Horses landed in Hong Kong

Sunday morning, a special plane took off from Liege’s airport on board a chartered Boeing 777 from Etihad and landed this morning in Hong-Kong. On board, sixty-two horses and lots of equipment, as the Longines Masters Series continues its intercontinental journey towards Asia.

Amongst those sixty-two horses, many stars of the international circuit of show jumping such as Ayade de Septon*HDC, with whom the French champion Kevin Staut will try a double win in the Longines Speed Challenge after their victory in Paris, and Basta, the stallion with whom Hong Kong’s Jacqueline Lai, best Asian chance in this Longines Masters, was selected for the World Equestrian Games in Tryon.

Frédéric Pignon’s artist horses, the Iberian Phoebus De Barral and Talento De Courenne will be on the same plane. They will present to the AsiaWorld-Expo’s crowd, a moment of equestrian magic, only he is able to do, with his wife Magali Delgado by his side.

Horses from Ecuries d’Écaussines, joined the flight to perform in the dazzling HKJC Race of the Riders and compete with the young generation for Asian in the new Asian Junior Challenge. Preceding the flight some of the essential materials made the voyage to Hong Kong by sea for the great installations of this Longines Masters such as 1000 bedding bales, 150 hay bales and 1200 tons of footing sand.

Edwina Alexander withdrawn

he Australian rider, still in the run for the Grand Slam Indoor of Showjumping, had to withdraw from this act II of the Season IV. Vinchester, the Grand Prix horse she was preparing for this competition, is not fit enough. The rider thought it was best to leave him on rest as he would not have been on top of his form to run this challenge. Unfortunately, unexpected event such as this one is part of the sport. The quality of the Longines Masters of Hong Kong line-up still remains of the highest with three former World No.1, World and Olympic champions, as well as some other Europeans cracks.

Facts and figures of the
Longines Masters of Hong Kong:

Number of horses: 62
Number of riders: 32
Bales of hay: 150
Packs of shavings: 1 000
Tons of footing sand: 1 200
Number of staff: 740
Number of volunteers: 128
Hotel Nights: 1238
Lighting: 1000
Cameras & photographers: 150