Hay List lined up to break local domination of HK Sprint
South African jockey Glyn Schofield is well known to Hong Kong fans and he might be back in December to end the local domination of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint.
Based in Sydney for the past two years, Schofield has become one of the leading riders there and has lately formed an association with the boom sprinter of Australian racing, Hay List.
Other top Australians like Miss Andretti, Apache Cat, Scenic Blast and All Silent have failed to loosen the local grip on the race in recent years, but Hay List is winning his way to the top like a true superstar.
On Saturday, the sprinter took his record to 10 wins from 12 starts with an arrogant Group Three victory at Moonee Valley in Melbourne and will be a dominant favourite for the Group One Manikato Stakes at his next run.
Trainer John McNair has already placed the Hong Kong Sprint on the horse's agenda for year's end and recently had Hay List inoculated to make the trip.
Schofield, a previous Hong Kong Sprint winner on the Derek Cruz-trained Natural Blitz (in 2005) when the race was still over the straight 1,000m, left no question about his opinion of Hay List on Saturday.
'John has a lot of horse to work with,' he said. 'It is a very good indication of what he's got to come. He sort of treated this lot with contempt and they are a very talented bunch of horses. I don't think John has got to the bottom of him yet.'
Meanwhile, Sacred Kingdom's loss of Australia's vote for the best foreign Australian-bred horse last week didn't stop him winning an award last Saturday night as the best Hong Kong-based Australian-bred.
The award from the Aushorse organisation, which promotes the quality of Australian thoroughbreds abroad, was presented to owner Sin Kang-yuk and trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai at the Grand Hyatt during a function celebrating the 150th running of the Emirates Melbourne Cup this November.
Sacred Kingdom beat the challenges of the John Moore-trained duo Happy Zero and One World to take the vote.
