“A wave of the wand, a puff of smoke, and Moreira has eight.”
Brett Davis's famous call from that dizzying Sha Tin afternoon in March 2017 – when Joao Moreira rode a record eight winners in a single day – still captures something essential about the Brazilian. He isn't called the Magic Man for nothing. Few jockeys in the world can spark form in a jaded horse, lift a crowd off its seats, change the dynamic of a race, a fixture – and on his best days, an entire jurisdiction – quite like Moreira.
On Wednesday night at Happy Valley, all of that came rushing back. Four winners from nine rides on the opening night of his three-month stint as Caspar Fownes' retained stable rider. Fownes roaring "Come on!" from in front of the jockeys’ room, fist-pumping his way back to a share of the trainers' championship lead alongside Mark Newnham on 47 wins.
The most telling barometer of Moreira's pull, though, wasn't on the track. It was in the parimutuel pools. The public piled in on him from the moment markets opened. At one stage on race morning, all nine of his mounts were favorite. The "taxi driver" money – that early, sentimental, name-driven cash that props up the pools before the pros get involved late – was all Moreira money. Of course, the professionals correct it, looking for value on the other side. By jump time, six of the nine remained favorites, including his last three rides, no doubt under the weight of substantial all-up money stacked up from the earlier success.
This is the dynamic that sets up the most interesting three months of the Hong Kong season. Professionals taking a stand against Moreira mounts, the public piling on regardless, Zac Purton supporters quietly collecting better odds with some relief from “The Zac Tax” that usually cuts into his dividends. It's a betting market with genuine tension in it again.
Hong Kong racing is a healthier product for Moreira's presence, particularly in the unique role he now occupies as Fownes' stable rider. That role was nearly extinct. It took a Hong Kong racing lifer like Fownes, a trainer who has seen nearly every iteration of this jurisdiction, to bring it back – and if he kicks clear over the next three months with Moreira riding everything in the yard, other ambitious trainers will be looking at their own rosters, their own owners, and asking the question: who's our Magic Man?
Most of all, Moreira lifts standards. Hong Kong racing in 2026 should be a place where the words "world class" are more than just a marketing slogan officials pay lip service to. Given the Jockey Club's resources, its standing in global racing, and the ambitious vision laid out by leadership, there is zero excuse for jockeys, trainers, horses, stewards, Club officials, media – and the infrastructure around them – to be anything other than the best in world racing.
Moreira's return is a reminder of what that looks like in practice. A reminder that horse racing, at its heart, is a sport that thrives on the best versus the best. Purton versus Moreira. Newnham versus Fownes. Pro-punters versus Joe Public. Tension in every market, drama in every race.
A wave of the wand. A puff of smoke. The last few months of this season are going to be fun – exactly how racing should be in Hong Kong.
