John Size secured a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers\u2019 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.<\/p>\r\n
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 \u2013 beyond the reach of compatriot David Hayes (60) \u2013 with only nine races left to be run at Wednesday night\u2019s (16 July) Season Finale at Happy Valley.<\/p>\r\n
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 \u2013 second overall to retired Australian John Moore (1,734).<\/p>\r\n
George Moore held the record for the most Hong Kong trainers\u2019 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.<\/p>\r\n
Characteristically modest, Size, 71, was proud and reflective on securing his latest crown.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of satisfaction in that (winning) and probably something I\u2019m very grateful to achieve,\u201d Size said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very strong and stiff competition and so therefore you have to rise up to it.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cAs I\u2019ve said before, I\u2019m surprised that I\u2019ve been so successful in Hong Kong. It\u2019s always been a test of if I can keep performing at that level and, so far, I\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Red Lion wins the G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m).<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Rating Red Lion\u2019s HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) as the highlight of another glorious season, Size said: \u201cThat was a really good example of what can happen on a race track and that\u2019s what makes the game go round \u2013 the vagaries of racing, the uncertainties and the unpredictability of it.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cOwners, 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.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
Likening the art of training to other sports and vocations, Size described the need to constantly improve as a \u201cnatural progression, it\u2019s evolution.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
\u201cLike every business, every sport\u2019s 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\u2019re doing it for a long period of time, I think it\u2019s hard to stay in a good position for a quarter of a century,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t see it every day.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cSo, 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\u2019t 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\u2019ve managed to survive.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”14701″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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).<\/p>\r\n
Bundle Award shunted Size further clear with a brilliant performance \u2013 clocking a searing 21.87s for the final 400m \u2013 under Atzeni in the Class 1 The Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Trophy Handicap (1600m) to ultimately seal the championship.<\/p>\r\n
Zac Purton ended the Sha Tin season as he started with it \u2013 with a quartet \u2013 after combining with Circuit Mighty, Huge Wave, Bulb General and Tony Cruz\u2019s Beauty Bolt (124lb), who claimed a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million with victory in the Class 3 All You Wish Handicap (1400m).<\/p>\r\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be starting well and finishing well. He\u2019s (Beauty Bolt) a nice horse,\u201d Purton said after taking his seasonal haul to 136 wins. \u201cIt\u2019s never easy coming into Hong Kong and adapting like he has with the faster speed and the faster track but, on what he\u2019s shown, he\u2019s promising.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”14700″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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\u2019s lead.<\/p>\r\n
With one meeting to go, Poon (36 wins) leads Chadwick (35) and Leung (34) after Chadwick triumphed on Chris So\u2019s Devas Twelve to land the Class 4 Pingwu Spark Handicap (1400m) and Leung followed suit on Jimmy Ting\u2019s Happy Universe in the Class 4 Solar Hei Hei Handicap (1600m).<\/p>\r\n
Ting scored a double when Huge Wave clinched the Class 3 Sight Winner Handicap (1600m) under before Douglas Whyte\u2019s 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.<\/p>\r\n
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\u2019s previous best was 44 victories in 2022\/23.<\/p>\r\n
Ben Thompson celebrated the final Sha Tin meeting of his stint before returning to Australia at season\u2019s end with victory on Yip\u2019s promising three-year-old All\u2019s Well in the Class 4 Big Profit Handicap (1200m).<\/p>\r\n
\u201cIt felt quite fitting to win this race. My first ride in Hong Kong (Devil And Gold) was for Dennis Yip, so it\u2019s nice to ride a winner for him at my last Sha Tin meeting,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”14699″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cGood win, nice horse,\u201d Richards said. \u201cHe 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.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cHe\u2019s made a full recovery and it looks like he\u2019s got a few rating points up his sleeve. We\u2019ll let the horse do the talking next season and hopefully he can work his way through the grades.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
Hong Kong racing continues with the Season Finale at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (16 July).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”14702″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]John Size secured a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers\u2019 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… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":14698,"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-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14695"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14695"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14750,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14695\/revisions\/14750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-season-finale\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}