Austrian jockey Andreas Suborics has been having a rough trot – in more ways than one – but will be hoping to change his luck on Wednesday at Happy Valley.
The main event on Wednesday will be the official announcement of the 2013 Hong Kong Derby field in the afternoon, but there will be eight winners to find and Suborics has a great chance with Touch Go.
Suborics has not ridden a winner for a month, missed part of February with suspension then was booked to ride long-priced Eagle Power in his debut win at the weekend but missed the meeting after a bout of food poisoning.
He will be having his first ride on Touch Go in the Class Three feature on Wednesday and the six-year-old is a one-trick pony, with his only 3 wins and one second coming from just 5 starts at the Happy Valley 1,000m, and he drops a class on his preferred course.
Normally, Brett Prebble is the go to jockey for Touch Go when he’s in the right spot but, with Prebble suspended until Thursday, the Austrian substitutes for the Australian.
It looks a meeting Prebble might have preferred not to miss, with his impressive last start winner Cool Bean now in the hands of Tye Angland in race six and Eddy Lai jumps on Rewarding Hero in his place in the last race.
But the jockey to follow, in the first half of the card at least, looks Douglas Whyte after he went three clear of Zac Purton in the championship on Saturday.
Oddly, the South African has only five bookings for the whole night but opens with course specialist Viva Guy dropping into Class Five for the first time, another good old Valley performer in Natural Flame in race two, and frontline chances with Expectator and Good Hong Kong in the races that follow.
By Nathan Mody
