Irian (racehorse)
Irian (Chinese: 魔法幻影 ) is a German-bred Hong Kong based racehorse. He was one of the nominees of 2010-2011 Hong Kong Horse of the Year.
Background
Irian is a brown gelding bred in Germany by Gestut Schlenderhan. He is probably the best offspring of his sire, the German Group Three winner Tertullian.
Racing career
Irian was sent into training with J Hirschberger in Germany, where he raced as a three-year-old in 2009. He won three races including the Dr. Busch-Memorial and the Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen.
In 2010, Irian resumed his career in Hong Kong, racing at Sha Tin Racecourse. In November 2010 he defeated ten opponents to win the Jockey Club Cup. He has run notably in defeat, finishing second in the Hong Kong Cup in both 2010 (to Snow Fairy) and 2011 (to California Memory).
References
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport, involving two or more jockeys riding horses over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports and its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has remained unchanged since the earliest times.
Horse races vary widely in format. Often, countries have developed their own particular horse racing traditions. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces and running in different gaits.
While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance lies in the gambling associated with it, an activity that in 2008 generated a world-wide market worth around US$115 billion.
History
Horse racing has a long and distinguished history and has been practised in civilisations across the world since ancient times. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in Ancient Greece, Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. It also plays an important part of myth and legend, such as the contest between the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology.
New Guinea
New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Niugini; Dutch: Nieuw-Guinea; Indonesian: Papua or, historically, Irian) is a large Island in the South West Pacific region.
It is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 785,753 km2, and the largest wholly within the southern hemisphere.
The island is divided among two countries: Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west.
Names
The island has been known by various names.
The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West. Its etymology is unclear; one theory states that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore, which controlled parts of the island's coastal region. The name came from papo (to unite) and ua (negation), which means not united or, territory that geographically is far away (and thus not united).
Ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning 'frizzly-haired', referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. Another possibility, put forward by Sollewijn Gelpke in 1993, is that it comes from the Biak phrase sup i papwa which means 'the land below [the sunset]' and refers to the islands west of the Bird's Head, as far as Halmahera. Whatever the origin of the name Papua, it came to be associated with this area, and more especially with Halmahera, which was known to the Portuguese by this name during the era of their colonization in this part of the world.
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