John Size secured a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers’ championship at Sha Tin on Sunday (13 July) as the master trainer embarked on a familiar coronation march with a treble, further burnishing an extraordinary career.
Size sealed the championship with the wins of Sight Dreamer, Raging Rapids and Bundle Award to leave the Australian with 69 wins for the season – beyond the reach of compatriot David Hayes (60) – with only nine races left to be run at Wednesday night’s (16 July) Season Finale at Happy Valley.
Nearing the end of his 24th season in Hong Kong, Size added to the previous championships he won in 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2005/06, 2007/08, 2009/10, 2011/12, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2022/23, and took his Hong Kong career tally to 1,612 wins – second overall to retired Australian John Moore (1,734).
George Moore held the record for the most Hong Kong trainers’ titles with 11 until he was joined in 2018/19 by Size, who has also finished second five times and third three times in the championship.
Characteristically modest, Size, 71, was proud and reflective on securing his latest crown.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction in that (winning) and probably something I’m very grateful to achieve,” Size said. “It’s a very strong and stiff competition and so therefore you have to rise up to it.
“As I’ve said before, I’m surprised that I’ve been so successful in Hong Kong. It’s always been a test of if I can keep performing at that level and, so far, I’ve been able to over 24 years and, God willing, and if my health is still okay, I can do it for a little bit longer.”
Rating Red Lion’s HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) as the highlight of another glorious season, Size said: “That was a really good example of what can happen on a race track and that’s what makes the game go round – the vagaries of racing, the uncertainties and the unpredictability of it.
“Owners, trainers and jockeys should take some encouragement from those sorts of performances. It just proves it can be done if everything is right on the night. That was very satisfying.”
Likening the art of training to other sports and vocations, Size described the need to constantly improve as a “natural progression, it’s evolution.”
“Like every business, every sport’s the same, training racehorses is no different. You have to keep improving to keep up and you certainly have to be improving to stay ahead, so if you’re doing it for a long period of time, I think it’s hard to stay in a good position for a quarter of a century,” he said. “You don’t see it every day.
“So, I get some sort of gratification from that in my innovations and my attempt to keep up and stay ahead of the younger ones is working to some degree. Every now and then, I change small things but my approach in general hasn’t changed in training horses, but I have to adapt to different scenarios in order to keep winning and even in 24 years, a lot of things change, so you have to adapt and I’ve managed to survive.”
Leading Hayes 66 wins to 60 at the start of the meeting, Size stretched the lead to seven when Sight Dreamer prevailed in the Class 5 Miraculous Handicap (1400m) under Andrea Atzeni before Karis Teetan piloted Raging Rapids to victory in the Class 4 Medic Kingdom Handicap (1400m).
Bundle Award shunted Size further clear with a brilliant performance – clocking a searing 21.87s for the final 400m – under Atzeni in the Class 1 The Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Trophy Handicap (1600m) to ultimately seal the championship.
Zac Purton ended the Sha Tin season as he started with it – with a quartet – after combining with Circuit Mighty, Huge Wave, Bulb General and Tony Cruz’s Beauty Bolt (124lb), who claimed a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million with victory in the Class 3 All You Wish Handicap (1400m).
“It’s always nice to be starting well and finishing well. He’s (Beauty Bolt) a nice horse,” Purton said after taking his seasonal haul to 136 wins. “It’s never easy coming into Hong Kong and adapting like he has with the faster speed and the faster track but, on what he’s shown, he’s promising.”
The battle for the Tony Cruz Award for the leading homegrown jockey is set for a cliffhanger finish on Wednesday (16 July) after both Matthew Chadwick and Derek Leung sliced further into Matthew Poon’s lead.
With one meeting to go, Poon (36 wins) leads Chadwick (35) and Leung (34) after Chadwick triumphed on Chris So’s Devas Twelve to land the Class 4 Pingwu Spark Handicap (1400m) and Leung followed suit on Jimmy Ting’s Happy Universe in the Class 4 Solar Hei Hei Handicap (1600m).
Ting scored a double when Huge Wave clinched the Class 3 Sight Winner Handicap (1600m) under before Douglas Whyte’s Celestial Hero claimed a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million with success in the Class 3 Joy And Fun Handicap (1200m) for Hugh Bowman.
Manfred Man reached a career-best 45 wins in a season when Circuit Mighty (135lb) triumphed in the Class 5 Mr Award Handicap under Zac Purton. Man’s previous best was 44 victories in 2022/23.
Ben Thompson celebrated the final Sha Tin meeting of his stint before returning to Australia at season’s end with victory on Yip’s promising three-year-old All’s Well in the Class 4 Big Profit Handicap (1200m).
“It felt quite fitting to win this race. My first ride in Hong Kong (Devil And Gold) was for Dennis Yip, so it’s nice to ride a winner for him at my last Sha Tin meeting,” Thompson said.
Jamie Richards hopes Bulb General can continue to improve after the three-year-old posted an impressive win in the Class 4 Victory Marvel Handicap (1200m) after recovering colic surgery in February.
“Good win, nice horse,” Richards said. “He raced very well in February (when third to Crossborderpegasus) and the form out of the race was strong and, unfortunately, he did get held up with a little bout of colic after his first run.
“He’s made a full recovery and it looks like he’s got a few rating points up his sleeve. We’ll let the horse do the talking next season and hopefully he can work his way through the grades.”
Hong Kong racing continues with the Season Finale at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (16 July).
By Leo Schlink
