SA jockeys’ wealth blossoms in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong earlier this week I was over the moon to see that their Lunar New Year meeting included a winner for Lyle Hewitson.

If you believe the great song-writer Jimmy Webb, then at the best of times “The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress” but not so on Monday at Sha Tin for our former two-time South African champion jockey.

As a record crowd of nearly 88 000 celebrated the Lunar New Year by wagering HK$1.76 billion on the 11 races carded, Hewitson broke an eight meeting, 72 ride drought to register his 100th winner in Hong Kong.

I seriously doubt whether the likeable 26 year old was ever too concerned about the quiet patch. After all we’d do well to remind ourselves that only four years ago Hewitson demonstrated remarkable resilience and phenomenal fortitude in surmounting the pressures of racking up the unwanted record of the longest losing streak in Hong Kong history. These days those 140 rides are just old battle scars worn proudly by a seasoned soldier.

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Fittingly, the victory was aboard a Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein bred son of Flower Alley. The seven-year-old Parterre, whose mother Square Dance is a daughter of Oasis Dream, was unfancied and paid up HK$21.2 for a win.

I seldom miss watching a Hong Kong meeting so it was no surprise to me that Hewitson raised his bat by dictating the fractions in the Class 4 Good Fortune Handicap. Two things you can be sure of when wagering on the 26 year old, he won’t be short of confidence and he’s not going to die wondering. His post race comments published in the South China Morning Post tell a familiar tale of calculated success.

“Having dropped in class with two nice horses in the race, they were horses that get back, so I thought I could take advantage of that from a nice draw. We were tactically astute on a well-prepared horse and it paid off.”

2024 is the Year of the Dragon and having snapped his losing streak on Monday’s Sha Tin card, a meeting which traditionally marks the beginning of the 2nd half of the Hong Kong season, Hewitson will be hoping to breathe even more fire into his campaign. To date he’s booted home 20 winners, a tally which sees him sitting in a handy seventh spot on the Hong Kong Jockey’s Championship log.

Perhaps Hewitson-lovers won’t have to wait too long. There’s a nine race Happy Valley meeting on Thursday and I like the look of his ride for Tony Cruz in Race 5. Having studied the predicted Speed Map for the 1200m contest, Colourful Emperor (carded as saddle cloth 4) is a horse who likes to lead, so jumping from the perfect stall gate two he should have little difficulty in finding the lead and affording his rider an opportunity to do what he does best, dictate from the front.

Billed as a bumper 11 race bonanza, Sha Tin’s Chinese New Year meeting didn’t disappoint. In addition to the record attendance and staggering tote-turnover, the track’s public seating area offered race-goers an opportunity to photograph themselves at an impressive custom-built structure entitled “Wealth Blossoms in the Peach Garden”.

From all reports the colossal Lunar New Year installation was a huge hit as were the “wealth-attracting pens” that were distributed gratis to attending fans.

I suspect that the “Wealth Blossoms in the Peach Garden” display would have resonated not only with Lyle Hewitson but also with his fellow South African riders, Luke Ferraris and Keagan de Melo.

More than once during the first half of the season all three have produced the proverbial ‘Peach of a ride’ when saluting in the winner’s box. Ferraris has won 19 races, De Melo 14 and with Hong Kong prize money being what it is, it’s a racing certainty that their individual Wealth has Blossomed.

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