The decision to bench Luke Ferraris from My Wish ahead of his tilt at the Group One Stewards’ Cup (1,600m) later this month is one that I cannot wrap my head around, but once again highlights the brutal reality riders can face in Hong Kong.
Ferraris has been on board My Wish for 13 of his 15 starts, winning on him five times, including a poignant success in the Classic Mile to give himself and trainer Mark Newnham their first feature wins in the city.
The pair teamed up for Group Three glory on return in the Celebration Cup (1,400m), but with My Wish carrying just 115lb for his next start in the Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m), Alexis Badel was drafted in for victory.
Subsequently, My Wish has gone winless in a pair of starts, beaten just a length to finish fourth in the Group Two Jockey Club Mile before a decent sixth in the Group One Hong Kong Mile last month.
On the former occasion, he was carrying level weights against older horses for the first time, and on the latter things got messy on a track that did not suit him, as Newnham said.
With all that in mind, the owners’ decision to take the ride away from Ferraris does not sit right with me.
Ultimately, it is the owners’ choice, but it is disappointing to see such a young and talented jockey lose the ride based on what seems to be a pair of understandable defeats.
Newnham summed it up well earlier this week. “Without Luke’s input, I don’t think the horse would have come as far as he has,” the handler said.
Ferraris has put all the hard yards in with My Wish, winning at the lower levels and ultimately helping shape him into the top-class galloper he is alongside Newnham’s training.
But this is a results driven business and when you have the world’s best waiting in the wings, it is very easy for owners to see their horses lose at the top level and want to look elsewhere.
I do not agree that My Wish was a case where a jockey change will solve anything, but the owners will hope that switching to a Hong Kong veteran in Badel will help change their fortunes.
It is another frustrating knock-back for Ferraris as despite sitting third in the jockeys’ championship with 19 winners, he also had the final International Jockeys’ Challenge slot cruelly snatched from him at the final meeting by Hugh Bowman earlier this campaign.
Ferraris will continue to do what he does and will no doubt take this disappointing outcome in stride, but it is also another reminder of just how competitive the weighing room is at present.
When you look beyond the 54 winners of Zac Purton and 25 of Hugh Bowman, there are just five separating Ferraris (19) in third place from Vincent Ho Chak-yiu (18), Karis Teetan (17), Andrea Atzeni (15), Lyle Hewitson (15), Jerry Chau Chun-lok (14), Alexis Badel (14) and Ellis Wong Chi-wang (14).
You will notice just how many top riders are not listed there – Harry Bentley and Brenton Avdulla to name just two from a slew of noteworthy omissions – and it is no wonder it is so brutal for the jockeys in terms of getting rides, let alone in Group races.
And even when you have the Group rides, you are only a moment’s away from losing them. It is brutal out there.
