Four for the master Size but it's all about the horses

John Size had four winners at Sha Tin on Sunday, including superb training performances with comeback star Sky Jewellery and first-up import Nautical Force, but as usual the 13-time champion wanted to talk about the horses, not himself.

He did, however, admit he was sick of coming second.

Size came into the meeting sixth in the trainers' standings with 36 wins, 12 behind leader Mark Newnham, but with by far the most runners-up with 49, a dozen more than any other trainer.

"I didn't need any more seconds, I had had enough," he said. "I deserved a winner, I suppose."

He got four, and had a spring in his step after Nautical Force stormed from the rear to win the nightcap over 1,800 meters, a rare first-up victory for an overseas import and a masterful piece of race placement by the veteran conditioner.

The Irish import arrived in October and has been based at Conghua since late December. Size is famous for his patience and for his use of barrier trials, but even by his standards this preparation was extreme. Nautical Force had 12 trials, his last nine at the mainland training center, returning to Sha Tin on Thursday ahead of a barnstorming local debut.

"He is only a little fella and he is probably going to improve with racing in Hong Kong, but for his first day today that was a wonderful effort," Size said of the horse, who weighs just 977 pounds, one of the lightest in training.

At a rating of 75, Nautical Force was outside the handicaps, carrying 20 pounds less than top weight Moments in Time across a 25-point ratings gap. The 100-75 band scraped him in, and his entry proved a masterstroke.

"The 115 helped him," Size said of the featherweight on a day when the C+3 track favored on-pace runners. "He has plenty of stamina and he got the job done. I really have no idea how he will develop, but I thought if I could get him in with a light weight and a bit of distance he might run well for the owners, and he certainly has."

Sky Jewellery's return was equally satisfying. The horse won three from five last season to be crowned champion griffin but bled from both nostrils in a November trial, ruling him out of the Four-year-old Classic Series and triggering a mandatory three-month ban. Size, who always errs on the side of caution in such situations, took even longer.

"That was the way you would hope he would come back. It might be a blessing – all of these things are sent for a reason," Size said. "It's not about me, it's just about when horses have a problem and can overcome them.

"But he had a pre-existing condition and that win doesn't mean he is going to be OK forever. One swallow doesn't make a spring. We will be quite mindful that it is always there."

Size also won earlier with Class 5 horse Noble Deluxe and veteran dirt tracker Must Go. The four-timer pulled him within nine of new leader Caspar Fownes, but a 14th championship was the last thing on his mind.

"I haven't got a thought yet," he said. "I just wanted to see the horses race."