Douglas Whyte turned back the clock at Shatin on Sunday. On an eventful packed day where three jockeys came down in what, fortunately, only looked like a horrific fall- the jockeys being Zac Purton, Neil Callan and Howard Cheng- long-priced winners pummelled punters, and the gentleman that was Lawrie Fownes looked down as Andreas Suborics guided debutant Quarternion Eagle to an emotional victory for son Caspar and the closely-knit Fownes family, Douglas Whyte gave racing fans another of his master classes in riding with a quartet of winners.
It was almost as if the thirteen-time champion jockey of Hong Kong with nothing left to prove, decided that, sure, there can be Magic Men and lethal Zac Attacks, but the Durban Demon is still more than capable of breathing fire and not prepared to abdicate and be Yesterday’s Man.
Yes, Joao Moreira was on the sidelines sitting out a suspension and Zac Purton had been shaken and stirred in the wars that took place in the fall during the fifth race, but let’s not have any of this take anything away from Whyte’s successes.
Young guns may come and go and a few will stay and carry on the tradition of being a champion, but the way twitter exploded with a number of Klout Moments to salute Whyte’s classic four-timer showed the incredible respect people have for this very special jockey whose journey through racing should really be a book turned into a movie with many of his accomplishments belonging in the Guinness Book Of World Records. Why they’re not remains a mystery.
Thanks for the timely reminder, Champ- not that we needed one. Once a champion, always a champion. It’s a DNA thing.
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