By Michael Cox
Is it time to consider sweetening the deal for short-term visiting jockeys so that Hong Kong racing gets the superstar riding roster the jurisdiction deserves?
Last week’s underwhelming licensing announcements made it abundantly clear that the Jockey Club is struggling to attract the calibre of jockey it once did, at least on a full-time basis.
But could the Club up the ante in its recruitment of big name jockeys on a short-term basis?
Richard Kingscote is the only new face for the full-time roster for next season. The Brit did enough to justify the call-up during his short term stint midway through the season, but he doesn’t have the profile the Club needs to shake up Zac Purton’s dominance at the top of the championship.
Jockeys retained by trainers were once in the majority, but as Hong Kong’s prizemoney rose to be the richest on a per-race basis in the world, there has been a natural evolution in favor of ‘Club jockeys’ – whose accommodation is paid for or subsided by the Jockey Club.
For a long time this was enough to ensure that the Hong Kong full-time roster was not only strong, but that there would be a regular line-up of cameos from big names throughout the season.
Christophe Soumillon, Ryan Moore, Silvestre de Sousa and Maxime Guyon are among those that have wowed Hong Kong racing fans and given Hong Kong racing the mid-season shake-up it needs to keep things interesting.
The modern jockey needs more than prizemoney though and other factors come into play, including lifestyle, workload and prestige.
Japan is now the go-to destination for the type of rider that used to favor Sha Tin. In recent years Moore, Cristian Demuro, Damian Lane, William Buick and husband and wife duo Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle have preferred Japan.
James McDonald provided some healthy competition for runaway championship leader Zac Purton earlier this season but has so far resisted the Jockey Club’s clear desire to make Hong Kong his home.
But why would J-Mac move to Sha Tin full-time when he has the best of both worlds? He is the dominant force in Sydney racing – which now boasts prizemoney that is competitive with Hong Kong – but he still gets to jet in to Hong Kong and ride Romantic Warrior, Voyage Bubble and other leading big race chances.
Last season McDonald’s mounts won more than $90m, fourth most among all jockeys, and this season his horses have tallied more than $110m, which is third most.
So how do we get more J-Mac in Hong Kong? And more to the point, more regular appearances from the likes of Lane, Marquand or Doyle?
One option is to play hard ball with the visiting jockeys and create a criteria that to ride in a Group 1 that isn’t on International Day or Champions Day, you must have been based in Hong Kong for at least one month in the preceding 12 months.
The other option is a retainer – essentially an appearance fee – something the Jockey Club has baulked at in the past.
It is understood that some of the newer recruits to the jockey roster have received non-monetary benefits – more freedom to take overseas rides, more lucrative rent subsidies and more – and good luck to them. Race riding is dangerous and demanding and jockeys deserve whatever rewards they can get.
So why not extend some gratuities to big names for shorter commitments? How much is it worth to the club to have Ryan Moore for a month? It isn’t just the betting tickets that should be tallied, but the impact he could have in creating a more dynamic jockeys’ championship.
