Champions Day like no other as a training legend aims for his final big-race moment in Hong Kong
Like so many events in a coronavirus-affected world, Hong Kong’s premier spring meeting – Champions Day at Sha Tin – has a different ambience in 2020.
Most years, the meeting acts as a natural progression from Dubai World Cup night, a starting point for Europeans as the Flat season begins, a stepping stone to the world for the Japanese, a layover for Royal Ascot-bound Australians and a final hurrah for Hong Kong’s top thoroughbreds as the end of their season approaches.
This year, the three Group 1 races on today’s card – the QEII Cup (Gr 1, 2000m), the Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) and the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (Gr 1, 1200m) – will be contested solely by local runners.
In one sense, it makes Champions Day unremarkable. The international competition creates an aura around the December and April meetings, even though all of Hong Kong’s Pattern races are now open to visitors.
But this year’s Champions Day shapes as a fitting celebration to one of the true legends of Hong Kong racing at what is his final “international” meeting before his departure from the local ranks.
Trainer John Moore turned 70 last month, reaching a mandatory retirement point under Hong Kong Jockey Club rules. Most trainers must retire at 65; a rule was introduced just as Moore approached that age, stating that trainers in the top five in number of winners or on earnings at the end of each season could have their licence extended until 70.
Moore, who has been training out of Sha Tin since 1985 after taking over the stable of his legendary father George, asked for another extension, but the Club confirmed he will be forced to retire. Instead, Moore will return to his native Australia, where he will form a training partnership with his brother Gary in Sydney – “at Rosehill – we’re just waiting to see how many boxes and I think we’ll have 40 or 50 horses,” Moore told the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s David Morgan.
Moore, a seven-time champion trainer, has established a reputation as Hong Kong’s big-race handler over the past 15 years, filling a void left by the retirement of the late Ivan Allan and the departure of David Hayes. His top horses have included Viva Pataca (Marju), Military Attack (Oratorio), Designs On Rome (Holy Roman Emperor), Able Friend (Shamardal), Sterling City (Nadeem), Werther (Tavistock) and Rapper Dragon (Street Boss), while his all-time career earnings are approaching HK$2 billion (approximately $400 million).
“I don’t look back,” he said. “I like to live in the present.”
“I might once in a while have a look at Viva Pataca all those years ago and I go ‘wow’ and I do enjoy that. But it’s more like when you might re-run an old home video of a family gathering and get excited for the old days – I do it sometimes but not often.
“Able Friend too, he will always be admired for what he could do at both ends – you could have him up on the speed or he could come from off the pace, he was so versatile. Of all of them, Able Friend would be the one I’d run the video back and get excited, he was something!”
On Hong Kong racing’s Mount Rushmore, Moore would be guaranteed one of four spots, as would fellow trainers Tony Cruz and Douglas Whyte. The fourth is debatable.
For Cruz and Whyte, who will also send out runners in today’s features, their exploits in the saddle earned them a berth. Cruz has had a tremendous training career over the past 25 years to cement his position, while Whyte, a 13-time champion rider, is in his first season as a trainer.
Moore is different. An amateur rider who once managed a treble at Happy Valley, he was – in his words – a “pretty unremarkable jockey”. Given his father and brother rode winners of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m), on Saint Crespin (Aureole) and Gold River (Riverman) respectively, his achievements in the saddle pale in comparison.
Moore’s position comes solely from his training achievements, which have been extensive and unrivalled.
This day, in its many iterations, has been kind to him before. He boasts eight Champions Miles, five QEII Cups and four Chairman’s Sprint Prizes to his name.
The Australian’s representation this year is light but powerful. His stable star Beauty Generation (Road To Rock) will look to become the first horse to win the Champions Mile three times, new kids on the block Aethero (Sebring) and Thanks Forever (Duporth) aim for a first Group 1 win in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, while Eagle Way (More Than Ready) lines up in the QEII Cup.
Beauty Generation and Aethero, in particular, shape as leading contenders, although both are at different stages of their career.
Beauty Generation is the old-stager, the two-time Horse of the Year, a champion who has shown glimpses of vulnerability and chinks in his armour this season.
“Beauty Generation is an iron horse. Able Friend broke down and this horse hasn’t, and you take that into consideration, the way he keeps going. He’s now getting close to being my favourite – you just look at that record he’s put together,” Moore said.
“He keeps doing it. Look at what he can do, racing time and time again on firm tracks, the wins he’s had, the records he’s broken. And they’re all gunning for him. He gets out in front and he gets shot at from every angle, but at his best he was so impressive that they were scared to take him on – he’s capable of running sectionals that other horses can’t live with at a mile.
“People might say, well he only beat the locals, and I’d say ‘you’re right but this is all we could do with the Coronavirus,’ so we’re out there to win it and get that third Champions Mile. It’s all we can do in the situation the world is in at the moment.”
“The fact is, without the international runners this year it’s still an important event but it’s not doing what it was put on the racing calendar for. It’s a home run event, and, as things are right now, we’re just grateful for that – it provides a great focal point for the sport when you think of all the places that are shut down.”
Aethero is the young upstart, the temperamental but incredibly talented speedster who looms as Hong Kong’s next big thing. Like a teenager, the three-year-old is experiencing growing pains as he still comes to terms with what the racing caper is all about, but the world is his oyster once he figures it out.
“He could pull and lose his race again but I’m not thinking about that,” the handler said. “It’s the same gate as last time but it just is what it is. I think everything will be alright unless he gets something that plays up alongside him and sets him off or something – something unexpected.”
With the eyes of the world on Hong Kong on Sunday, Moore can once again dominate on the biggest stage with victories in the Champions Mile and the Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
“I don’t know that there’ll be extra satisfaction,” he said. “I’d think of it as a lead-in to what I hope we can do in Australia. If we can win two of them with Beauty Generation and Aethero, or even Thanks Forever, it would be a great ending to Hong Kong but more so the ending of one chapter and the opening of a new chapter in Australia.
“I want to go and complete the bucket list by training that elusive Group 1 winner in Australia, so Champions Day is really a lead-in to that move. That’s what makes it a bit more exciting perhaps – I’ve done everything I had to do in Hong Kong and I want to take that impetus into Australia.”
There are more big wins ahead of Moore in the years to come, but on his Hong Kong curtain call, expect a show like no other.