Hong Kong Horse Racing

Out the gates

     The inevitable breakup of ST Wong and Stephen Baster by mutual agreement seems a peculiar move.  How a change of jockey can bring about winners for the Wong stable would rate along the lines of being a miracle.  It wont happen and we can expect to see ST Wong get the boot (hopefully).  Even tipster extraordinaire Mark Richards failed to see it and even went one step further to comment that so far none of ST Wong's horses had a chance.  Quite right so, but when is Dandy Bunny going to win?  Lucky Superstar should have been ready for a win by now.  He has the ammunition for the wins but unfortunately he doesnt have the technique to train.  Bad trainers usually get exposed quite quickly in HKG which is a good thing.  Last year we saw the dismissal of 3 abysmal trainers who have been here too long.  The HKJC often puts unemployed trainers to good use.  One of them Cheung Ting Pong, became ST Wong's assistant trainer.  That's probably explains why ST Wong is so crap this year, if his assistant cant bring winners as a head trainer, its probably quite likely that he wont as an assistant. 

However, its not fair to put all the blame on TPC (although you could).  The number of ST Wong flops have been around for ages.  He seems to have a love affair with staying races and the sire Kaapstad (who's progeny are usually stayers).  Problem is in HKG the majority of the races are run between 1000m - 1600m.  He'll obviously find it tough to find the right races for his horses.  Baster isnt a bad jockey, and neither is Francois Naude whose relationship with Wong broke up before it even started (Naude is now riding in Macau).  ST Wong is a bit of a playboy, and may have succumbed to owner pressure, but he needs to start questioning himself rather than how a jockey rides. 

In conclusion, ST Wong does have some good types in his yard and it will be hard to imagine him not getting the required 12 wins.  Although this year's early scare will definitely giving him something to think about.

May have been love at first sight for ST Wong and Stephen Baster, but someone is clearly not pulling his weight