Hong Kong’s participation in The Championships in Sydney on Saturday was limited to simulcast betting and the visits of the two leading jockeys, Joao Moreira and Zac Purton, but the day still received plenty of attention.
Several trainers have indicated interest in taking horses to Sydney for The Championships but for difficulties with quarantine regulations which would rule out going to the Dubai World Cup or, more importantly, preparing for internationals Group One races like the QE II Cup and Champions Mile at Sha Tin in the coming weeks.
Simulcast betting on seven races from Randwick’s first big day produced $A 14.76 million in turnover with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and Zac Purton’s win in the Doncaster Mile reminded everyone that even Australian jockeys riding successfully overseas hunger for the big name races in their homeland.
On Sunday, another Australian success story in Hong Kong, Tye Angland announced that he intends to wrap up his time at Sha Tin when the current season finishes in July.
Angland left Sydney without any great fanfare but, still only 25 years old, has climbed to a clear fourth on the Hong Kong championship table behind Purton, Moreira and Douglas Whyte, but believes the time is right to go home with hopes of becoming a player himself in the big carnivals, something he admits to missing half a world away.
Post-Doncaster, Purton also publicly made plain his desire for rides in the big Australian Group Ones and pointed out that he has won major events at Royal Ascot, Singapore and in Hong Kong but is overlooked in his own country, with even his one Melbourne Cup mount provided by English connections.
Angland returns home at season’s end but Purton has decided to work through the summer break, taking up a lucrative contract to ride in Japan.
While on Japan, the weekend saw the running of the Oka Sho – the Japanese 1,000 Guineas – and it was won by the long odds-on favourite, Harp Star, a daughter of Deep Impact.
By Nathan Mody
