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Wednesday 14th February
 Silent Witness, the iconic Hong Kong sprinter who
captivated racing fans the world over when in 2005 he
eclipsed the record 16-race win streak held by Citation,
Cigar, and *Ribot, will soon head back to his native
Australia to spend his retirement after finishing ninth
of ten runners in his swan song in the $576,328
Centenary Sprint Cup on Sunday at Sha Tin.
In front of 27,000 spectators, hundreds of which sported
the black and green racing colours of owner Archie da
Silva, the eight-year-old El Moxie gelding’s legs just
could not withstand the rigors of racing any longer.
Scintillation tallied by three-quarters of a length over
Absolute Champion in the 1,000-meter (4.97-furlong)
race, which Silent Witness won in both 2004 and ’05.
Silent Witness was retired due to a degenerative
condition in his hind joints. He was named Hong Kong’s
Horse of the Year in 2004, and earned the same honor the
following year after surpassing the previous record of
16 straight wins when he scored in the Queen’s Silver
Jubliee Cup on April 24, 2005, at Sha Tin.
Bred by I.K. Smith and trained by Tony Cruz, Silent
Witness also was named Hong Kong’s champion sprinter
three straight times from 2004-‘06. Ridden in all of his
29 career starts by Felix Coetzee, he won 18 races,
including the 2004 and ’05 editions of the Bauhinia
Sprint Trophy and the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, both at
Sha Tin.
Da Silva was overcome with emotion as he tried to
express his feelings for Silent Witness, whom he called
“the Spirit of Hong Kong.”
“He began his career at a time when Hong Kong was in the
midst of an economic depression and SARS [severe acute
respiratory syndrome],” Da Silva said. “He has that
fighting spirit that took him through 18 wins, breaking
so many records. That same spirit is in me; it's also in
the Hong Kong people. He has made us all very proud.”
Silent Witness, who is out of the Bureaucracy mare Jade
Tiara, will be paraded in front of fans at a farewell
party at Sha Tin on February 25. He will then be retired
to Living Legends, the international home of rest for
champion horses near Melbourne, Australia.
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