Melbourne jockey Mark Zahra will start a Hong Kong stint next weekend.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The Hong Kong Jockey Club has granted Zahra a club Jockey licence from May 27 until the conclusion of the current racing season.
It will be his second stay in Hong Kong, having previously been licensed in as a club Jockey during the closing months of the 2003/2004 racing season.
Zahra, 29, has ridden more than 700 winners including five G1 events, the most recent being aboard Albert The Fat in the Emirates Stakes at Flemington.
He has also ridden successfully in Singpoare where he recorded his first G1 victory on Mayo's Music in the 2004 Raffles Cup at Kranji.
Zahra also has won six G2 races and 16 G3 events.
At Sha Tin on Saturday Brett Prebble was at his best to get former high priced Australian performer Familists home in the feature HK$1.8 million ATV Cup.
Before being imported, Familists carried a massive boom in Australia as $1.2 million yearling. He raced as Hus Der Lieften and won two of his first three starts before going winless for 14 more starts and eventually his transfer to Hong Kong.
After a massive 12.5mm of rainfall between races drenched the Sha Tin track the outside fence was the preferred route for most riders and Prebble adopted the ploy on Familists in the feature with a decisive e result.
Rounding the turn widest of the field, Prebble drove Familists to the line for a decisive 1 1/4-length victory.
"It's a good feeling when you go wide like that and you're right," Prebble said."You don't have to walk the track to know it will be like that, it is just faster out there.
"You can't go too wide on the turn. You've got to get it right, it is all about how you get there."
Hall had picked out the handicap as an ideal target for the consistent performer after three wins.
"When he won earlier in the season we thought it would start getting tough to find the right races for him and this might be the last chance to win something like this," Hall said.
"I had to work out how we would get here. With the programme the way it is for these horses, it's not easy, you've got to think about it to get it right."
Since his arrival Hall says he has been "a perfect Hong Kong horse".
"He eats, sleeps and works," said Hall.
"He doesn't have any health issues and he seems to handle the climate here very well. You would certainly like a stable full of them."
Fellow Australian jockey Willie Pike arrived at the races knowing he would be suspended for a wayward ride last Wednesday night, but made the most of his time in the saddle with a double to continue a breakthrough run of good form.
Pike faced an adjourned inquiry yesterday into his winning ride on El Grande, and was given the expected two-meeting ban.
Pike returned to Sha Tin in late April, after two previous short-term stays. The arrival of partner Jessica and two-year-old son Jet in the last fortnight has coincided with Pike's good form, the jockey riding three winners at the last two meetings.
