More Bountiful proves that Size matters
Even before his Hong Kong training career was any more than a fanciful idea, John Size was renowned in Sydney as a man who could take over a horse and improve it.
Time and again he gained well-explored horses from elsewhere and made them not just winners, but winners often beyond the reasonable dreams of their connections.
With one of his Group One winners in Australia, El Mirada, Size was able to do what training legend Bart Cummings had not quite managed with the horse, and his other Group One wins came from horses upgraded out of all recognition.
So to see Size in line for a fourth Most Improved award, with More Bountiful in his eighth Hong Kong season, hardly comes as a surprise. It is Size's stock in trade and has just as clearly characterised his career at Sha Tin. Some, such as More Bountiful, have been horses who started with Size, but others, such as Darwin, came from elsewhere to be developed into the fine gallopers.
More Bountiful was one of the finds of the season. Respected but hardly touted as a star when he made his debut in October, he had won five races by January and a Group Two by April to lift his rating by a stunning 72 points. And, in winning the Chairman's Trophy, More Bountiful landed his sixth victory of the season, a tally others have achieved through the years but which none has ever bettered.
In any other year, Me Tsui Yu-sak would have produced the award winner with sprinter Lucky Quality and deserves an honourable mention.
Tsui raised his rating by 63 points to 114 and took him into top grade international competition in Dubai after discovering what a force the gelding was on dirt, but he has had to bow to More Bountiful for the Most Improved Horse award.
