Cryptic notes from the crib
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Jockeys can’t bet?
Jockeys can’t bet but their wives can
So can their girlfriends, family and Abdul
When did anyone of authority
Think again about this goofy rule?
Do they think it’s working fine
And not just going down the drain?
Do they really think this is
the key to integrity?
Dear gawd, where did they
get their brains?
Jockeys can’t bet
And jockeys can’t tip
Whoever believes this
must be high on crack cocaine
But yet they say that dem’s da rules
Even though both of these
are absurd and absolutely insane
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This year’s HKIJC: We felt good like Brother James!
It had that Wow factor because those of us there at Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday night were able to see just what it means to watch some of the best riders in the world throwing everything they’ve got into winning.
It was exhilarating stuff, it was world class entertainment of the sporting kind and showed why with the right marketing and the blinkers removed, these international jockeys competitions are showcases needed to take horse racing to another level- and attract a wider audience.
Before telling us that “this is what we live for”, show us why. It’s like explaining the difference between baseball and cricket. It’s kinda like assuming we’re dumb and dumber.
James McDonald winning almost every big race in Australia is one thing. It’s become par for the course. But to see him matching skills and wits with Tom Marquand, Hollie Doyle, Ryan Moore and Mikhael Barzalona from the UK and Europe showed how the best bring out the best in each other.
Yes, Zac Purton won the Cup for the home team with another brilliant display of world class riding despite not riding a winner. Not to dismiss this, his third win in this competition as hollow, but this year’s one really was a combined show of talent and strength with at least five winning riders.
Speaking to some Hong Kong racing fans, they’ve already embraced and adopted the Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle as their own.
Ryan Moore will always be an old favourite, whereas the efforts of Mikhael Barzalona’s last to first win on Elon was more breathtaking than watching James Brown strut his stuff onstage and scream, “I Feel Good!” Ugh!
As for J-Mac, he showed exactly why Now is him time and how and why all the world is his stage. He is a key part of the changing of the guard and is a great young ambassador for the sport.
At a time when that glass is often half empty, if only the Hong Kong Jockey Club were able to bottle Wednesday night’s excitement and positive on-course atmosphere and sprinkle it throughout Hong Kong, the world just might shake off its funk.
Right, Brother James?
#HKracing #HKIJC #jamesmcdonald #tommarquand #holliedoyle #mikhaelbarzalona #ryanmoore #excitement #competitiveness #worldclass #hongkong
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Vagnerian Rhapsody
Vagner Borges. It was a bit surprising, but, then again, not really, that he wasn’t the lead story in the English racing media after the races at Shatin on Sunday.
Whatever he’s doing, he’s making all the right moves, and as every race meeting goes by, one can be forgiven into thinking that this Brazilian- and not Joao Moreira- is the magic man for Trainer John Size.
This combination has, somehow, clicked- the laidback, experienced and ultra successful John Size and Vagner Borges, the pretty much unknown and still very much work in progress before coming close to being a world class jockey.
It’s a great script for a movie about an underdog fighting against all odds and succeeding.
Whatever he might lack in experience, style and finesse, the effusive young Brazilian makes up for by riding winner after winner for the master trainer.
On Sunday, he rode a man-Sized double by winning on Amazing Teens and Sight Success. To date, Vagner Borges has ridden six winners from only 28 rides for the master trainer.
When first offered a ride by John Size, most thought it was because he (Borges) could ride light, is good on a leader, and Joao Moreira had passed up on the ride for something else in the race. It’s very probably the reason.
By now, however, the success rate of this odd couple has become downright spooky, possums, especially with the double at Shatin on Sunday.
At this meeting, life took some cruel turns for most punters. Favourites kept getting rocked and rolled and horses with no names won.
It’s why the Quaddie in Australia for the Shatin races paid over $117,000 and there’s a HUGE Six Up Bonus up for grabs on Sunday. HUUUUGE.
The winless Victor Wong rode his first winner of the season- Alcari at 70-1. There were winners for Dylan Mo, Matthew Poon and Lyle Hewitson- the latter’s first winner during this, his second tour of duty in Hong Kong, and again, for Douglas Whyte.
What was different about this win? Last season it took the popular young South African rider three months to get off the mark. This time it’s taken him three race meetings to ride a winner- Valiant Elegance- a perfectly executed ride and in line with the riding instructions given to him by the trainer.
Meanwhile, Chad Schofield made a quiet exit from Hong Kong and Hong Kong racing with wife Hannah to begin their new family life in Sydney whereas Zac Purton aka The Influencer became the all-time highest prize money earner as a jockey in Hong Kong by overtaking the record set by the great Dougie Whyte. His haul to date: HK$1,588,025,566.
Impressive figures to some and somewhat gauche to mention money to others. But there’s no getting away from the champion rider’s accomplishments and hunger to eat into other records set by his longtime nemesis Douglas Whyte.
The new prize money figure clicked over when the Tony Cruz trained Beauty Joy won the last race of the day for Zac’s most loyal and giving owners- the SaSa Kwok family. The family Kwok had two other runners in the race.
We’re very very sure just how much prize money has increased since he was winning every major race in Hong Kong was not lost on Cruzy.
As he might have mumbled again, “Putha, man, when I was riding Co-Tack, we won every major race in Hong Hong and barely made a million bucks”. Times change, Tony.
As for Zac, he has already asked for a peerage and a statue of him in full gladiator gear to be erected outside 1 Sports Road.
He also insists on being called Zachary from now on and with a special “ZP” suite being built exclusively for him in the jockey rooms at Happy Valley Racecourse and Shatin.
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Up The Pike
Warren Huntley, below, didn’t make it exactly easy on Deane Lester the other day on RSN927, these days, along with the Tobin Brothers “celebrating lives”, a new sponsor onboard selling the joys of investing in cryptocurrency.
As for the duelling racing analysts, it was almost like Chris Parnham successfully boxing in William Pike in the recent running of the Kingston Town Classic. The big man, however, was up for everything that was thrown his way.
Like a combination of Houdini and Perry Mason, Deano tackled questions fired his way about the ride of “The Wizard” on $1.22 hotbed of fire Western Empire in the big race last Saturday with aplomb- smooth, unruffled and played it down the middle with a straight bat.
You’re a beautiful man, Deano.
What did we think of the ride? It wasn’t good enough to be wizardry. Sometimes those darn rabbits refuse to play ball.
All credit to Patrick Carberry for the last to first ride on winner and highly rated stablemate Regal Power that went off at the extraordinarily luxurious odds of 14-1, and a two thumbs up for the major co-starring role played by Chris Parnham for some competitive riding and not giving Pike an inch. But enough of all this looking back at the past. It’s irrelevant.
More important to watch will be the next business moves by Western Australia’s most powerful racehorse owners Bob and Sandra Peters.
The chain reaction that might be lit in the wake of this including more trainers being brought in by these owners and the impact this might have to the careers of the training team of Grant and Alana Williams plus where William Pike slots in to this intriguing ménage-a-trois will be an interesting horse opera to follow.
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Every picture tells a story
Every picture has a different tale to tell
The changing of the guard will continue
It’s always how life reinvents itself
Copyright © Hans Ebert