All hail King Size at his 13th HK crowning moment

New Paper

6 days ago

HONG KONG John Size secured a record-extending 13th Hong Kong trainers' championship at Sha Tin on July 13 as the master trainer embarked on a familiar coronation march with a treble, further burnishing an extraordinary career.
Size sealed the championship with the wins of Sight Dreamer, Raging Rapids and Bundle Award. That left the Australian with 69 wins for the season - beyond the reach of compatriot David Hayes (60), who has only eight entries in the nine races left at the July 16 season finale at Happy Valley.
Nearing the end of his 24th season in Hong Kong, Size added to the previous championships he won in 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2005/06, 2007/08, 2009/10, 2011/12, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2022/23, and took his Hong Kong career tally to 1,612 wins - second overall to retired Australian John Moore (1,734).
George Moore held the record for the most Hong Kong trainers' titles with 11 until he was joined in 2018/19 by Size, who has also finished second five times and third three times in the championship.
Characteristically modest, Size, 71, was proud and reflective on securing his latest crown.
"There's a lot of satisfaction in that (winning) and probably something I'm very grateful to achieve," said Size. "It's a very strong and stiff competition and so therefore you have to rise up to it.
"As I've said before, I'm surprised that I've been so successful in Hong Kong. It's always been a test of whether I can keep performing at that level and, so far, I've been able to over 24 years and, God willing, and if my health is still okay, I can do it for a little bit longer."
Rating Red Lion's Group 1 FWD Champions Mile (1,600m) as the highlight of another glorious season, Size said: "That was a really good example of what can happen on a race track and that's what makes the game go round - the vagaries of racing, the uncertainties and the unpredictability of it.
"Owners, trainers and jockeys should take some encouragement from those sorts of performances. It just proves it can be done if everything is right on the night. That was very satisfying."
Likening the art of training to other sports and vocations, Size described the need to constantly improve as a "natural progression, it's evolution".
"Like every business, every sport's the same, training racehorses is no different. You have to keep improving to keep up and you certainly have to be improving to stay ahead," he said.
"If you're doing it for a long period of time, I think it's hard to stay in a good position for a quarter of a century. You don't see it every day.
"So, I get some sort of gratification from that in my innovations and my attempt to keep up and stay ahead of the younger ones is working to some degree.
"Every now and then, I change small things but my approach in general hasn't changed in training horses. But I have to adapt to different scenarios in order to keep winning and, even in 24 years, a lot of things change, so you have to adapt and I've managed to survive."
Leading Hayes 66 wins to 60 at the start of the meeting, Size stretched the lead to seven when Sight Dreamer ($42) prevailed in the Class 5 Miraculous Handicap (1,400m) under Andrea Atzeni before Karis Teetan won aboard Raging Rapids ($71) in the Class 4 Medic Kingdom Handicap (1,400m).
Bundle Award ($23) shunted Size further clear with a brilliant performance - clocking a searing 21.87sec for the final 400m - under Atzeni in the HK$4.075 million (S$664,000) Class 1 The Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Trophy Handicap (1,600m) to ultimately seal the championship.
Already crowned eight-time champion jockey on June 28, Zac Purton ended the Sha Tin season as he started it - with a quartet.
The battle for the Tony Cruz Award for the leading homegrown jockey is set for a cliffhanger finish on Jul 16, after both Matthew Chadwick and Derek Leung sliced further into Matthew Poon's lead.
With one meeting to go, Poon (36 wins) leads Chadwick (35) and Leung (34), after Chadwick triumphed on Chris So's Devas Twelve to land the Class 4 Pingwu Spark Handicap (1,400m).
Leung followed suit on Jimmy Ting's Happy Universe in the Class 4 Solar Hei Hei Handicap (1,600m). HKJC