Hong Kong’s Champions Day has been the backdrop to a side show this week with journalism hobbyists, YouTubers and bloggers jumping on the circumstances around the booking or non-booking of Neil Callan and Alberto Sanna for Bahrain’s G1 Champions Mile contender Goemon.
The intensity of the Hong Kong circuit’s colourful rumour and gossip mill is such that any hint of even a wisp of a conspiracy or scandal will set the tongues wagging, the keyboards tapping and the camera phones recording. So it was when the word came out of Bahrain last Friday that Goemon’s regular rider Alberto Sanna would not be aboard the miler at Sha Tin’s triple-Group 1 Champions Day fixture on Sunday.
Then came the assertion via Hong Kong’s Chinese language media, including the popular Racing King, that the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) had blocked Callan from stepping in as the chosen back-up. The Newmarket-based Irishman has become a Bahrain regular since his Group 1-winning 10-year association as a licensed rider in Hong Kong came to an end in July 2021, in the wake of a controversial suspension and highly-publicised reduction on appeal.
Callan was approached by YouTuber Paul Shiu, aka Yau Tat, in the car park at Kempton Park racecourse on Monday and gave an interview in which he talked of a “grudge” against him and stated that Goemon’s connections had asked him to ride the horse, but that they had in turn been told by someone at the HKJC that he was “banned from riding in Hong Kong.”
The jockey told Idol Horse: “I was asked by the owners to ride the horse and I said ‘yes,’ and then they came back to me and told me they’d been told I was banned.”
The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s (HKJC) executive director, racing, Andrew Harding responded to questions from Idol Horse, stating: “Uncompromising integrity is one of the core values of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. All decisions that are made by the Club on licensing-related matters uphold this core value.”
Harding continued: “No application for a visiting jockey licence has been received either from or on behalf of Mr Callan. Mr Callan is eligible to apply for such a licence.”
Stipendiary steward Terry Bailey, secretary to the HKJC’s Licensing Committee, is the man tasked with helping to bring in jockeys and manage the jockey roster.
In a statement to Idol Horse he said: “Neil Callan has not made an application in recent times to ride in Hong Kong.”
Regarding Sanna’s situation, Bailey and Harding stated that the club opted not to renew the Italian’s contract more than five years ago and has not changed its position.
“In December (2019) Mr Sanna’s licence to ride in Hong Kong was not renewed,” Harding said. “Nothing has changed since that time in relation to Mr Sanna’s eligibility for a licence. This has been confirmed to Mr Sanna.”
Sanna has carved a successful niche in the Middle East riding out of Qatar since he left Hong Kong in December 2019. That departure came as his contract was about to expire, but in the middle of a 10-meeting suspension (reduced from 12 on appeal) for what the stewards deemed a failure to take all reasonable and permissible measures to achieve the best possible placing on Dances With Dragon.
The Italian, who partnered California to win a local Group 1 in Bahrain last week, said that he accepted the situation and is now looking forward to riding Grand Kodiak this weekend in the Premio Parioli, the Italian 2,000 Guineas, and Giorgia Forever in the Premio Regina Elena, the Italian 1,000 Guineas.
“I thought there might be a chance to ride the horse in Hong Kong but there wasn’t, end of story, so now I wish Goemon the best of luck on Sunday and I will look forward to riding in Italy,” Sanna said.
Meanwhile, Goemon’s connections have distanced themselves from the simmering furore. Idol Horse attempted to contact Goemon’s trainer Haider Ebrahim Shaheen and spoke to his son and assistant trainer, Mohammed Haider Ebrahim.
“The two, they are not our jockey for this race: the owner has made this decision,” Mohammed Haider Ebrahim told Idol Horse.
And, when asked if the Hong Kong Jockey Club had told connections that either jockey was “banned” from riding their horse in Hong Kong, he stated: “We have no idea what you are talking about.”
The HKJC’s rules of racing give it the right to licence, or not, whoever it wishes, be that jockey or trainer. Rule 8 (2) states that the club’s stewards “have power at their absolute discretion … without giving any reason, to license or refuse to license, jockeys, trainers, assistant trainers, and to determine the procedure for the lodging and consideration of applications for licences.” ∎
Jockey Challenges
Ho, Purton, Kimura & Sanna On Being Sidelined Due To Injury
