Trailing Zac Purton by two winners in the Hong Kong jockeys\u2019 championship with only three meetings left in the 2021\/22 season, Joao Moreira believes his arch-rival holds the upper hand as the Brazilian bids to erase the deficit with a string of key rides at Sha Tin on Sunday (10 July).<\/p>\r\n
Champion in 2014\/15, 2015\/16, 2016\/17 and 2020\/21, Moreira has nine rides \u2013 one fewer than Purton \u2013 on Sunday but has high hopes for Keefy in the Class 2 Chow Silver Plate Handicap (1400m) and President\u2019s Choice in the Class 4 Arculli Trophy Handicap (1600m).<\/p>\r\n
With just 30 races remaining across three meetings, Purton leads 131-129 and, while Moreira believes the Australian is well placed to secure a fifth title, the \u2018Magic Man\u2019 refuses to yield.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t go home, I wouldn\u2019t finish the season without putting on a fight. Of course, I\u2019m trying my best and I\u2019m doing everything I can. However, I still got the feeling that Zac has got the best rides,\u201d Moreira said.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got more support than I\u2019ve got in the crucial time of the season but that doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m giving up. That doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t think I have a chance and no doubts we\u2019re going to do our best until the end.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Keefy bolts in at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Predicting three-year-old Keefy could ultimately graduate to Group race company, Moreira believes the All Too Hard gelding can further cement Frankie Lor\u2019s grip on the trainers\u2019 championship. Lor currently leads John Size 90-84.<\/p>
\u201cTo ride a winner, it doesn\u2019t matter who it\u2019s for and that\u2019s what we aim for, but Frankie has given me some good opportunities this season and it would be nice \u2013 one week before the end of the season \u2013 to win another race for him and we have a horse that\u2019s capable,\u201d Moreira said.<\/p>
\u201cHe was very impressive last start and he\u2019s the kind of horse who has a lot of upside and can still improve a lot,\u201d Moreira said. \u201cHe will need that because he\u2019s coming up in class and challenging stronger horses, but I\u2019m looking forward to riding him.\u201d<\/p>
Runner-up twice this season on President\u2019s Choice, Moreira hopes to go one better for Michael Chang on Sunday.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019ve attempted to win races with him a couple of times and I wasn\u2019t able to succeed so it is something that I want to finish off this season by winning with him if I can,\u201d Moreira said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s been knocking on the door and he honestly should have won a race this season already. He is in good form, he is running well and I\u2019m hoping he can bring it all to the races. I believe he\u2019s a winning chance.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3122″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Sitting third in the Tony Cruz Award standings as the most successful home-grown jockey behind Matthew Chadwick (53) and Vincent Ho (48) with 44 wins, Derek Leung hopes All Riches can add further lustre to an already outstanding season with success in the Class 4 Chan Trophy Handicap (1400m).<\/p>
Leung, 33, has already eclipsed his previous best mark of 39 victories in a season and is optimistic of adding more before the end of the term.<\/p>
\u201cI can\u2019t complain, I have had a very good season with very good support. I will keep doing my best and hopefully I can ride a few more winners before the end of the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019m a little bit behind now (in the Tony Cruz Award), I had a couple of days suspended but I will still do my best and hopefully there are more winners to come.\u201d<\/p>
Alexis Badel exudes a similar attitude as the Frenchman prepares to partner Sweet Diamond in the Class 4 Li Cup Handicap (1200m) for Ricky Yiu.<\/p>
The Frenchman notched his 50th winner at Happy Valley on Wednesday (6 July) and, having savoured Group 1 success aboard star sprinter Wellington this season, is keen to close the campaign on a high.<\/p>
\u201cI feel very happy now, I feel in good form and very fit,\u201d Badel, 32, said. \u201cI recovered from a few suspensions as well. I think 50 winners is a good record and I\u2019m looking for a better season next year. I\u2019ll try to improve and overall, I\u2019m looking to get better.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s so competitive here and you want to fight to get as many winners as possible.\u201d<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (10 July) card kicks off with the Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup Plate (1200m) for Griffins at 1pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3121″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Trailing Zac Purton by two winners in the Hong Kong jockeys\u2019 championship with only three meetings left in the 2021\/22 season, Joao Moreira believes his arch-rival holds the upper hand as the Brazilian bids to erase the deficit with a string of key rides at Sha Tin on Sunday (10 July).… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":3125,"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\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3118"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3139,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3118\/revisions\/3139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/season-end\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}