Red Oog's trainer learns his lessons well from the master Size

Young Australian trainer Joe Pride may be here to contest the HK$12 million Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint at Group One level on Sunday with a good horse, but he saved his greatest thanks for former boss John Size for his teachings about training bad horses.

Being a Size protege can be a heavy load to carry, but Pride, 34, has no doubt that four years under Hong Kong's champion set him on the path, perhaps, to an international win with Red Oog.

'The question always embarrasses me because I don't feel I'm giving enough respect to other people I worked for, but I only started around horses when I was 21 and the time with John really made me. I owe so much to him and his wife Carmel,' Pride says. 'They set me up, gave me the skill and knowledge to go on with my career. I'd say he definitely held the first and last tricks back, but that's not what it's about.'

And he laughs at the idea that working for Size was a shortcut to duplicating his wizardry. 'There are different ways to be a good teacher. Sometimes the best is not the one who spoon-feeds you, but makes you pay attention and learn for yourself and that's what John did,' he recalls.

'He wanted me to succeed, but he wasn't going to give me an easy route and as a teacher and student we clicked. The most important thing he taught me was patience - not a virtue I have much of generally but with horses I am very patient.

'Anyone can train a good horse, but John's a great trainer of a bad horse and it's a skill that, if you can pick it up, you make the most of lesser opportunities and that takes you further.'

A dual Group One winner, Red Oog holds a decision over hot Sprint favourite Takeover Target but seemed to qualify as a bad horse when he first appeared.