Cody Mo Wai-kit has been around the Hong Kong racing scene long enough to learn that it is better to ‘block out the noise’ and train winners rather than be distracted by what other people think or say.
So when the inevitable comparisons with fellow first year trainer Mark Newnham started in their debut seasons a little over 12 months ago, Mo knew to stick to the training principles he had learnt through his 30 years of working in the stables at Sha Tin.
“I don’t compare myself with anybody, I just concentrate on my own career,” Mo said after trackwork this week. “Around here there is so much outside noise, what people think and what people say, but they usually don’t understand the real situation. I don’t listen too much. If I just do my best, it’s okay.”
Australian trainer Newnham has been an obvious success story: his 30 first-season wins and 21 so far through one third of this season have him ranked third in the championship and viewed as a future title contender.
Newnham’s success and media friendly approach has attracted deserved publicity but Mo, despite being disadvantaged in his first season by a number of factors, has quietly built into a force of his own.
Mo has quickly become a leader in how he utilises the club’s mainland training centre at Conghua, near Guangzhou and his 16 wins so far this term have him equal sixth in the trainers’ championship overall heading into Sunday’s meeting at Sha Tin.
What most of those comparisons with Newnham ignored is that the Australian was granted his licence nearly three months before Mo and that Newnham had first chance to swoop on owners and their horses departing the Richard Gibson stable after the Englishman quit Hong Kong.
Mo’s appointment was in June 2023, which left him three months to find staff and assemble a roster of horses for his rookie season.
That meant many of the horses Mo was working with were cast-offs, but he also patiently acquired new talent with a view to the future. The trainer then leaned on the training ideas absorbed through three decades of working for some of the best horsemen in Hong Kong, most notably Tony Cruz, but also astute handlers known for their horse-first approach, David Hall and Benno Yung Tin-pang.
“I was given a licence very late and I had some difficulty getting horses,” Mo explained. “That meant I was stuck with horses that were either limited, had health problems or their ratings were too high. Problem horses. Getting to 20 winners in my first season was an acceptable result because the new horses I was getting in, I didn’t push too hard, I let them acclimatise.
“Those new horses were still green and young, I let them mature and we are seeing the results now.”
Mo has quickly established a reputation for his use of Conghua Racecourse in preparing his horses. He was only given access to the training centre late last season but his strike rate of 21.2% (seven wins from 33 starts) this season for horses prepared out of Conghua since their last start is by far the highest of any trainer, the next best being Newnham – that guy again – on 16.7% (12 from 72).
“I had experience in using Conghua in my time as assistant to Tony Cruz, so it wasn’t difficult for me to incorporate,” Mo said. “Conghua has very good facilities; an aqua walker, an uphill gallop, they hold many grass trials there and it is very good for the horses mentally.”
“I think Conghua is best used for the new horses that have just arrived in Hong Kong. Things aren’t too rushed there and the environment is very open. Sha Tin is a bit tight and small, the trackwork is very rushed. I believe if I send a new horse to Conghua he will feel more relaxed and acclimatise sooner.”
Mo is winning but the next step for any trainer of his standing is finding a banner horse that can carry him into the big races and potentially onto the world stage.
One of the better candidates the trainer has among his near-capacity stable (he has 68 of a maximum 70 horses at time of writing) is sprinter Magic Control, winner of two from three and second to Beauty Waves in the G3 National Day Cup since being transferred from Jamie Richards.
Magic Control’s explosive barrier trial on Tuesday, in which he put nine lengths on his rivals under a hold by jockey Matthew Chadwick, indicated the 97-rated four-year-old is in top form for his next start in the G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy over 1000m at the New Year’s Day meeting at Sha Tin.
“After this next race I expect him to be rated over 100 and let’s see, we will go step by step, but we will need to step up to 1200m and try the Group 1 sprints,” Mo said. “Ka Ying Rising is going to be there, but there is no avoiding that in Hong Kong. We will have to take him on.”
Mo also has a possible Hong Kong Classic Mile runner in the form of Hong Kong International Sale bargain Markwin, who cost just HK$2.2 million as an ISG, and has already won HK$3.1 million in prize money.
Markwin is a prime example of Mo’s patient approach and use of Conghua. The horse is currently at Conghua, where he has been based regularly, and will be aimed at a Class 3 in the coming weeks with a view to qualifying for the Classic Mile, the first leg of the four-year-old series, on January 31.
“His rating is just 71 so if we can win one more race then he has a very good chance to run in the Classic Mile,” Mo said. “He is by a very good sire in I Am Invincible and the reason he cost less is that he had a problem, but when he came to my stable everything had settled down.”
Asked for his goals for the future, Mo is sticking to his ‘block out the noise’ mindset and clearly prefers to let results speak for themselves.
“I won’t put any extra pressure on myself,” he said. “I believe that if everything goes smoothly, the results will come.” ∎
