The provision of career opportunities and the continuous professional development of homegrown Hong Kong talent sit at the heart of Club priorities and the recurring success of gifted participants including Tony Cruz, Vincent Ho, Frankie Lor, Ricky Yiu, Francis Lui, among others, has been one of the uplifting features of Hong Kong’s world-class racing.
Tony is a legend of Hong Kong racing with a record 946 wins as a homegrown jockey, six Hong Kong jockey championships as well as 1,572 victories as a trainer and two Hong Kong trainers’ championships. With 2,518 wins in total in Hong Kong – and counting – Tony remains a huge contributor to Hong Kong racing.
While his personal achievements are stunning, his towering accomplishments have fuelled the ambitions of those who aspire to emulate him and we are constantly reminded of Tony’s influence through the deeds of those who have followed him.
In only four meetings this season, we have watched two of our youngest homegrown jockeys – Britney Wong and Ellis Wong – ride doubles against some of the best riders in the world. Additionally, we have witnessed masterful displays by Vincent, Matthew Chadwick and Derek Leung – all winners of the Tony Cruz Award as Hong Kong’s leading homegrown jockey.
Hong Kong is privileged to have a truly outstanding group of overseas jockeys in our roster, notably eight-time Hong Kong champion Zac Purton, Hugh Bowman, Alexis Badel, Andrea Atzeni, Brenton Avdulla, Luke Ferraris and Karis Teetan and their influence on all their peers continues to benefit Hong Kong racing.
The competitive presence of riders of this calibre means any Hong Kong win is to be celebrated and cherished and, from that perspective, Derek’s effort to be sitting on the verge of a monumental career landmark is significant.
With 498 Hong Kong winners, Derek is poised to soon pass the 500-win landmark, a tally reached only by the finest of Hong Kong’s homegrown jockeys – Tony (946), Vincent (611) and Matthew Chadwick (567).
The feats of these riders, along with Angus Chung, Jerry Chau, Matthew Poon, Keith Yeung, Dylan Mo, Ellis and Britney, serve as a reminder of the wonderful developmental pathways provided by the Club and we are grateful for the ongoing tutelage of formef champion jockey Felix Coetzee and Amy Chan, Head of Racing Talent Training and Headmistress of the Apprentice Jockeys’ School.
Integral to the development of young Hong Kong riders are overseas stints. Currently, we have several jockeys honing their craft in Australia, including Isaac Sit, who learning his trade in South Australia, while Rocky Cheung and Jefferson Tsang recently rode their first metropolitan winners in Perth.
All three are gaining invaluable experience which will hopefully eventually stand them in good stead back in Hong Kong.
At Sha Tin on Sunday (21 September), the feature race is the Class 2 Yi Tung Shan Handicap, which is carded as Race 9 and run over 1200m at 5.10pm with prizemoney of HK$2,840,000.
The pace will be good. CALL ME GLORIOUS (Matthew Chadwick) should have enough early speed to lead from gate seven, with TOMODACHI KOKOROE (Harry Bentley) and BABY CRYSTAL (Keagan de Melo) also pushing forward from middle draws. HARMONY N BLESSED (Zac Purton) begins quickly and is expected to go forward from a wide draw.
DANCING CODE (Ellis Wong) ended last season on a winning note when he finished brilliantly to beat HARMONY N BLESSED and LADY’S CHOICE. DANCING CODE impressed when winning a trial last week at Conghua and is drawn perfectly in gate four. DANCING CODE will be suited by the fast pace and is a win and place chance.
GORGEOUS WIN (Hugh Bowman) has won five times over this course and distance and ran well when resuming behind KA YING RISING in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m) on 7 September when he was taken back from a wide draw before making a sustained run wide on the course to finish an excellent fourth. GORGEOUS WIN is a place chance from his rails draw.
BRILLIANT EXPRESS (Alexis Badel) ran only once over 1200m last season, finishing a close second in easier company. BRILLIANT EXPRESS is better suited over slightly further, but looked good in a recent trial and with his light weight, can run home strongly off a fast pace and is a place chance.
David Hayes has two runners engaged with HARMONY N BLESSED, who won this race last season and has had a similar preparation into this year and TOMODACHI KOKOROE, who did not win a race last season but is very consistent and never beaten far. Both have place claims at good odds in an open contest where several runners are capable of being in the finish.
YOUNG CHAMPION, who is ridden by Brenton Avdulla, should be well positioned in midfield and has benefited from his first-up run. He can handle yielding ground and is an interesting outsider for a place.
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