Mosse dreams of extending Hong Kong love affair as a trainer
Gerald Mosse yesterday said he wanted to commit his long-term future to Hong Kong, with a training licence his ultimate aim once his illustrious riding career comes to an end.
'My plan is to keep riding in Hong Kong for as long as I can and then try to become a trainer,' the Frenchman said at the end of a week which has stretched his retainership with the Brian Kan Ping-chee stable to breaking point and left him seeking a Club jockey position for the start of next season.
'I am happy in Hong Kong, I love the Hong Kong people, and when I start a training career I would like it to be here. I love the racing here and it's been very good to me.'
Mosse, 35, would not put a timescale on his retirement option, saying only 'maybe a couple of years, maybe more', as he confirmed reports from France that he is not planning to return to his homeland. 'When I was there at the weekend, a journalist asked me what my plans were and I told him I was finished with France,' Mosse said. 'This is where I want to do my racing and I told him it's where I would like to start training, too.'
That may be a long shot, though, with the Jockey Club putting the emphasis on a proven record for its new expatriate trainer recruits. 'When we have so many proven trainers from around the world wanting to come here, why would we take someone who has just finished as a jockey? It's very unlikely that the management would recommend such an appointment,' Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Jockey Club's director of racing, said yesterday.
Recently-retired seven-times champion jockey Basil Marcus has also been mooted as a possible applicant for a Hong Kong trainer's licence, but Engelbrecht-Bresges added: 'Gerald and Basil are both outstanding horsemen and no doubt they would have plenty of support from owners, but I think we would want to see them prove themselves as trainers elsewhere first.
'When Tony Cruz began training after retiring from riding, he was an exception. He's a Hong Kong legend and deserved the opportunity because he has done so much for Hong Kong racing.'
Mosse's comments came at the end of an eventful week which saw him at loggerheads with Kan last Friday after the jockey raised doubts over Industrial Pioneer's action in his preparation for the Audemars Queen Elizabeth II Cup. The pair also clashed when Mosse took a ride for rival trainer John Size in a barrier trial.
Industrial Pioneer was withdrawn from the QE II Cup earlier this week, with Kan blaming media reporting of Mosse's comments for the decision, and the trainer then also withdrew his application to the Jockey Club's Licensing Committee for a stable jockey next season. Kan cited the possibility of a reduced stable strength meaning he was unable to support a stable jockey, though Mosse will continue in the position until the end of this season.
'I have been very happy with Mr Kan and I understand his reasons for not keeping me next season,' said Mosse, who will ride the Kan-trained Rainbow And Gold in Sunday's big race. 'Hopefully, I will be able to get a Club jockey's licence for the start of next season and in a way it's good for me to know now that Mr Kan has let me free. I know he would support me next season and I should get good support from other stables, so I think I could have good success again as a Club jockey.'
Mosse's other rides for Kan on Sunday are likely Champions Mile favourite Red Pepper and New Face, while he also partners the Tony Millard-trained Citizen Kane in the Chairman's Sprint Prize, Francis Lui Kin-wai's griffin Golden Gong and Seasons Treasure for David Hill.
Mosse is now in his ninth Hong Kong season, having first ridden here in the 1990-91 campaign, and his flying visit to Longchamp last weekend was his first riding engagement in France since taking up his position with Kan in October. Last summer, Mosse had paved the way for a more permanent move to Hong Kong when he ended his eight-year association with the Aga Khan's string in France, which had brought him 23 Group One victories.
