As it does each year, the Sydney Royal Easter Show provides a great showcase of retired racehorses and some of the standout entries in the thoroughbred classes this week have been several former Hong Kong racing stars.

Hillview Thoroughbreds’ Rebecca Brown is a seasoned campaigner at Sydney Royal, which this year runs from April 6-17, having competed there since she was six years old. She has five horses entered and two of the most admired and talked about in her troupe have been the former John Size-trained sprinter Hot King Prawn (Denman) and Helene Charisma (Air Chief Marshal).

Hot King Prawn, or Chilli, as he’s known for short around the stable, took his first big outing all in his stride and attracted worldwide interest.

"Someone messaged me from New York and said he’s our all-time favourite Hong Kong horse and we can’t believe how well he looks and happy he is. How good is that?” said Brown.

Brown is smitten with the big grey and still can't believe her luck when he was sent her way last August after his connections decided to retire him.  

"IRT phoned me to say I had one coming in and they said his name and I nearly died. I said 'Sorry, are you serious?'."

"John (Size) never tells me who they are, they just turn up. He only rings me when there is a problem, we have that kind of afriendship," she said. 

Chilli carries Torryburn Stud's heart-shaped brand and was sold through their draft at the 2016 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale to Aquanita Racing for $90,000.

In Hong Kong, he went on to win 12 races and earned $HK36.4 million in prize money. He's left those heady days well behind him and transitioned back into Australian life as though he never left.

"He has an amazing temperament but there are some weird things he does. They would have to be a bit like that to have been such a great sprinter I suppose. At the end of the day, he's still a thoroughbred, but nothing is a problem with him,” Brown said.  

"He’s very special. He's handled the transition amazingly. I only work him twice per week but that will step up once he's under saddle. I never rush my horses and always take my time with them."

While Hot King Prawn wasn't the judge's first choice at Sydney Royal this week, his potential as a star of the future looks assured. 

"He's a lovely horse and he is going to make a smashing show hunter. He's a beautifully put-together horse.” rform

Brown's other former Hong Kong-trained entry at the show is Helene Charisma, who is now known as Sauvignon HK in the show ring.

Chrizzy, as she likes to call him, competed there with great success last year, coming away with a couple of broad sashes and this week he was a winner once again, taking out first place in the LedANSA (Australian National Saddle Horse Association) Gelding 15HH-16HH category.

"He’s a real sweetie. He’s just beautiful. He’s the ultimate showman,” Brown said.

No matter what level you are playing at, showing horses is not always beer and Skittles. 

One of Brown's other big hopes for Sydney Royal was Deltadeel (Dundeel). He was called in first but when he left the line-up to perform his workout, a horse and cart came hurtling towards him from the neighbouring ring. He was totally overwhelmed and leapt high up in the air leaving the judge with no choice but to move him down to seventh position.

Brown knows all too well that these things can happen in competition. His day will come.

"He's a one-in-a-million horse for different reasons. He came to me to spell when he was gelded. I texted the trainer and said ‘This one’s mine’. I was praying that he was slow,” she said. 

"And that, he was. He had three barrier trials and two races and he didn’t want to do it. I think he was beaten in all of them by a combined 120 lengths."

Preparing and campaigning show horses is time-consuming and Brown juggles her lifelong passion with managing dozens of horses at home that she is trying to rehome or client racehorses that are on her property spelling. 

Rehoming, she says, is tough. The cost is huge and she, like many doing the same, needs better support from the industry. She has rehomed more than 800 horses from Hong Kong since she started and countless former Australian-trained horses as well.

"My feed bill is nearly $2,000 per week. I live in a shed and rent out my house on the property to help pay the bank. Myspellers pay for my Hong Kong horses and my show horses,” Brown said. 

Brown also dedicates her time to running the Spring Fair that is held at Hawkesbury each year. The fourth edition of the event last year attracted a whopping 1,109 class entries with 249 individual horses entered(before scratchings).

She confesses that it is near impossible to get sponsorship support for it from the racing and breeding industry or the state racing authority Racing NSW.  

How sad is that? 

Someone so passionate and who has done more than her fair share to help thoroughbreds at the end of the line find a new lease on life, could one day be lost to the industry. As could an event that has taken off and helped stimulate more interest from the equestrian community in taking on a retired racehorse. 

Millions and millions of dollars worth of thoroughbreds are bred and sold each year and race for record prize money. 

When they retire, the expense of managing them well remains and, if they compete in other pursuits, it's for ribbons mainly, as people like Brown know and accept.

What is deeply concerning is that now there is more need than ever to stage events for off-the-track thoroughbreds and demonstrate that they are given the best chance for a life after racing. 

Operations, such as that which Brown admirably runs, vitally need financial support if they are to continue to cater for the needs of the thoroughbred industry in rehoming racehorses. 

There's lots of talk, but not enough, if any, action.

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