Both Hong Kong and Japan have spent the week getting over female apprentice jockey fever after Kei Chiong won four races at Sha Tin and Nanako Fujita won her first race at Fukushima.
Both are the first lady riders in their country for more than a decade and a half and the Japanese girl in particular has been a media idol since she started, starring in commercials and drawing crowds as some kind of a novelty even before she ever won that race.
Hopefully, things can go back to normal now that they have got those achievements out of the way and it’s another straight forward meeting at Sha Tin on the weekend before international Group One racing at the next two Sundays.
The horses out of Australia have been the first to arrive for those big events, with Buffering (Chairman’s Sprint Prize) and Rising Romance (QE II Cup) landing before the American-based sprinter Mongolian Saturday, a Breeders’ Cup winner who ran a nice fifth in the Hong Kong Sprint in December after being caught wide.
John Size trained his first winning treble at Happy Valley for more than twelve years on Wednesday night and comes back to his preferred venue at Sha Tin with a small but select team on Saturday.
He is 13 wins ahead of his nearest rival for the title which looks all over bar the shouting with 23 meetings to go, and will be expecting to add at least one more to his tally this weekend.
Joao Moreira replaces Karis Teetan on Mr Stunning after the boom three-year-old’s surprise first defeat last out and he should make amends in race eight, while the Magic Man also rides consistent Right Call for the top stable in the ninth and looks hard to beat.
Moreira’s riding book doesn’t look quite as strong as usual – although he still wouldn’t surprise with three or four wins. His best away from the Size runners should be Rapper Dragon and Lotus Strikes Back for John Moore.
By Nathan Mody
