Thoughts of a serious Hong Kong assault on the spring riches in Melbourne disappeared this week with the publication of entries for the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate, and it appears only sprinter Lucky Nine will fly the flag there in 2013.
John Moore had been thinking about the Cox Plate with Military Attack, and possibly Dan Excel, and Richard Gibson was touting Derby winner Akeeed Mofeed for the Moonee Valley highlight, but all were missing from the nominations. Moore-trained Dominant has been spoken of as a possible Melbourne Cup horse but was not in the Caulfield Cup, a logical lead-up.
Closer to home, the new trainers for the 2013-14 Hong Kong season, Chris So and Benno Yung, have not been letting the grass grow under their feet since their licences took effect on July 11.
In just under a month, Caspar Fownes’ former assistant So has assembled a stable list of 42 while Yung, assistant to John Size for 12 seasons, has done even better numerically with a full stable of 62 horses listed under his care.
Having a full yard so early can be a two-edged sword, as every new trainer takes on problem horses and disappointments transferred from other stables, but a good start can mean offers of better stock. In Yung’s case, he would have nowhere to put them as he is at the maximum already. Yung seems to have taken all comers, with 12 in the cellar class, Class 5, and just two horses rated higher than 80.
So also has 12 cellar-dwellers, but his mid-grade acquisitions look to have more scope than Yung’s and he has more firepower higher in the grades. So has four rated above 80 including two in the 90s, the dirt star Happy Index and Military Secret, who won his only Hong Kong start for Andreas Schutz.
By Nathan Mody
