In a period of considerable transition for Hong Kong racing, Wednesday's Happy Valley meeting signalled the end of seven-time champion trainer John Moore's time in Hong Kong, with Yiu claiming his first-ever title after 24 years of training.
Yiu, a regular buyer in both Australia and New Zealand, built his substantial reputation from training the likes of Australian-bred trio Sacred Kingdom (Encosta De Lago), Amber Sky (Exceed And Excel) and Ultra Fantasy (Encosta De Lago) to overseas Group 1 success.
At age 63, it didn’t appear that he'd be emerging as a sudden contender as Hong Kong's leading trainer, but he has had a brilliant season, finishing with 67 wins thanks to a treble last Sunday at Sha Tin, which built his buffer to four and while Tony Cruz narrowed that to two with a final night double, Yiu never looked under threat.
Ricky Yiu
"I’ve really achieved my goal, this is the peak of my career, but a lot of people are more excited than I am; the owners on WhatsApp were messaging me! The staff are very happy – I’m happy too, but I don’t have this excitement,” he said.
"I’ve been in horse racing all my life – winning, losing, it happens every meeting so I take it very easily. Even when Sacred Kingdom won the Hong Kong Sprint, I kept quiet, I don’t know why, it’s just me.”
"I’ve been in horse racing all my life – winning, losing, it happens every meeting so I take it very easily." - Ricky Yiu
Yiu becomes the first homegrown Champion Trainer since Dennis Yip in 2013, but it was a very different experience for him, with no crowd at Happy Valley to mark the occasion. In a sign of the competitiveness of the training ranks, his total of 67 was the lowest by a Champion Trainer in six years and included six trebles and 10 doubles.
Significantly of his 67 winners, 37 were bred in Australia and 17 in New Zealand.
| Yiu P.F. | 67 | $76,092,793 |
| Cruz A.S. | 65 | $127,705,341 |
| Lui K.W. | 63 | $101,536,068 |
| Moore J. | 57 | $115,408,686 |
| Fownes C. | 49 | $78,621,958 |
| Size J. | 46 | $117,372,145 |
| Shum C.S. | 45 | $69,711,815 |
| Lor F.C. | 44 | $79,179,208 |
| Whyte D.J. | 44 | $51,039,432 |
| Ting K.H. | 35 | $36,788,993 |
Table: Hong Kong Trainers' Premiership 2019/20
“It wasn’t really expected,” he said. “I knew my horses would do well from the start of this season but it was only about two and a half or three months ago that I thought I had a chance. From then on I thought, ‘I’ll work on this’ but before that, no.
“I just put my head down, kept working and kept focusing. When I saw they weren’t catching up, it’s a once in a lifetime chance, so I went for it. I always look forward but I did look over my shoulder and there was Francis (Lui) and Tony (Cruz), these two trainers were catching me up.”
Cruz was the leading trainer on prizemoney, with HK$127,705,341 (AU$23.5 million), ahead of John Size, who had HK$117 million (AU$21.6 million) and Moore, whose final season saw his runners earn HK$115.4 million (AU$21.3 million).
Due to a compulsory retirement at age 70, Moore's incredible Hong Kong career draws to a close and he will join his brother Gary in training at Rosehill. He has trained over 1700 winners.
Zac claims title number four
Purton endured another titanic battle with his great rival Joao Moreira in the jockeys' title battle and claimed his third straight Champion Jockeys success by nine wins, 147 to 138, after Moreira sat out the final meeting through suspension.
Purton capped the success with a double on the final night thanks to the Frankie Lor-trained Kinda Cool (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) and the David Hall-trained Oversubscribed (Reward For Effort).
Zac Purton
“It was a tough battle, it was a very hard one, it was one I never felt comfortable with I never thought I had it in the bag,” Purton told Racing.com after his latest victory over Moreira.
“The pressure was always there which is enjoyable, I enjoy to be in this position, I’d rather go to the races feeling the weight of expectation than not feeling it.
“I’m just thankful that the ball bounced my way and things have worked out well.”
The rivalry between Moreira and Purton has become the pre-eminent jockey battle in world racing ranks. They have split the last seven titles between them with the other finishing second on each of those occasions. Purton now holds the edge on Moreira 4-3.
| Z Purton | 147 | $202,112,646 |
| J Moreira | 138 | $206,911,366 |
| K Teetan | 93 | $138,503,489 |
| C Y Ho | 67 | $126,366,677 |
| C Schofield | 43 | $54,304,475 |
| G van Niekerk | 37 | $56,048,185 |
| M F Poon | 29 | $39,061,505 |
| K C Leung | 29 | $37,146,565 |
| N Callan | 26 | $42,185,220 |
| A Badel | 26 | $33,166,408 |
Table: Hong Kong Jockeys' Premiership 2019/20
"It’s been well documented that I feel like I have, I wouldn’t say I have things against me, but it’s harder to for me because I can’t ride the minimum weight and he can so he gets more opportunities than what I get and because of that I always feel like he gets a little bit more support as well when horses are coming through the grades he can get on them and stay on them," Purton said.
“It just makes it a lot harder for me but I just have had a lot of support again this season, I’ve managed to find myself on some nice horses and just continued to tick along all season long.”
Exceed leads the way
Headlined by Mr Stunning, Darley's legendary Exceed And Excel has had a standout season with his progeny in Hong Kong and finished easily on top as the leading sire.
Australia's Champion Sire of 2012/13, the son of Danehill (USA) now has another achievement to add to his honour board, with 17 Hong Kong winners for the season, four more than any other stallion, and 26 wins overall from his progeny who earned HK$45.9 million (AU$8.45 million).
That total is the highest earnings from a sire in Hong Kong since Shamardal (USA) earned just short of HK$50 million (AU$9.2 million) in the 2014/15 campaign.
Exceed And Excel | Standing at Darley
Exceed And Excel has had stakes winners in eight countries in the past 12 months. His two stakes winners in Hong Kong with the G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize winner Mr Stunning and the G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy winner Big Party.
Darley stallions completed the trifecta in the top sires in Hong Kong this season when it came to earnings, with Teofilo (Ire) second on just over HK$38 million (AU$7 million) and Medaglia D'Oro (USA) third with just short of HK$36 million (AU$6.6 million).
In terms of winners, Exceed And Excel's 17 was four more than Waikato Stud's Savabeel, with The Oaks Stud's Darci Brahma (NZ) on 12, one ahead of Twin Hills Stud's Smart Missile, while Coolmore's Fastnet Rock had 10 winners.
Newgate's Deep Field led the tally of 3-year-old winners with five, while the late Widden Stud star Sebring's 3-year-olds earned the most prizemoney with HK$9.4 million (AU$1.73 million), highlighted by sprinting star Aethero.
| 1 | Exceed And Excel | 34 | 17 | 26 | 2(2) | $45,896,060 | Mr Stunning - $12,307,000 |
| 2 | Teofilo (Ire) | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1(4) | $38,170,775 | Exultant - $28,798,750 |
| 3 | Medaglia D'Oro (USA) | 9 | 5 | 12 | 1(4) | $35,995,680 | Golden Sixty - $29,373,000 |
| 4 | Not A Single Doubt (AUS) 2001 - 2005 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 1(2) | $33,268,820 | Southern Legend - $15,602,500 |
| 5 | Hinchinbrook (AUS) | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1(2) | $29,306,985 | Beat The Clock - $17,918,750 |
| 6 | Darci Brahma (NZ) | 20 | 12 | 19 | 1(1) | $26,918,652 | Mr Croissant - $5,058,000 |
| 7 | Smart Missile | 25 | 11 | 18 | 0(0) | $23,002,113 | Fat Turtle - $5,165,250 |
| 8 | Savabeel | 23 | 13 | 19 | 1(1) | $21,872,768 | Hall Of Fame - $5,734,500 |
| 9 | Sebring | 19 | 9 | 13 | 1(1) | $21,115,222 | Aethero - $7,361,000 |
| 10 | Road To Rock | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1(3) | $20,052,500 | Beauty Generation - $20,052,500 |
Table: Leading Sires in Hong Kong 2019/20
