Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira, Japanese trainer Noriyuki Hori and the phenomenon that is Frankel make a major impact in the latest TRC Global Rankings out today - but pride of place has to go to Australian rider Zac Purton.
Moreira and Hori had starring roles at the Longines Hong Kong International Races meeting at Sha Tin on Sunday, but they still had to play second fiddle to Purton, who rode two of the four G1 winners at the ‘World Turf Championships’ and finished second in another.
The 33-year-old is the week’s biggest points gainer across the TRC rankings (+13) after driving Aerovelocity to a short-head victory in the Sprint and Beauty Only to a half-length win in the Mile. He was then runner-up in the day’s biggest race, the Cup, on Secret Weapon, although the 6-year-old was no match for Japanese superstar Maurice, who put up the best performance in the world last week according to Racing Post Ratings, running to a mark of 124 under Ryan Moore.
As a result, Purton, who was Hong Kong champion jockey in 2013-14, climbs 14 places to world #26 in the global jockeys’ standings.
Noriyuki Hori
Purton’s Sunday was only marginally more impressive than Hori’s, mind you. The Japanese trainer also won two of the Hong Kong races - the ones Purton didn’t - and he’s now world #12 (up from 20) in the rankings after a 12-point gain.
Hori’s main star, of course, was Maurice, who cut down long-time leader A Shin Hikari with time to spare and is now likely to retire to stud, although Hori refused to confirm that post-race, leaving fans a shred of hope that the 5-year-old may be back on a racetrack in 2017.
That seems unlikely, however, if you take note of Hong Kong champion trainer John Moore’s assessment of the son of Screen Hero.
“The Japanese journalists asked me what I thought about Maurice,” Moore told the South China Morning Post. “And what could I say after a win like that? I said I hope you’ve got yourselves another Deep Impact. He’s a great specimen of a horse and a tremendous racehorse. I’m not familiar with the Japanese pedigrees, so I don’t know how his page stacks up, but I wouldn’t hesitate to send a mare to him. He’s probably a great stallion in the making.”
Certainly it looks likely that Maurice is seriously undervalued by his best RPR and his official Longines World’s Best Racehorse Ranking, both 124. That puts him well behind A Shin Hikari, whose official 129 and RPR of 126 are based on a wide-margin win in heavy ground at Chantilly in May. A Shin Hikari has disappointed in all three of his runs since (the last two of them in races won impressively by Maurice).
John Moore, incidentally, had a pretty successful HKIR himself (including a second and a third) and climbs two places to #9 in the trainers’ standings.
Trainer Hori’s other winner at Sha Tin was Satono Crown in the mile-and-a-half Vase. The 4-year-old son of Marju was the only runner capable of staying with the formidable Highland Reel, who ran out of gas in the last half-furlong after being hassled for the lead mid-race and was collared close to the line, the pair 6¾ lengths clear.
Joao Moreira
The ride on Satono Crown is yet another example of the mastery of Moreira. ‘Magic Man’ gains six points in the rankings and is now ranked world #9, but for even more compelling evidence of his excellence just look at the table below.
Here, the TRC Global Rankings algorithm has isolated all the Group races run in Hong Kong over the past three years. Witness the utter domination of Moreira, the man who took over from Purton as champion when he moved to Hong Kong from Singapore midway through the 2013-14 season.
Similar top tens are shown for trainers, owners and sires.
TOP TEN JOCKEYS IN HONG KONG
Rank | Name | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Joao Moreira | 17 | 40 | 1.35 | 86.90 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1046 |
2 | Zac Purton | 20 | 33 | 0.99 | 86.36 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 995 |
3 | Ryan Moore | 9 | 13 | 1.00 | 83.45 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 977 |
4 | Brett Prebble | 14 | 27 | 0.88 | 85.52 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 975 |
5 | Neil Callan | 13 | 32 | 0.85 | 85.15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 969 |
6 | Tommy Berry | 9 | 16 | 0.95 | 82.72 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 965 |
| Hugh Bowman | 12 | 18 | 0.86 | 84.42 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 965 |
8 | Christophe Soumillon | 6 | 14 | 0.89 | 83.16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 960 |
9 | Karis Teetan | 10 | 17 | 0.86 | 83.18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 957 |
10 | Douglas Whyte | 12 | 26 | 0.81 | 83.32 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 951 |
According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm. Includes all rides in Hong Kong Group races over the past 36 months.
TOP EIGHT TRAINERS IN HONG KONG … plus two others
Rank | Name | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | John Moore | 23 | 110 | 1.05 | 92.21 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1018 |
2 | A S Cruz | 11 | 76 | 1.02 | 90.68 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1002 |
3 | J Size | 11 | 40 | 0.74 | 86.89 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 950 |
4 | Noriyuki Hori | 3 | 6 | 1.19 | 82.18 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 935 |
5 | Richard Gibson | 4 | 15 | 0.88 | 83.46 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 928 |
6 | C Fownes | 10 | 32 | 0.70 | 84.10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 922 |
7 | A T Millard | 8 | 23 | 0.75 | 83.35 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 919 |
8 | P O'Sullivan | 2 | 7 | 0.95 | 81.90 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 918 |
11 | A P O'Brien | 2 | 4 | 0.89 | 81.28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 908 |
12 | A Fabre | 3 | 4 | 0.88 | 80.84 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 904 |
According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm. Includes runs in all Hong Kong Group races over the past 36 months.
TOP TEN OWNERS IN HONG KONG
Rank | Name | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Cheng Keung Fai | 2 | 15 | 1.00 | 81.29 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 979 |
2 | Dr & Mrs Cornel Li Fook Kwan | 1 | 10 | 1.01 | 80.96 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 977 |
3 | Fentons Racing Syndicate | 1 | 16 | 0.89 | 81.65 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 973 |
4 | E K Law Kwai Chun & P K Ho Chuen | 1 | 9 | 0.87 | 81.59 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 971 |
5 | Sutong Pan | 2 | 17 | 0.84 | 81.81 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 970 |
| Kazumi Yoshida | 1 | 3 | 0.97 | 80.60 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 970 |
7 | Daniel Yeung Ngai | 1 | 6 | 0.90 | 80.88 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 967 |
8 | Huang Kai Wen | 1 | 9 | 0.88 | 81.01 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 966 |
9 | Sir Po Shing & Lady Woo Et Al | 3 | 17 | 0.74 | 82.14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 964 |
| Matthew Wong Leung Pak | 2 | 8 | 0.82 | 81.30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 964 |
| Benson Lo Tak Wing | 1 | 9 | 0.82 | 81.31 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 964 |
According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm. Includes runs in all Hong Kong Group races over the past 36 months.
TOP TEN SIRES IN HONG KONG
Rank | Name | Rnrs | Runs | IV | tRPR | G1s | G2s | G3s | Pts |
1 | Holy Roman Emperor | 5 | 31 | 1.10 | 84.19 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1000 |
2 | Dylan Thomas | 4 | 26 | 0.93 | 83.70 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 981 |
3 | Shamardal | 7 | 29 | 0.97 | 82.36 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 972 |
4 | Screen Hero | 1 | 3 | 1.04 | 80.82 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 964 |
5 | Pins | 3 | 15 | 0.87 | 82.29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 963 |
6 | Dandy Man | 1 | 9 | 0.91 | 81.29 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 957 |
7 | Hussonet | 2 | 12 | 0.81 | 81.90 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 954 |
7 | Deep Impact | 8 | 13 | 0.81 | 81.94 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 954 |
7 | Choisir | 2 | 8 | 0.83 | 81.66 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 954 |
10 | Mizzen Mast | 4 | 14 | 0.80 | 81.76 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 952 |
According to TRC Global Rankings algorithm. Includes runs in all Hong Kong Group races over the past 36 months.
Frankel
While Moreira, Purton & co. were grabbing the headlines at Sha Tin, even further east, favourite Soul Stirring was readily accounting for her rivals in Japan’s year-end championship race for 2-year-old fillies at Hanshin.
More importantly, Soul Stirring was elevating what was already a highly impressive first season into a magnificent one for her sire, Frankel.
Soul Stirring has now given the Juddmonte giant the only significant thing his first crop had so far lacked - a G1 winner. The win also helps him to a four-point gain in the TRC global sires’ standings and lifts him 30 places to joint #114.
On this site two weeks ago, James Willoughby used the TRC Global Rankings to compare Frankel’s start to his stallion career with those of other notable recent first-season sires. Suffice it to say that he now compares even more favourably.
Of course, the quality of mares visiting Frankel means he has been given better chances than most to achieve success as a sire - Soul Stirring’s dam, Stacelita, for instance, is the winner of six G1s, including the Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille in France and was America’s female turf champion of 2011.
Given the start he’s made, don't expect the standard of Frankel’s mates to drop anytime soon.
TRC Global Rankings: other significant climbers this week
JOCKEY: Christophe Lemaire (Modal country: Japan). Highlight of the week: the Frenchman rode Soul Stirring to win the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (see above) on Sunday; 5pt gain; climbs from 30 to 25.
OWNER: Viejo Perro (Chile). Highlight: owns Saturday’s Chilean St Leger winner Big Daddy; 6pt gain; moves up from 323 to 162.
TRAINER: Paul O’Sullivan (Hong Kong). Highlight: the 57-year-old, who was champion trainer in New Zealand 11 times before switching to Hong Kong 12 years ago, sent out Aerovelocity to win the Hong Kong Sprint on Sunday; 9pt gain; climbs from 237 to 160.
TRAINER: Simon O’Callaghan(U.S.) Highlight: the Santa Anita-based Englishman, son of former Newmarket trainer Neville Callaghan, is responsible for Abel Tasman, winner of the G1 Starlight Stakes (2-year-old fillies) at Los Alamitos; 4pt gain; climbs from 162 to 136.
SIRE: Marju (Japan). Highlight: Marju, who died in October aged 28, is the sire of Hong Kong Vase winner Satono Crown (see above); the son of Last Tycoon stood at Derrinstown Stud in Ireland; 6pt gain; climbs from 195 to joint 114.
Click here for a list of the week’s biggest points gainers.