In a swinging jockey merry-go-round, Zac Purton is back aboard the Hong Kong Classic Mile winner Little Paradise and James McDonald will fly in to ride recent Hong Kong Derby hero Invincible Ibis in the G1 Champions Mile on April 26, but both will be up against a strong trend.
Hugh Bowman’s decision to ride the five-year-old My Wish rather than the year-younger stablemate Invincible Ibis in the Champions Day feature has handed Sydney champion jockey McDonald the ride on the Mark Newnham-trained galloper. And Vincent Ho’s removal from Little Paradise has Purton reconnecting after he chose not to ride that horse through the recent four-year-old Classic Series.
But four-year-olds have a poor winning record in the Champions Mile. Red Pepper won the first edition coming off a Hong Kong Derby campaign – in which he finished fourth – back in 2001, yet since then the only winning four-year-olds were Able One in 2007 and Xtension in 2010. Famous four-year-old failures include subsequent Hong Kong champion Able Friend, second behind South Africa’s Variety Club in 2014.
Purton will resume his partnership with Little Paradise, having won three of four races together before his Classic Series defection to ride the subsequently disappointing Sagacious Life meant Ho took the reins.
Little Paradise showed a sharp turn-of-foot for Ho to win the Classic Mile in January but thereafter finished down the field in the 1800m Classic Cup and the 2000m Hong Kong Derby, leading to a change in rider for the Jimmy Ting-trained runner.
“He’s running so I’ll be riding him,” Purton told Idol Horse. “I’m happy to get back on him, I’m looking forward to riding him at the mile against these horses to see where he’s at because that Classic Mile was a funny race, a muddling tempo, a lot going on, so it’s hard to know how to read that race properly. It’s one thing putting up a performance like he did in the Classic Mile, but he needs to do it again, really.
“But he had excuses at his next two and maybe didn’t stay the trip either. I was quite surprised he ran the trip at the mile and how good he looked doing it; but that was against four-year-olds, so now he has to show he can do it against the older horses in a Group 1. That’s what he’s up against.”
The champion jockey was scheduled to ride Little Paradise in a gallop on Friday morning (April 10).
Whereas Purton’s Classic Series was a write-off and Little Paradise’s fell in a hole after such a dazzling start, Bowman partnered Invincible Ibis through all three legs of this year’s four-year-old Classic Series and was rewarded with Derby glory. But the Australian has also ridden Newnham’s My Wish, latterly to a late-closing second – a shorthead behind Lucky Sweynesse – in the G2 Chairman’s Trophy at a mile last week.
And the lure of riding a five-year-old, a proven Group 1 miler – albeit one without a win in the grade – has led him to choose My Wish over the year younger Invincible Ibis, and he has stuck with his choice after discussions with Newnham.
“It was Hugh’s choice but he did ask my advice,” Newnham told Idol Horse. “He said to me that he was pretty comfortable with his decision but I could sway him if I was definite on one or the other, or more so on Ibis. I told him My Wish was probably the best ride in the race at this stage of their careers.”
My Wish was fourth in the Champions Mile last year as a four-year-old, off the back of a close second in the Hong Kong Derby, continuing the losing trend among the Classic Series crop that Invincible Ibis will try to break.
“My Wish performed very well in the race last year,” Newnham said. “But he did have barrier one and had a good on-pace trip, but understandably these older, more seasoned horses, that have been racing at a higher level, are generally going to have the wood on the younger up and coming horse.
“Whether or not Invincible Ibis is ready to beat those types of horses yet, well we won’t know until the race. But he may well be one of the better horses to come out of the race as far as next year goes.”
Newnham said Invincible Ibis will have a barrier trial at Sha Tin next Thursday (April 16), whereas My Wish will head directly to the race following his run last weekend.
Meanwhile, one four-year-old set to miss out on the Champions Mile is Classic Cup winner Stormy Grove, third in the Derby last time. Frankie Lor’s charge was listed only as a reserve when the selected runners were announced this week, and was instead offered a starting berth in the G1 QEII Cup over 2000m the same day.
“I wanted to run in the mile but they put him in the 2000m, so I will not run him. The 2000m race is too strong,” Lor told Idol Horse.
“He might run again in May, in the Group 3 (Lion Rock Trophy),” he added. ∎
