John Size

Who is horse trainer John Size?

When John Size was photographed on his first day of morning trackwork at Sha Tin, wearing a broad-brimmed hat that looked more at home in the Australian outback, the last thing anybody thought was, “Now there is a guy that suits Hong Kong.”

Perhaps it was the case that the laconic, laid-back Size didn’t suit the pressure-cooker environment of Hong Kong racing, but he simply reshaped it to his will through a first-season championship that changed the jurisdiction forever.

Size didn’t just dress differently to his rivals; he trained horses differently too. His fast work gallops weren’t so fast, and in those early days, he rode his own trackwork too. Just as he had in Sydney when he rose through the ranks at Randwick, Size made good use of the equine exercise pool, his horses swimming daily, and faster and for longer.

Lots of barrier trials, hand walking, and an unconventional ‘once per day’ feeding regime are all part of the Size style and remain the cornerstones of his success. Despite Hong Kong’s transparency – trackwork times are posted for all to see online, gallops are televised, and only Jockey Club-employed vets can treat horses – Size’s style still carries an air of mystery.

Perhaps what rivals who want ‘the Size secrets’ don’t want to acknowledge is that it is old-fashioned ‘first to work, last to leave’ work ethic and attention to detail that sits at the centre of Size’s style. Size is an obsessive whose quiet demeanour belies a hard-nosed and almost ruthless competitive streak.

Size values volume of wins and championships (his 12th in 2022-23 is the all-time record) over big-race success, and his trademark is the ‘progressive’ “Private Purchase Griffins” that rocket through the Hong Kong racing system from a rating of 52 with consecutive wins, contributing to the trainer’s high strike rate.

That focus on importing young, unraced horses, mostly from Australia and New Zealand, comes at the expense of big-race success, especially when placed in direct comparison with his long-time former rival, John Moore. 

What is John Size’s origin story?

The son of a service station owner, Size comes from humble origins in rural southeast Queensland, Australia, and his style is typical of the region: he is a hard worker who doesn’t waste words.

After a teenage growth spurt pushed his weight too high and ended his career as an apprentice jockey, Size continued to work in stables around Brisbane and the Gold Coast, first with Pat Duff and then the legendary Henry Davis.

Davis was famous for helping orchestrate the massive betting stings masterminded by the fearless bettor and bookmaker Mark Read.

Size took over Davis’ stable when the wily trainer was disqualified, but that was one of a couple of false starts for the young horseman. Davis returned, and Size was essentially back to square one. Size spent some time away from training, using his eagle-eyed insight to assess horses for Read’s betting team.

When Size came to Randwick in 1996, legend has it that the equine pool hadn’t been used in years; Size soon changed that, as his reputation for revitalising older or out-of-form horses soon had rivals attempting to emulate his methods. By the end of the 1998-99 season, he finished second to John Hawkes’ massive Crown Lodge operation in the Sydney premiership.

After finishing third the following season, after a string of big-race wins, Size was recruited to Hong Kong.

Who is John Size’s biggest rival?

John Moore was Size’s biggest rival. Their styles are different: Size aimed to win more races and championships, while Moore wanted more prize money and big-race wins. They will always be compared, though, and their performances were the bedrock of Hong Kong racing’s professional transformation through the early part of this century.

Size is far more prolific – he has 12 titles and counting to Moore’s five – but Moore trained more Derby winners (six to three) and had nine Horse of the Year winners to Size’s two, and they were more than twenty years ago (Electronic Unicorn in 2001-02 and Grand Delight the following season). Moore had 33 Group 1 winners, and Size has 17.

Only two trainers have prepared more than 1,500 winners in Hong Kong: Size, who passed the milestone in November 2023, and the now-retired Moore, whose all-time mark sits at 1,735.

Size still has time on his side, though: Moore was forced to retire at age 70 under the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s age rules at the end of the 2019-20 season, but those rules have been changed, and Size – who was 69 as of 2024 – could now train until he is 75.

On his current trajectory, Size will comfortably pass Moore and retire with the most wins of all time in Hong Kong.

What is John Size’s greatest achievement as a trainer?

John Size holds the record for most trainers’ championships (12), most wins in a season (94 in 2016-17), and most prize money earned in a season (HK$176,441,240 in 2017-18). But it is Size’s consistency over more than two decades in Hong Kong, maintaining a remarkable consistency, never falling far from championship contention, and his high strike rate that are his greatest achievements.

Size has produced some famous big-race wins from unconventional preparations that have been rightly lauded as great training performances, including Glorious Days winning the 2013 Group 1 Hong Kong Mile first-up, and the Hong Kong Derby from limited and unconventional preparations with Luger (2014) and Ping Hai Star (2018).

Which horse is John Size best known for training?

It’s almost as though no horse is bigger than the John Size system, and it seems an anomaly that, for all of his success, he hasn’t prepared the same number of ‘champions’ as his rivals John Moore and Tony Cruz. That being said, Size’s miler Glorious Days was a genuine star whose tussles with the mighty Ambitious Dragon were the stuff of legend. 

What they have said about John Size

In 2017, Size’s first boss, Pat Duff, told racing journalist Graham Potter: “Perhaps one of the highest accolades I can give John is that he wasn’t born the son of a top trainer or handed a string of top horses. Everything has been of his own doing, a feat which highlights his natural, great feeling for a horse and his willingness and commitment to learn the things he did not know, and the intelligence to then refine those strategies and stamp his own mark on it.”