Vengeance of Rain (NZ)

Hong Kong's international champion
11:16 PM Tuesday Oct 28, 2008

Bred in New Zealand by a group of Australians, and sold for $300,000 as a yearling at Karaka, he was a two-year-old stakeswinner in Melbourne before his sale to Chinese owners whose South African trainer prepared the horse to become Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year and a Group One winner in Dubai.

That was the very modern, multi-national career of New Zealand-bred champion Vengeance Of Rain.

Horses like him come round just once in a blue moon...He has it all: class and courage.

His career in Hong Kong began modestly with an unplaced run, then three minor placings. Five consecutive victories followed during his four-year-old season, including the Hong Kong Derby HK-1, and Queen Elizabeth II Cup G1. Both races were over Sha Tin’s testing 2000 metres that the son of Zabeel would make his own. In all, he won seven of his ten Hong Kong starts at that distance. 

He returned at five to win twice, and claimed the World Racing Championship with an impressive Hong Kong Cup G1 victory in December 2005.
His jockey Anthony Delpech said after that race, "He is the best horse I've ever ridden and I don't think I'll ever ride one like him again. Horses like him come round just once in a blue moon.

We found a nice position one off the fence and he was cantering at the final turn and he really fought hard. He has it all: class and courage."

An irregular heartbeat threatened to end his career but after recuperating at his birthplace, New Zealand’s famous Cambridge Stud, he returned as a six-year-old to win the Hong Kong Gold Cup HK-1.

That was the prelude to his most important performance, a powerhouse defeat of a strong international field in the 2007 Dubai Sheema Classic G1. In the process he became the first Hong Kong winner on Dubai’s World Cup night.

Vengeance Of Rain was named Hong Kong’s 2006-07 Horse of the Year, Champion Stayer and Most Popular Horse. With a rating of 122, he was the highest-ranked Kiwi-bred horse on the 2006-07 World Rankings, and fourth equal overall. 

Vengeance Of Rain was retired in February 2008 and returned for the last time to the lush paddocks of Cambridge Stud where he will spend the rest of his days.

VENGEANCE OF RAIN (NZ) 2000 bay gelding
BREEDING	Zabeel (NZ)-Danelagh (AUS) by Danehill (USA)
RECORD	27 starts, 10 wins from 1200 to 2400m, 7 placings $A64,000, $HK46,965,500, 11,040,000Dhs
BREEDERS	K. Biggs Enterprises Pty Ltd, Porter St Investments Pty Ltd, R. N. Russell & Dr J. M. Ticknell, Australia
OWNERS	Raymond Gianco Chow Hon Man & the Executors of the Estate of the late Chow Nam, Hong Kong Lloyd Williams, Australia
TRAINERS	David Ferraris, Hong Kong Graeme Rogerson, Australia
REGULAR JOCKEY	Anthony Delpech
GROUP ONE WINS	Nad al Sheba Dubai Sheema Classic S., HKJC Hong Kong Cup, Queen Elizabeth II Cup,  Hong Kong Gold Cup, HK-1, Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup, HK-1, Hong Kong Derby, HK-1
AWARDS	World Racing Championship winner, 2005 Hong Kong Horse of the Year, 2007 Hong Kong Champion Middle Distance Performer, 2005, 2006 Hong Kong Champion Stayer, 2005, 2007 Hong Kong Most Popular Horse, 2007 Hong Kong's all-time leading stake-earner