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Magic Quits Hong Kong For Japan

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‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira quits Hong Kong racing for Japan in shock move

After five glorious seasons at Sha Tin, the Brazilian superstar makes ‘a difficult decision’ to leave at the end of the season to try and become the JRA’s third full-time foreign jockey

 

by Michael Cox

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Joao Moreira will leave Hong Kong race at the end of the season to begin a new career in Japan. Photos: Kenneth Chan
 
Joao Moreira will leave Hong Kong race at the end of the season to begin a new career in Japan. Photos: Kenneth Chan

Superstar jockey Joao Moreira will quit Hong Kong racing at season’s end to go to Japan and prepare for the rigorous tests required to become the Japan Racing Association’s third full-time foreign rider.

With the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s licensing committee scheduled to meet on Friday, Moreira has withdrawn his application to ride in the 2018-19 season in a move that will shock the racing world.

Moreira will apply for a short term Japan Racing Association (JRA) licence, just as he has in the past two off-seasons.

He will spend his spare time preparing for a written test, the first hurdle to joining Italian Mirco Demuro and Christophe Lemaire as full-time foreign riders in Japan.

ea6bdad4-6a50-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Joao Moreira will head for Japan next season.

“This was such a difficult decision and I want to thank all of the people in Hong Kong racing for what has been an amazing five seasons, but it is time to move on,” Moreira said. “When I came here I honestly thought I would be here for no more than two years, and I never expected to achieve what I have. I’ve experienced everything you can dream of as a jockey here and I’ve made some wonderful friends.”

Moreira was an immediate hit when he moved from Singapore to Sha Tin in October 2013, capturing nearly every major race since and has been a landslide winner of the past three jockeys’ championships.

26f248a8-6a51-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Joao Moreira’s association with the ill-fated Rapper Dragon is one of folklore.

 

The 34-year-old is currently suspended but when he returns next Wednesday he will be battling for the 2017-18 title with Australian Zac Purton, who trails him by just one win.

“I can assure everybody that I will be giving it all I have for the remainder of the season,” Moreira said. “There will be nine meetings to go when I come back, and it’s going to be an exciting finish. I really want this fourth championship.”

 

‘Zac is going past me’: Joao Moreira believes his reign is over as Purton throws down gauntlet

To be licensed as a full-time JRA jockey, foreigners must pass two tests, firstly a written exam quizzing applicants on everything from rules, regulations, statistics and history of Japanese racing, and, if successful, then pass an interview with JRA officials to test Japanese language proficiency.

The written test has previously been held in late September although this year’s has yet to be scheduled.

c5e3b20e-6a50-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Joao Moreira has had many close relationships with the trainers including Tony Cruz.

If Moreira is successful in the written component, the speaking test would then be set for a later date.

Moreira said when the current Hong Kong racing season concludes on July 15 he will hit the books, placing his full attention on studying both the JRA laws and tricky Japanese language – which he has already been studying for more than 18 months.

 

Why Joao Moreira is racing’s closest thing to Frankie Dettori since Frankie Dettori

“From what I understand, it’s an extremely difficult process and I will have to be at my best,” he said. “I will give it as much time as I can to get myself prepared for it.”

Regardless of test results, Moreira would be eligible to apply for another short term JRA licence in 2018 and again for up to three months in 2019.

“If I fail, I will try again next year, and I would probably go back to Brazil and ride or rest for 2019,” he said.

3f6f3da0-6a51-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_972Joao Moreira aboard Rapper Dragon after winning the Hong Kong Classic Cup in February 2017.

Moreira had initially lodged an application with the Hong Kong Jockey Club to ride next season, but as the licensing deadline approached he felt a decision needed to be made.

“You can’t have everything,” he said. “I needed to fully commit one way or the other. It wouldn’t be fair to the club, connections of my rides and the fans to not be open about what I am doing at this stage.”

Before officially withdrawing his 2018-19 Jockey Club application, Moreira visited champion trainer John Size, the Brazilian jockeys’ biggest supporter during his time in Hong Kong.

ac640c32-6a52-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Joao Moreira celebrates aboard Gunnison after winning the France Galop Cup.

“John has been more than just a trainer to me, he has become one of my closest friends,” Moreira said. “He really is a fantastic man, he is just so respectful and kind. He isn’t just an amazing trainer, he has everything you would want in a friend. He just told me ‘if that’s what makes you happy, you should go for it’. That’s the type of person he is, he is obviously a brilliant horse trainer but he is an even better person.

“He is always positive and gives me a lot of confidence and motivation. I would also like to thank the Jockey Club for the opportunities I have been given here and all of the trainers that have supported me.”

0ee9b890-6a51-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Trainer John Size remains close friends with Joao Moreira.

Moreira is incredibly popular in Japan by virtue of his highly successful off-season stints and big race wins aboard the country’s powerful horses, taking Group Ones in Hong Kong and Dubai.

It was during these trips to Japan that Moreira first had the idea to move and he revealed to the Post that he has been consulting a Japanese tutor on and off since November 2016.

“I still don’t feel fully prepared and that’s part of the reason why I think I need to go to Japan for a while,” he said. “Being based there will help me learn faster. I want to give myself the best chance of passing.

“I love Japan and I love Japanese racing. The people, the culture and the horses – everything there is top class.”

 

Weighed down by HK$383 million in bets? I can’t think about it, says Hong Kong champion jockey Joao Moreira

Moreira said that while studying has taken up some of his time, he maintained it has not been a factor in what many feel has been a subpar season.

“That’s not the reason I haven’t been riding as well,” he said.

“If there is something that it has affected, it has been my homework and form. Maybe I have made some wrong decisions on which horses to ride. But look, Zac is an amazing jockey and I think he is the best rider here. I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got. I want to win the championship, but if I don’t, it won’t be because of this distracting me.”

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The HK punters are going to miss him. I note that Tommy Berry and Brett Prebble are also finishing up in HK at the end of the current season.

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Who will replace the star power leaving Hong Kong racing?

More than 2,000 wins are exiting Sha Tin alongside Joao Moreira, Tommy Berry, Brett Prebble and Olivier Doleuze – so who will fill the void?

 
Joao Moreira. Photos: Kenneth Chan
 

Joao Moreira. Photos: Kenneth Chan

You can’t help but think Hong Kong racing lost a little bit of soul last week and that next season’s jockey roster looks awfully thin after more than 2,000-plus wins worth of experience walked out the door.

The shock announcement of Joao Moreira’s imminent departure kicked off a crazy 24 hours that left plenty of observers asking “what’s going on in Hong Kong?” and left the Jockey Club desperately seeking new heroes.

The ongoing drama surrounding Nash Rawiller, who was banned by the Jockey Club in April for accepting money or gifts for tips, had the capacity to frame Friday’s unprecedented upheaval in an unfairly suspicious light; but this wasn’t a case of “cleaning house”.

Moreira simply walked – as did Berry – and whatever spin some pundits want to put on the departures, there is no doubt next season’s roster is suffering from a severe lack of star power.

eeeaff1c-6cae-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Nash Rawiller.

The absence of Moreira (699 Hong Kong wins), Prebble (806), Doleuze (571) and Berry (69) leaves a gaping void of both profile and experience.

Their replacements, at least so far, are fresh-faced South Africans Callan Murray and Grant van Niekerk. It’s probably a little unfair to list the newcomer’s combined Hong Kong wins (four), given van Niekerk hasn’t ridden here yet, but they are hardly household names outside their homeland.

 

 

The nature of Moreira’s announcement means a replacement hasn’t been found – but how do you replace a freak? This was Hong Kong racing’s version of Michael Jordan, a once-in-a-generation talent who had already proven himself as a winning machine in Singapore before he came to Sha Tin.

If the search is starting with marquee names like Ryan Moore, Hugh Bowman, William Buick or Christophe Soumillon, let us save the recruiters some time – they aren’t coming.

1983ccd6-6caf-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Ryan Moore (left) and Hugh Bowman.

On face value, Moreira’s departure should make recruitment easier, even if Zac Purton now seems set to ride 150-plus winners per season.

With the four who are leaving, plus Rawiller’s exit, there are wins to be had.

 

Brett Prebble and Olivier Doleuze walk away as Hong Kong jockey exodus reaches unprecedented levels

With the grind of an 88-meeting schedule that stretches deep into summer and monthly trips to mainland China for barrier trials at Conghua coming up next season, it seems the Jockey Club are favouring a roster full of keen kids.

Can you imagine Moore sitting on a bus winding through the mind-numbing landscape of outer Shenzhen to go and ride barrier trials?

And why would in-demand veterans like Moore want to ride full-time? They get the call up for the big races anyway, like Moore did when he won the 2018 BMW Hong Kong Derby on Ping Hai Star.

ffa81114-6cae-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Ryan Moore and John Size after winning the Hong Kong Derby.

Bowman won five Group Ones in Hong Kong in a 14 months stretch from March 2016 riding only on marquee days. The big names get the best of both worlds.

Berry’s season stands as a cautionary tale. He had enjoyed even more success than Bowman in a similar fly-in, fly-out capacity, winning eight Group Ones over four seasons from 2013 and maintaining “flavour of the month” status during late term stints.

 

Berry returned full-time as John Moore’s stable jockey in what was meant to be a saloon passage to Group race success. Unfortunately the bottom fell out of the John Moore stable, and Berry filled the role of scapegoat. To put it bluntly, his season was a disaster saved only by his professionalism and a well-deserved Group One on Pakistan Star.

2d19dba0-6caf-11e8-8f2e-7970b9e180c8_132Tommy Berry and Pakistan Star.

Hong Kong’s per-race prize money is the highest of any racing jurisdiction in the world, but as Moreira told the Post, for him at least, “it’s not about the money”.

Nor is it for Moore, Bowman or Soumillon – already wealthy jockeys for whom lifestyle and riding the best horses in the biggest races in the world comes first.

 

Tommy Berry opts to head back to Australia in latest blow for Hong Kong Jockey Club

Of course, young talent will step up; 20-somethings Karis Teetan, Chad Schofield, Sam Clipperton and Umberto Rispoli will all be keen to build their win totals.

Somebody will become the next star, that’s the nature of sport, but it seems Hong Kong racing doesn’t have the allure it once had for big-name jockeys.

The support of Sha Tin’s most powerful stable could prove the difference in the championshipJoao Moreira and John Size. Photos: Kenneth Chan
 

Joao Moreira and John Size. Photos: Kenneth Chan

There is a school of thought that trainers win jockeys’ championships in Hong Kong and Sunday’s thrilling heads-up and heads-down duel between Hezthewonforus and Win Beauty Win was a microcosm of the battle between Joao Moreira and Zac Purton.

Trainers winning jockeys’ championships might sound strange, but what is implied is that it is the support a jockey gets from powerful stables that makes the difference – not necessarily riding ability.

That might seem harsh, and of course any jockey in contention for a championship can flat out ride, but what tips the balance is support and there is no more powerful supporter than John Size.

The head margin between Size’s Hezthewonforus and Paul O’Sullivan’s Win Beauty Win – and unsuccessful protest afterwards – could be looked back on as pivotal to the already epic 2017-18 title chase.

It was a classic two-win swing, Purton had already ridden a double – one of them O’Sullivan’s 400th career winner – and a treble would have pulled him within seven of Moreira with 19 meetings remaining.

Instead it was Moreira with a treble that extended his championship lead to nine.

The significance of Purton’s long-standing partnership with O’Sullivan is worth noting and the statistics only tell part of the story.

 

Purton has ridden a phenomenal 96 of O’Sullivan’s 400 winners at a healthy strike rate of 16 per cent.

Although sprinter Aerovelocity provided 11 of those victories – four of them at Group One level – the vast majority have been handicappers, and many just when O’Sullivan needed them most.

“When Zac got here he was battling and I was battling, so we bonded. He might have gone on with it a little more than me, but it’s safe to say I’m out of the battler zone,” the always self-effacing O’Sullivan said after Pearl Warm Warm’s Class Three victory.

As thick as Purton and O’Sullivan are, it isn’t the type of partnership that will carry him past Moreira, he will need more.

Size shows incredible loyalty to his jockeys – just look at his policy when it comes to jockeys who happen to pick up the rides on superstars as they come through the ranks – Olivier Doleuze on D B Pin a prime example.

But Size has also proven in the past that he will get behind his de facto stable jockey – and shut out his main rival – if the championship is in the balance.

c5927182-5132-11e8-9150-83bd875cc143_132Paul O'Sullivan with Zac Purton.

In 2009-10 Brett Prebble pushed Douglas Whyte to the limit, and Size withdrew his support from the Australian and threw it behind the South African.

Size and Whyte became known as the Dream Team, but Size and Moreira have become just as formidable.

Dream Team 2.0, Size and Moreira, have combined for 45 wins – that’s nearly 60 per cent of the leading trainer’s wins, and a tick over 30 per cent of the three-time champion jockey’s haul.

Yet it isn’t just the number of wins Moreira rides for Size that is crucial – it is the nature of the horses.

Hezthewonforus and Raging Storm are both three-year-olds with obvious upside – and are both likely to start favourite next time they step out.

When Hot King Prawn, one of Purton’s few regular rides for Size, steps out again this season it will be interesting to see which race and which jockey Size chooses.

Purton’s horses have won more than HK$140 million this season – and he has ridden five of the 11 Group One wins – so we can’t quite call him a battler, but he is up against it when it comes to total wins.

“Obviously having John Size in your corner is a huge advantage,” Purton said. “It’s a bit of a free kick, and a massive start. I have to earn every winner I get, and Joao can ride so much lighter. The odds are against me but let’s see what happens.”

 

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