Luke Ferraris made it win number two for the season on Scottish Tycoon at Happy Valley on Wednesday. Both of his wins have been for Mark Newnham, but he has only had 12 rides in three meetings. (Picture: HKJC)
Zac Purton is closing in on the Hong Kong record number of winners held by Douglas Whyte as he clinched a four-timer at Sha Tin on Sunday to make it nine wins from 24 rides this season and 1749 Hong Kong career wins, 64 short of Whyte’s record of 1813.
It looks like more of the same this season with Purton dominating, although Hugh Bowman was making his presence felt last season before injury and had a double on Sunday to get his season going. However, he is already seven wins behind Purton after just three meetings.
Matthew Poon is in second place on four wins in 18 rides while last season’s runner up Karis Teetan has had the same number of rides as Purton but is yet to record a win.
It coud be another uphill battle for the South African riders on the island.
Luke Ferraris started off the season well with a win at each of the first two meetings for the burgeoning ex-pat Australian trainer Mark Newnham. However, of those who have had at least one win this season, and there are 13 of them,Ferraris has had the second least number of rides, just 12 rides in three meetings.
It has been even tougher going for Keagan de Melo, who only had one ride on Sunday and has had just fives rides this season with one fourth place being his only cheque.
Lyle Hewitson is the one SA jockey who is threatening to break through, although the same could have been said at the beginning of last season and in tthe end his return of 40 wins was less than his previous season of 50. Lyle has had 18 rides this season for one win, three seconds, one third, three fourths and a fifth. However, one of the statistics from last season shows the dearth of quality mounts the island’s leading ex-pat South African rider is getting. Of his 616 rides in the season, which was the third most on the log, he only had 14 rides in Graded events, seven Gr 3s, four Gr 2s and three Gr 1s, and none of his mounts in those events were good enough to win with his returns being a Gr 1 4th, two Gr 2 5ths, a Gr 3 2nd, a Gr 3 3rd and three Gr 3 4ths.
Compare that to the foreign rider Andrea Atzeni, who had total rides of 595 for 48 wins. Atzeni had 28 rides in Graded events, including ten rides in Gr 1 events, for a winning return of two Gr 3s.
Being in favour on the island relies largely on how lucky a rider is viewed to be and it would appear Hewitson has not cracked it as a lucky big-race rider, even if he is a popular choice for minor events.
Luke Ferraris only had 416 rides last season and only six were in Graded events.
De Melo had 419 rides and only seven were in Graded events.
The great Piere Strydom has ridden in Hong Kong with success, but soon chucked it in and said he would rather ride in jusrisdictions where skill rather than luck was viewed as the best credential.
How long will the South Africans on the island manage to endure the relative lack of support or will things change?
Luke Ferraris’ association with Mark Newnham augurs well. Newnham sent out an excellent 31 wins in his first season last term and he is joint leader on four wins this season. Of Newnham’s 31 wins last season, Ferraris rode 12 of them, so that represented a good proportion of Ferraris’ 28 wins in total last season.
However, the short-priced favourite of Newnham’s that won on Sunday was ridden by Purton.
Purton can be compared to Richard Fourie out here. It seems apparent that if connections can get him they will do, so with Newnham’s burgeoning profile Purton might muscle in and take the cream.
Of course the plus side of Hong Kong is the massive stakes and this can set up a jockey and his family for life.
Hewitson’s earnings last season were $76,313,830 (R173,232,394), Ferraris’ were $37,026,775 (R84,050,779) and De Melo’s $39,398,025 (R89,433,517).
Compare that to the R44,651,019 stakes earnings of Richard Fourie in his record-breaking 2023/2024 season.
So it is tough on one side for the foreign jockeys, but plenty would be willing to take their place given the opportunity.
