AUSSIES JOCKEYS DOMINATE FWD CHAMPION’S DAY

By Darren Winningham | Sunday, April 27, 2025

Australian jockeys ruled the FWD Champion’s Day winning six of the ten races including the three feature Group 1 events.

On an amazing day where a crowd of 46,186 flocked to Sha Tin racecourse it was all about the amazing rides from Australian jockeys.

Zac Purton continued his dominance in Hong Kong racing on the international stage riding a treble on the day. Patch of Stars was his first win in the third race for local trained KL Man.

Two races later it was time to watch Purton pilot the world’s best sprinter Ka Ying Rising to another breathtaking victory in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize, the first of the three Group 1 races on the card. This was the highlight and the most amazing performance on the day.

Purton then rounded off a successful day with a win with a race-to-race win aboard Masterofmyuniverse for Hong Kong’s current premiership leading trainer John Size.

The second of the featured Group 1 races was the FWD Mile. The hot odds-on favourite was Voyage Bubble ridden by James McDonald. However, it was the $101 outsider Red Lion ridden by Hugh Bowman for John Size who won by a nose as they went past the post.

The race was not over - with a protest being fired in by McDonald. The parochial Hong Kong crowd all waited with anticipation for the race to be overturned so their local champion could be reinstated as the winner of the feature race. But alas for them, Bowman and Red Lion retained the race and collected the spoils at the presentation ceremony.

The FWD QEII Cup was the final Group 1 on the program. On paper, the Japanese runners looked to have the best chances of winning. Prognosis was ridden by James McDonald and there was heavy support for this runner.

However, it was another Japanese representative, Tastiera, ridden to perfection by Damian Lane, winning going away on the line. Lane has previously ridden Group 1 winners for the Japanese here when he rode 2022 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (Group 1) winner Win Marilyn.

Lane was exuberant after the race telling the waiting media, “It is what being a jockey is all about, competing in these big international carnivals. It's very rewarding."

Craig Williams joined the Aussie dominance on the day with a calculated ride that saw the Francs Lui trained Invincible Shield win race four by a narrow margin.

James McDonald had no luck on the day. He earned the ire of the stewards as well in the last race when he was charged with careless riding for his effort aboard Charming Babe. The stewards imposed a suspension from riding in races for a period to commence on Wednesday, 30 April 2025 and to expire on Monday, 5 May 2025.

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