First HK winner for Murray
SA DOMINATION: FIRST WINNER AT HAPPY VALLEY IS FOR TRAINER TONY MILLARD Murray says he is honoured to get the Hong Kong call.
Callan Murray had his first taste of victory in Hong Kong yesterday when he guided Master Viking to a narrow win in Race 3 over 1200m at Happy Valley.
Murray had the Tony Millardtrained runner in second spot and wasted no time taking him to the front at the top of the straight. The field started closing late but Murray had made the winning move at the right time and Master Viking held on by a neck from Confucius Spirit, ridden by Karis Teetan and trained by David Ferraris, with Clever Spirit and Joao Moreira another 0.50 lengths back in third.
It was a great day for South African connection in Hong Kong because Teetan rode three winners and Chad Schofield rode one.
This is only the second meeting for Murray in Hong Kong and he has already made an impression on the media.
On Tuesday he won them over at a specially arranged press conference to formally kick-off his short term contract with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which will take him through to the season's final fixture on 16 July.
“It's an honour to be here. To be invited to ride in one of the biggest racing jurisdictions in the world is very exciting,” Murray said. “I'm excited to have the opportunity to come here and compete with some of the world's best jockeys.”
“It's a huge step coming to such an important place. I got straight into the racing on Sunday at Sha Tin and it was a fantastic experience. I really enjoyed the track, it's quite different to what I'm used to at home but I learnt a lot from it, it's a different style of racing to back home.”
The 20-year-old had a successful six-week spell riding for former Hong Kong trainer David Hayes in Australia in December and January.
“Everything's moved along very quickly since January,” he said, recalling his Grade 1 three-timer. You don't expect it to happen but it was an amazing day and it certainly boosted my career and has enabled me to be here now.”
The list of South African jockeys that have made a splash in Hong Kong is an esteemed one, featuring Hong Kong's 13-time champion Douglas Whyte, as well as Felix Coetzee, the man forever associated with the great Silent Witness and now a key cog in the Hong Kong Jockey Club apprentice programme; the Marcus brothers, too, seven-time champion Basil and Anton. Murray has called upon a couple of those wise and experienced heads for advice.
“Before I came to Hong Kong I consulted with Felix, just because it's hard for me to make a big decision like this, to come over here. He helped me and guided me through the process, which was very helpful. I also spoke to Anton Marcus, who has ridden here before, and he gave me good insights too,” Murray said.
“Since I've been here, Karis Teetan has been really kind and helped me out, he's been a friend since before I came here; his brother was in the same year as me in my apprenticeship, so he's been explaining how things work here.
“I've had heaps of advice from people, I know it's one of the most difficult racing circuits to get into and I'm just going to put my head down and work hard to make the best of it,” he continued. “I'm going to take it step by step. I'm going to try and learn a lot from it, I think it's a good opportunity to take everything in and learn about racing here. I want to do well, as a competitive rider you always want to be competitive and do your best.” Andrew Harding, HKJC's Executive Director, Racing Authority, said: “Over the last five or six years, the Club has been successful in identifying a number of young and exciting talents that we considered suitable for Hong Kong, including most recently Chad Schofield and Sam Clipperton, and I would certainly put Callan Murray into that class. He truly is an exciting talent.”