Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Lucky 13 for John Size
With one meeting to go, at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, trainer John Size collected his 13th Hong Kong Trainers’ Premiership at Sunday’s Sha Tin meeting with a treble to take his lead to nine. Size won with Sight Dreamer (NZ) (Almanzor {Fr}), Raging Rapids (Zoustar), and Bundle Award (Shamus Award). With nine races on Wednesday, second placed David Hayes has only eight runners and can’t catch Size.
Size broke his own record in winning the title, having surpassed George Moore’s previous record of 11 titles in 2018/19, and breaking it in 2023/24. He has trained in Hong Kong for 24 consecutive seasons.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction in that (winning) and probably something I’m very grateful to achieve,” Size told hkjc.com.
John Size | Image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
“It’s a very strong and stiff competition and so therefore you have to rise up to it. As I’ve said before, I’m surprised that I’ve been so successful in Hong Kong. It’s always been a test of if I can keep performing at that level and, so far, I’ve been able to over 24 years and, God willing, and if my health is still okay, I can do it for a little bit longer.”
John Size won five of the 34 stakes races during the season; the G1 Champions Mile with Red Lion (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), G3 Ladies Purse with Ensued (USA) (Lemon Drop Kid {USA}), G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy with Howdeepisyourlove (Deep Field), G3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup with Bundle Award (Shamus Award) and the G3 Sha Tin Vase with Helios Express (Toronado {Ire}).
Red Lion (Ire) | Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
“Like every business, every sport’s the same, training racehorses is no different. You have to keep improving to keep up and you certainly have to be improving to stay ahead, so if you’re doing it for a long period of time, I think it’s hard to stay in a good position for a quarter of a century,” he said.
“So, I get some sort of gratification from that in my innovations and my attempt to keep up and stay ahead of the younger ones is working to some degree. Every now and then, I change small things but my approach in general hasn’t changed in training horses, but I have to adapt to different scenarios in order to keep winning and even in 24 years, a lot of things change, so you have to adapt and I’ve managed to survive.”
The Trainers’ Premiership was one of two awards that hadn’t been won when the Hong Kong Champions Night was held last week, with the other being the Tony Cruz Award for best local jockey. With only one win between Matthew Poon and Matthew Chadwick, the title will be decided on Wednesday at the last meeting of the season.
Fourth Champion Sire title for Deep Field
Newgate Farm’s Deep Field won the 2024/25 Hong Kong Champion Sire title and was the only sire to enjoy more than one individual stakes winner with Voyage Bubble, Howdeepisyourlove, and The Golden Scenery. It was the fourth consecutive title to Deep Field, who also won in 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24.
Of the top 10 sires, eight stood in Australia, one in New Zealand, and one in Europe.
| 1 | Deep Field | 74 | 26 | 40 | 3(7) | HK$108,060,702 | Voyage Bubble - HK$51,159,500 |
| 2 | Shamexpress (NZ) | 5 | 4 | 12 | 1(7) | HK$64,019,150 | Ka Ying Rising - HK$57,511,200 |
| 3 | Toronado (Ire) | 33 | 11 | 17 | 1(1) | HK$46,182,750 | Helios Express - HK$18,664,250 |
| 4 | Starspangledbanner | 29 | 15 | 19 | 1(1) | HK$42,854,100 | Beauty Waves - HK$7,188,000 |
| 5 | Zoustar | 26 | 9 | 17 | 1(1) | HK$40,558,825 | Californiatotality - HK$8,010,650 |
| 6 | Capitalist | 35 | 13 | 24 | 0(0) | HK$38,140,950 | Sunlight Power - HK$8,762,600 |
| 7 | Rubick | 10 | 5 | 13 | 1(1) | HK$37,822,400 | Rubylot - HK$15,968,400 |
| 8 | Acclamation (GB) | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1(2) | HK$28,845,525 | Romantic Warrior - HK$25,396,000 |
| 9 | I Am Invincible | 12 | 7 | 14 | 0(0) | HK$25,945,990 | Invincible Shield - HK$6,673,600 |
| 10 | Snitzel | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1(1) | HK$25,091,675 | Cap Ferrat - HK$21,347,500 |
Table 1: Top 10 sires in Hong Kong in the 2024/25 racing season
Australasian horses dominate the market
Australian-born horses made up 55 per cent of runners during 2024/25, winning 59 per cent of the races and 57 per cent of the prizemoney. New Zealand-born horses were the next largest cohort, making up 25 per cent of runners, and winning 26 per cent of the races.
Of the 12 Group 1 races in the season, Voyage Bubble won four including a historic Triple Crown, as did Horse Of The Year Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}), while the remainders went to Red Lion, Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) and Tastiera (Jpn) (Satono Crown {Jpn}).
The three legs of the 4-year-old series were won by Australian-bred horses with the Listed Classic Mile won by My Wish (Flying Artie), the Listed Classic Cup won by Rubylot (Rubick) and the Listed Hong Kong Derby won by Cap Ferrat (Snitzel).
