After poring over all 771 of the season's races, Michael Cox has come up with his top five rides for the term - as well as one honourable mention in Class Five.
1. Tommy Berry, Designs On Rome, Group One Hong Kong Classic Cup (1,800m)
Part of the greatness of basketball legend Michael Jordan was that opponents knew what he wanted to do, but were powerless to stop him. Such was Berry's inch-perfect ride on subsequent Horse of the Year Designs On Rome. The day before the race Berry spelt out in the SCMP exactly how he would bring down Classic Mile conqueror and stablemate Able Friend. It is one thing to say it, but another to execute it with ice-cold precision as Berry did. Playing to his mount's strengths, and nullifying his opponent's, Berry stalked Able Friend, flushed Joao Moreira out with an early move and negated the favourite's turn of foot by turning the race into a true test of stamina.
2. Zac Purton, Dominant, Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m)
Purton rode 112 winners, the second most of all-time, and while many displayed the same poise, race awareness and sheer skillfulness as his Vase masterpiece, it's the magnitude of the upset that makes this the pick of his lot. A local hadn't won the longest of the international features in 15 years and if not for Purton's tactical nous, the Sha Tin fans would have been waiting at least one more year. Sensing slow sectionals up front and seeing top threats The Fugue and Dunaden running into traffic and being shuffled back through the field, Purton quickly seized the moment and made his run - leaving the two placegetters flat-footed at a key moment and stealing the Group One.
3. Joao Moreira, Same World, Group Three January Cup (1,800m)
Happy Valley is as quirky and idiosyncratic a racecourse as there is, and one that takes top riders many years to master. But for Moreira it became the perfect stage for his instinctive horsemanship and his strike rate there was higher than at Sha Tin. This type of take-off-early effort was replicated a few times in lower grades, by Moreira again on Twin Turbo and Matthew Chadwick on Little Rainforest, but this one gets the nod for being in a Group race and for the way it took race favourite Rainbow Chic and rival Zac Purton out of the game. The move was made decisively, at just the right time, getting to the lead "for free" as the leaders stacked the field up.
4. Tye Angland, Wayfoong Express, Class Three Handicap (1,600m)
When a jockey rides nearly 50 winners and finishes top five in the title race despite leaving in April, the term underrated becomes redundant - that was Angland. The once under-appreciated Aussie had a breakout term and his ground-saving ride on 19-1 outsider Wayfoong Express in December was typical of his strong and fearless style. If the definition of a great ride is that it was the difference between winning and losing, then this qualifies with room to spare. It's also a reminder that great rides aren't always in big races. Jumping from gate 11, Angland went back, manoeuvred to the rail, and from there didn't go around a horse, scoring his fourth win for the day.
5. Joao Moreira, Able Friend, Group One Hong Kong Derby (2,000m)
A reminder that not all great rides are winners, Moreira's Derby effort is one we would still be talking about if not for Designs On Rome's class and superiority at the distance. Faced with a similar situation to the last-start Classic Cup, Moreira this time daringly chose to take inside runs, hoping for a late split to save his mount's short and sharp sprint for the finish. The tactic worked and set up one of the great grandstand finishes of all time. An honourable mention - another reminder that top rides aren't always on winners at the highest level - was Hugh Bowman's effort on Archer's Bow in a lowly Class Five Handicap in late June.
