned.

She is racing's American in Paris. Or, to be more specific, racing's American in Maisons-Laffitte, the training center west of Paris where she maintains a string of American -and British-owned horses, the only Yankee - male or female - currently training in France.

Conduit, two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf, was freed from the Shiroi Quarantine Center on Wednesday along with Marsh Side and a second Japan Cup challenger from Britain, Scintillo. That trio has joined Interpatation and Just as Well at Tokyo Racecourse where they will run in the $5.9 million Japan Cup on Sunday.

Conduit has taken the long way around to Japan, as he returned to his Newmarket base after having run down Presious Passion in the Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 7.

California Flag, the front-running winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, will bring his blazing speed show to Sha Tin for the $1.5 million Hong Kong Sprint on Dec. 13, when the Brian Koriner-trained California-bred will renew rivalry with the fast-closing Turf Sprint third, Cannonball.

Tizway touched down safely at Narita International Airport near Tokyo on Monday and will begin preparations for his meeting with Summer Bird in the $2.3 Japan Cup Dirt at Hanshin on Dec. 6.

Tizway showed no ill effects after his 15-hour journey from New York and will be housed at the Japan Racing Association's Horseracing School Quarantine Stables at Shiroi until Dec. 3, when he will be transferred to Hanshin Racecourse near Osaka. At Shiroi, he joins Summer Bird, who arrived in Japan last Thursday.