Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Banged up, but ready to ride
HONG KONG – The last few days have been physically tough on a few jockeys in Hong Kong.
Last Saturday at Sha Tin Racecourse, Alberto Sanna suffered a dislocated shoulder while striking his mount with a whip en route to a fourth-place finish. Tuesday, jockey Tommy Berry was unseated when his mount collapsed and died during a six-furlong workout at Sha Tin.
Both were at the track Wednesday morning. Berry rode Fine Needle in a workout in advance of Sunday’s Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize.
Berry, a 27-year-old native of Australia, is scheduled to ride two Japanese shippers Sunday – Fine Needle and Danburite in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. He was removed from his two mounts on the Wednesday program at Happy Valley by the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s medical officer, but hopes to ride Sunday.
Sanna had a low-key morning, hanging out with fellow Italian jockey Umberto Rispoli and vowing to be ready for his first Group 1 mount in Hong Kong in Sunday’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup on the longshot Gold Mount.
Sanna, 32, is one of the newest riders in Hong Kong, having arrived last fall. He has a short-term license to ride here through the end of the season in July. Wednesday, Sanna said he hopes to gain a year-round license in Hong Kong. He has ridden in Bahrain and Qatar in recent years.
“Otherwise, I might come to America,” he said.
Sanna said he suffered his first shoulder injury 10 years ago. He said he exercised 14 horses from Sunday through Tuesday and that doctors cleared him quickly on Tuesday to resume race riding.
“The doctor asked me, ‘Why did you come here?’ ” Sanna said. “He said my shoulder is fine.”
Through Tuesday, Sanna had ridden 11 winners since early December. Gaining traction with a short-term license has not been easy, he said. Riders in Hong Kong do not have agents. Sanna said just getting the attention of trainers in the mornings to ride workouts was difficult when he started.
“It’s difficult to do well,” he said. “In the beginning, I couldn’t get gallops. It’s very different. You have to be humble with everyone.”
Sanna is tall for a jockey, 5-foot-6, and said running helps him to control his weight. Wednesday morning, he pulled out his mobile phone and opened an app that showed he has run about 575 miles since the start of the year, or an average of five miles a day.
Sanna, who was born in Sardinia, Italy, rode Gold Mount to a win in the Happy Valley Vase on March 28. Gold Mount was fifth in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase in December against an international field and will need to be at his best Sunday for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Sanna said.
“He’s a small horse, but he’s got a big heart,” Sanna said. “This race is so tough.
“He runs from the back. We have to use his ability with a good turn of foot.”
The $3.06 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup is the secondrichest race of the Hong Kong season, behind only the $3.18 Hong Kong Cup in December. Sunday’s race is led by Ping Hai Star, who won the Hong Kong Derby for 4-year-olds in March, and Time Warp, who won the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles in February.
Beauty Only still going strong
Beauty Only won the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in 2016, but was nearly retired earlier this year after a series of disappointing races.
A nose win in the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy on April 8 ended that discussion and put Beauty Only on schedule for the Group 1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin on Sunday. Trained by Tony Cruz, Beauty Only was beaten a nose in the 2017 Champions Mile when ridden by Zac Purton.
Neil Callan, a 39-year-old from Ireland, has the mount Sunday, which will be the 19th time he has been aboard Beauty Only.
Callan told Hong Kong publicity Wednesday that Beauty Only helped to sustain his career when he arrived from Ireland earlier this decade. Beauty Only was bred in Ireland and was a Group 3 winner in Italy, racing under the name Gentleman Only, before he was shipped to Hong Kong.
Callan rode Beauty Only for the first time in October 2014. Beauty Only has had 42 starts, 38 in Hong Kong.
“Just by chance the owners approached me and asked me to ride him,” he said. “They said they wanted a strong European jockey for a European horse.”
On Sunday, Beauty Only must contend with Seasons Bloom, the expected favorite who won the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup on Jan. 28 and was third in the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup on Feb 25.
Jockey banned for 15 months
Hong Kong jockey Nash Rawiller was suspended 15 months on Wednesday after betting on two horses that he rode and for accepting compensation for providing tips on his mounts, according to a statement released by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
The suspension takes immediate effect and runs through July 25, 2019, and comes days before the 43-year-old Rawiller was scheduled to ride expected favorite Mr Stunning in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on Sunday.
According to the statement, Rawiller did not enter a plea during a hearing conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, but did provide testimony and admit to the rule violations.
The statement also indicated that Rawiller tipped horses that he rode, and not rival mounts, and that “there was no evidence before the stewards that Rawiller had ridden any horse in Hong Kong with the intention other than to obtain the best possible placing for the horse.”