Slovenia coach Srecko Katanec insists his side's dismal showing in February's Hong Kong Cup will have no bearing on their displays in the Far East.

BBC: Katanec: Blip will not affect us

In December, he won the Hong Kong Cup, an international showcase race with a hefty purse, for the second year in a row atop the same gray gelding, California Memory.

WSJ: How a Jockey Trains for Horse Racing

Falbrav's electrifying turn of speed helped him notch up five Group One wins although his fifth - and arguably most impressive - win in the Hong Kong Cup came too late for him to receive due recognition at the annual awards hand-outs.

BBC: SPORT | Other Sport | Horse Racing | Racing: Stars repeat success

New Zealand have made 12 changes from the team that beat Australia in the Bledisoe Cup in Hong Kong last Saturday.

BBC: Lineen targets historic Scots win

Wayne Kong Yuk-shan, a branch officer at an Aeon office in the Central business district, says some 100 people, a number of them male, queued every day to apply for the pastel-pink card - and choose their free gift from a selection of Hello Kitty appliances. (These days, the giveaways are Kitty cup noodles and a cushion.) "Hong Kong people are very influenced by Japanese culture, so they like Kitty, " says Kong.

CNN: PRETTY IN PINK SLUMP

But racing is also an international sport, with British, Irish and French contenders in the Dubai World Cup meeting in March, in the Breeders Cup series in America in the autumn and in the Hong Kong Festival meeting in December.

CNN: All the world loves a flutter

We cried with him at Italia 90, we celebrated with him at Euro 96 and in between we forgave his horror tackle in the 1991 Cup final and the "dentist chair" incident in a Hong Kong bar with the other England players.

BBC: The tears and joy of Gazza

Woods was three shots off the pace at the World Golf Championships event, tied for fifth with fellow U.S. Ryder Cup star Anthony Kim, their compatriot Ryan Moore, world No. 4 Paul Casey and Hong Kong Open champion Wen-tang Lin.

CNN: Watney ties record as Tiger lurks in Shanghai