Superstar jockey Joao Moreira will be declared for rides at Sunday's feature meeting this morning despite suffering a painful back injury that ruled him out of all but the opening event at Sha Tin last night.

Moreira tweaked his back when Sure Peace jumped awkwardly in the first race on the all-dirt card, but the Brazilian pushed through the pain barrier to claim his 122nd win this season.

After riding the John Moore-trained runner to victory, Moreira dismounted upon pulling up, in obvious distress, and was assisted straight to the medical room without weighing in. He was stretchered to an ambulance and taken to nearby Prince Of Wales Hospital, where scans cleared him of fractures.

Joao said he thought about stopping mid-race a few times because he was in so much pain, but he realised he was in a good position to win and kept going
Bill Nader

Moreira, who is due to ride Helene Happy Star for Moore in the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, suffered a suspected muscle strain and will be assessed by a club doctor before Sunday's meeting.

Jockey Club director of racing Bill Nader spoke to Moreira immediately following the race and again after the injured rider was released from hospital.

"Joao said he thought about stopping mid-race a few times because he was in so much pain, but he realised he was in a good position to win and kept going," said Nader, adding that Moreira would not require standby riders to be declared this morning.

"I'm tipping he will bounce back and be right to go."

Moore's expectations for Sure Peace were as low as could be - on turf - but on the dirt he says the three-year-old is a different animal and could win outside of Class Five.

"He is not even a Class Five galloper on turf - he would need Class Six races to still be around to be competitive. But on the all-weather track he could win in Class Three," Moore said.

Two of Moreira's scheduled rides later won, the first of them when trainer Andreas Schutz turned to Howard Cheng Yue-tin as substitute on Trillion Treasure, a horse who has delivered half of the German trainer's win total of eight this season.

"I didn't mind getting Howard because he has ridden the horse before," Schutz said. "He is a horse that doesn't have to lead, he just needs to get in rhythm."

Another of Moreira's replacements won the last when Ben So Tik-hung guided Sichuan Vigour to victory for trainer John Size.

Danny Shum Chap-shing's Young Ranger gave Racing Club members a thrill when he broke through for his first local win in a Class Four over the extended mile.

The Racing Club is set up to attract young people to racing and senior racing adviser Wally Pyrah said many of the members had bet with confidence.

"He had a couple of wins on the fibresand at Southwell, so we were hopeful he would run well on the dirt," Pyrah said. "He was the Racing Club's 100th runner, and we've had a good strike rate of 12 wins and 24 placings."

Local lightweight Keith Yeung Ming-lun kept his good recent run going with a running double as Archippus and Dashing Super benefited from patient tactics.

As a three-year-old, Archippus was a horse that promised much more than Class Three dirt wins on Wednesday nights, but after a transfer from Peter Ho Leung to Paul O'Sullivan a fresh win on the surface over 1,200m was somewhat of a surprise.

"I didn't think he would have the speed for 1,200m honestly," O'Sullivan said. "Keith rode him a treat and I think the key to the horse might be to ride him a bit quieter. He is only four, we will probably step up to 1,650m on the dirt and maybe he can win again this season."

A race later Dashing Super got the brown lamp treatment as his odds were slashed from double figures into 3-1 before the six-year-old won for the first time in more than 15 months, giving trainer Me Tsui Yu-sak the first leg of a double.

"We always led with Dashing Super before, but I think that is how he runs best now," Tsui said. "He is only a Class Four horse, so it's good he only just won because he might stay in the grade."

Sean Woods' hopes of reaching the 15-win performance benchmark were given a boost when Goldland Dancer gave his trainer 10 wins for the term, the narrow victory also pushing jockey Andreas Suborics' win tally into double figures.

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