Veteran Australian jockey Craig Williams lauds the role Hong Kong racing has played in both his personal and sporting life as he prepares to return to the Asian racing hub to partner Cap Ferrat in the HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on 26 April.<\/p>
Williams, who has ridden 90 Group 1 winners, rates last year\u2019s BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) victory on Francis Lui-trained Cap Ferrat as one of his biggest achievements in his long career and said it\u2019s very special to ride the former Australian galloper again.<\/p>
\u201cIt was one of my greatest achievements to win a Hong Kong Derby,\u201d Williams said. \u201cFor me, I lived and worked there for three years. As effective and as consistent and as good as I am today is because of the time I spent in Hong Kong. I have no doubt about that, and I was able to share it with my wife (Larysa).\u201d<\/p>
Cap Ferrat was winless in 13 Australian starts and broke his maiden in spectacular style on his fourth Hong Kong start in the BMW Hong Kong Derby thanks to a fine ride from Williams.<\/p>
The 48-year-old\u2019s journey with the son of Snitzel began at the gelding\u2019s fourth start when he rode him to third place in the Listed Phoenix Stakes (1500m) at Eagle Farm in Brisbane, Australia on 3 June 2023.<\/p>
\u201cI rode him as a two-year-old in Australia, and rode him in the lead-up race to the (BMW Hong Kong) Derby and spoke to Francis (Lui), who was a really good supporter of mine when I was riding in Hong Kong, and I gave him some feedback and he was then able to work with the horse and have him so well on the day,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”16048″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Before departing Australia, Cap Ferrat was third in the G3 Gloaming Stakes (1800m), second in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and a narrow third in the G1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) to Riff Rocket and Ceolwulf, who both became multiple Group 1 winners.<\/p>
Williams won the iconic G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) in 2019 on Vow And Declare and said the BMW Hong Kong Derby is the equivalent of Australia\u2019s greatest race.<\/p>
\u201cThere are no hiding spots when you get to that level in Hong Kong and you are going through the (Hong Kong) Classic Series races and they are all running in the same races and the only changes are the distances,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>
After winning the Derby, Cap Ferrat stepped up to the 2025 G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m) where he finished fifth, three lengths behind the winner Tastiera.<\/p>
Williams said that Hong Kong racing teaches jockeys perfection.<\/p>
\u201cThere are only two tracks to ride on, Wednesday at Happy Valley and Sunday at Sha Tin,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t go back to Sale, Moe, Cranbourne, Bairnsdale or Bendigo to get a winner. It\u2019s the toughest of the toughest every time you go around. Every time you go and ride in a race, it\u2019s your grand final, regardless of if it\u2019s a Class 5 or a Group 1.<\/p>
\u201cBeing successful in Hong Kong is the greatest place to be ever riding winners, because it is so well received and supported.\u201d<\/p>
Williams said he was happy with Cap Ferrat\u2019s first-up performance when he finished seventh in the G2 Chairman\u2019s Trophy (1600m) at Sha Tin on 6 April, when ridden by Alexis Badel, and Williams sees no reason why the gelding can\u2019t register his second victory to add to his two seconds and a third in Hong Kong.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”16047″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Veteran Australian jockey Craig Williams lauds the role Hong Kong racing has played in both his personal and sporting life as he prepares to return to the Asian racing hub to partner Cap Ferrat in the HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on 26 April.Williams, who has… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":16049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16043"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16050,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16043\/revisions\/16050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-champions-day\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}