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The latest in world horse racing news from the journalists at Idol Horse.
00:00 — Michael Cox: Almost three decades in the saddle. Fifteen thousand rides, give or take. Four Cox Plates. Thirty-one of Winx's thirty-three straight. And now a scan of Hugh Bowman's right hip that reads "wear and tear." Bowman has a week to make a decision that could end his Hong Kong season, or perhaps even his career — or extend it. Our reporter Adam Pengilly has the story exclusively on Idol Horse today. David Morgan joins me to talk through what it means for Bowman, and for a riding roster that was already Zac Purton, daylight second, and then everybody else.
It's Monday, September 14. Today's Idol Horse News Desk is brought to you by Keeneland. The September Yearling Sale opens this week — Book 1, the first of twelve sessions running through to the 26th, starts today. More than 4,000 yearlings catalogued. Our reporter Frank Chang is on the ground at Keeneland all week for Idol Horse, and we'll have his reporting on the site. Up next, David Morgan.
01:01 — Michael Cox: Okay. There are two doors. Behind one is a needle and a return to race riding inside a month. Behind the other is major hip surgery, and nobody — not even Hugh Bowman — can tell you what's on the other side of that. Bowman's got a week to choose. Adam Pengilly broke the story on Idol Horse this morning. David Morgan, our chief writer, is with me right now to work through it. David, your instant reaction to the news from Adam Pengilly on Hugh Bowman.
01:28 — David Morgan: Well, first up, it's a blow for Hugh, obviously. And the second thought is it's a blow for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and for the investment they've made in Hugh Bowman and what he brings to Hong Kong racing. If he goes down the route of the surgery, he's going to be out — one would imagine — for some months, and that leaves a hole in that jockey roster in Hong Kong. Quite a big hole.
He's finished second in the title race again last season behind Zac Purton. Purton dominates. Bowman's that classy, top-drawer, experienced jockey who fills that role around what Purton can do. So yeah, it's going to be a blow to the Hong Kong roster if Hugh Bowman needs to take some time out over a prolonged period.
02:20 — Michael Cox: And we don't want to get away from that. We're going to unpack many aspects of this news — it seems to have a lot of ripple effects — but I don't want to get away from the sad news for Hugh Bowman, an absolute champion jockey and a real professional.
Just to unpack the details of the story for those who haven't read it — and I encourage everybody to go and check it out — here's where it's at. Hugh Bowman hasn't ridden since the opening day of the Hong Kong season. We've had two days since then. He won a race on that day. He also won the final race of last season to secure second place in the jockeys' championship. He's had a battery of tests, and they've shown an issue with his right hip — as I mentioned, the accumulated cost of three decades of race riding.
The first option is a cortisone injection. It's pain relief, not a fix. That could have him back riding by the end of next month, and could get him through to December — that's what he's saying in the story. Option B, major hip surgery, is how it's described. No timeline attached. Hugh is forty-six. He's finished second to Zac in each of the last two championships, and was probably favoured to do it again.
Look, let's start with the immediate effects of this. He was booked to ride Invincible Ibis, the Derby winner, in a trial this week. Couldn't fulfil that commitment. Luke Ferraris is back on that horse, and for the Celebration Cup on October 1.
Let's start with this decision and go through Option A and Option B. Option A is a real tough one for a jockey of Hugh's calibre. And I think something that's underestimated in Hong Kong racing is that a lot of people look at it and think, well, two days a week, six-week off-season — that it's somehow easier. But really, history says that it's not easier. What is it, do you think, about Hong Kong racing?
04:23 — David Morgan: It's not at all easier. You speak to Zac Purton and you speak to João Moreira and they'll tell you it's not easy, and it takes that wear and tear on the body. Going out in those barrier trials — they're not just lobbing around in those barrier trials. They're going fast. Sure, they're not races, but they're still taking those positions, they're still riding quickly. So they're doing the barrier trials two, three times a week. They've got track work every morning, going out on the track, however many horses they might ride, depending on the jockey, depending on the day.
And those two race meetings are incredibly intense. You can't just drop off. It's not like you're jumping out in a five-runner class-five race at Catterick, or at Fakenham, or somewhere in countryside Australia. It's intense every time you race ride. It's full on. They never get to take an easy ride in a race, whether it's at Happy Valley or at Sha Tin.
So these guys are going through it, and on top of that they do an awful lot of physical work when they're not on race day. A lot of work in the gym, personal trainers, to keep themselves up to that level that's expected of them by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, by themselves, by the race fans, by the owners, by the trainers. They've got that level they must compete at, and it's a very high, intense level.
You speak to Zac Purton, you speak to João Moreira, and the issues they've had with their hips. With Moreira, obviously quite a bit's been written about the hip problems he's had. And Purton as well — a little more low-key, but he's spoken in recent times about the problems he's had with his hips. Speaking to him in the summer just recently, he was saying he felt good for the first time in probably about six years. He felt he didn't have an issue. Because that wear and tear the body goes through riding in that intense environment of Hong Kong — it's really tough. You look from the outside: two days a week, woohoo, great. But no, it's not like that at all. It's very, very intense, and very hard on the body.
06:28 — Michael Cox: I think the point is that it's only two meetings per week. And let's put aside the intensity of a barrier trial — the intensity of racing as well adds to it. The racing is often described as tactical. But what does that actually mean? It means that sometimes a jockey like Hugh Bowman — I think he'd usually favour a more patient riding style, come from the tail, and that's what he usually does — but sometimes in a class-five 1,000-metre race at Happy Valley, the barrier and the situation demand that that's not how you're riding this horse today. You're going to push, and there's going to be twisting, and the race is always turning. I think that's part of it: the intensity of every single race and what it demands of the jockeys here is high.
But also it's not just two race days per week — you can't miss any race days. In Australia, they race a lot, but if you're Hugh Bowman or James McDonald you don't have to ride five meetings a week if you don't want to. You can build your preparation around peak times. If you have a niggle, if you have a slight strain, you don't have to ride hurt as often as in Hong Kong. If a jockey injures themselves here, it's less acceptable to give up these rides.
And I guess you're already seeing it with Hugh Bowman — the caravan rolls on. There are horses to ride, there are horses to trial, there are bookings to make. Hong Kong racing won't stop for anyone. We've already seen it with Invincible Ibis, the Derby winner. They're about to move on. The horse needs to race, he needs to trial, and Luke Ferraris is back on.
08:31 — David Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. You're right, it just rolls on. It never stops.
08:36 — Michael Cox: So there's a lot to unpack. That's if he comes back — we hope he does. I think Hugh Bowman is an incredible asset to Hong Kong racing. He really addresses the dynamic. And the reason the club was so desperate to bring him in isn't just because he was a champion. He's a great statesman and a representative for the sport, a wonderful presence to have in the sport here, and a big name. But also, he could challenge Zac Purton for some of those rides. He gave a bona fide option for connections looking for a Group 1 jockey.
Let's look at the scenario we don't want to see, which is major hip surgery for Hugh Bowman. Let's play it forward, because he's saying it's a possibility. What does the Jockey Club have to do? What does this situation look like with no Hugh Bowman? Do you think that they make stronger overtures for James McDonald? Do you think the onus is on them to bring in someone who could potentially challenge Zac Purton? Is that realistic?
09:57 — David Morgan: I don't think it's realistic at this point to bring in McDonald. I think what you might see is they bring in one other jockey, and then they'll look at rolling through — can they get McDonald in for maybe a six-week spell, whatever it is, through November, December, into January? Would they get another European jockey, like they did last year with Guyon coming in for that spell as well? Which I imagine they've already got plans in place for. It's whether they can bring in another one — that's the way I would think they'd look at it. I don't think they can bring in, for this season especially, a big-name jockey to come and say, yeah, I'm going to ride the full season.
10:34 — Michael Cox: I guess I should reframe what I said, because it sounds like "should they just get James McDonald." Well, I'm sure they'd love to have James McDonald riding here. It's pretty obvious that if the club could have James McDonald riding here full time, they'd do whatever they could within reason. I don't think there's anything they could do to get James McDonald to come full time. Whatever they could do, I'm sure they've offered.
I guess what I'm saying is how desperately they need to up the game there, given Zac's dominance from a sporting perspective. And this isn't any criticism of Zac Purton, who is an absolute champion, and so professional, so well prepared. Most of all — I talk about and write about that stuff a lot, about how Zac handles his business off track, how he handles relationships, how he thinks the game. But maybe I don't say it often enough: how brilliant a rider he is, how much better he is than most other people he rides against. I think that's quite obvious. It isn't just a question of support. It isn't just a question of lobbying for rides. He delivers when it matters. So this isn't a criticism of him.
But he is so much better than everyone else that it creates a dynamic — he's that dominant — that's unhealthy for the sport in terms of how rides are booked and how betting markets look a lot of the time. So, looking forward, just from your perspective in your pre-season story with Zac Purton — maybe what you're talking about there is an even stronger push, if Hugh Bowman's not there. A stronger push around recruitment in that winter period, where there is a succession of big names that maybe shake the dynamic up during that period.
12:51 — David Morgan: Yeah, I think that's the way the club would have to look at it if that scenario plays out. They'd need to bring in maybe one more bigger name than they were planning to, as it were — just to bring in that extra competitive edge, to make it a little bit more difficult for Zac Purton to be that dominant force that he is. If you bring in a bigger name, the owners, the trainers, they're going to want a piece of that. If you don't do that, then Zac's dominance continues on.
Bowman being out — you can't understate the impact that would have. You look at the jockey table and you're thinking, well, if Bowman's not there, who is challenging Zac for those big rides? Then again, on the flip side, it does give an opportunity to a rider like, for example, Andrea Atzeni. Can he step into that? Can he get that opportunity to step up? The jockeys hovering just below where Bowman sits in second — it could open up opportunities, and you could see somebody really start to blossom. So there's that side to it as well.
13:58 — Michael Cox: Looking forward, lots of interesting situations to look at with this potential news. Watch this space. Go to idolhorse.com for all of the latest on this story, which will continue to develop. A decision expected from Hugh Bowman in the next week. More on idolhorse.com.
Last week you mentioned — we talked about Coolmore and the big weekend they faced, and their sort of faltering three-year-olds. Things didn't get much better on the weekend. Talk us through the weekend and what that means for Coolmore.
14:37 — David Morgan: So last weekend they had the big races in Ireland, the Champions Weekend. The big clash everyone was looking forward to was Constitution River in the Irish Champion Stakes. Could he bounce back from that defeat at York against Item? Well, as it turns out, Item didn't run his race and Constitution River was beaten again, into third. And it flagged up again that these three-year-olds that Aidan O'Brien has, that looked brilliant in the spring and early summer, they've kind of dropped off the pace a little bit. Something's not as sparkling as it was earlier in the season.
O'Brien's come out afterwards and said there's a low-grade infection — I think that's the way he termed it — in the yard, that's been going on for about two months, which would fit with the timeframe of these horses dropping off. We saw Christmas Day in the St Leger at Doncaster. He won the Derby back at Epsom in June. He's been beaten in the Great Voltigeur since, at York, and he was beaten again in the St Leger. So you see in these three-year-olds that O'Brien's got, they've just not been able to fire like they were earlier in the season. And he's given that reason for it, this low-grade infection.
15:52 — Michael Cox: I'll hold my cynicism. I don't want to doubt what they're saying — I'm sure it's true. But I will ask this question: has a Coolmore three-year-old, or a good horse from Coolmore, just ever not been good enough in a situation when it hasn't won?
16:11 — David Morgan: Yeah. A lot of cynics out there would point to the fact that these horses get talked up. Coolmore's whole thing is that it's stallion-making. They're about making stallions, and that's the game.
Look, my thing with this is, if you want to take a bigger picture around the whole programme in Britain and the breeding of thoroughbreds, the Derby is the linchpin of it all. And I think again we're seeing — whether Christmas Day's got this low-grade infection or what, they said he coughed before the race at the weekend, you've got to say that that is what happened. There's absolutely no reason to doubt them, and I do believe that's what happened. But put that aside: I think Christmas Day looked a pretty average Derby winner anyway. That Derby looked pretty average. And you're looking at last year's Derby winner, Lambourn — he's had a very poor four-year-old season overall.
It looks like the Derby, over the last decade or so, has dropped off from where it used to be. We're not seeing those top-class horses coming through the Derby and then going on to be champions. You'll still get one, but not as often as we used to see. So overall I think the three-year-olds have got a lot to prove this season. Bo Echo's gone — he was an exceptional miler, a brilliant miler, but we can't really know how good he would have been, because he's retired. And the rest of them don't look like they're a real vintage crop.
17:41 — Michael Cox: So, looking forward to this weekend. And just on the side, a quick recap: of course, Adam Pengilly's Hugh Bowman exclusive leads the site today. But more on there — the updated Everest power rankings, getting ever closer to Ka Ying Rising defending his crown there in Sydney. And our reporter Frank Chang is at Keeneland this week, reporting from the sale grounds for the next three days. His yearlings-to-watch piece is up. Check it out — really interesting there.
What are we watching for this week? What are you looking for this week, David?
18:18 — David Morgan: Well, Friday, Belmont Park opens up in New York. 2022, if I remember rightly, was when it closed down for a big rebuild and renovation. And Forever Young is going to go in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He's been in the US since last week. He stepped out onto the track last Thursday under his work rider. He's due to gallop this morning in New York, and then we go on to Friday for that race.
It's dropped off a bit. It looked like it was going to be a real cracking race with Sovereignty in there. He's obviously picked up that foot injury — I think it was an abscess in his foot — so he's taken some time off. They're hoping to get him back for the Breeders' Cup. And Nitrogen, the champion filly from last year, she's not running either. So it's an easier task than it looked like it would have been, but he's still got to step up and show that he's at the form he was. They'll want him to come back with a win, to bounce back from that defeat in the Dubai World Cup, and then on to the Breeders' Cup Classic. So really looking forward to seeing how he performs in that race.
19:17 — Michael Cox: What I'm watching for — well, I mention it in The Standard, in my role here in Hong Kong as racing editor at The Standard. Track speed has been a real talking point amongst punters here in Hong Kong. On day one of the Hong Kong racing season we saw a lightning-quick surface: three class records, and of course Ka Ying Rising running perhaps the fastest standing-start 1,200-metre time of all time. Credit to him, of course — he's a brilliant sprinter. 1:06.11. But the track running red hot.
And then we came to Wednesday, Happy Valley. No rain, and a track that was slow. Wet-track-level slow, yielding times — a real surprise, times way outside of standard. I spoke to track manager Stephen Higgins after that meeting. He talked about aggressive track maintenance during the off-season, some verti-draining, really getting into that sand profile and loosening up. So it was a case of the track almost being dry that made it softer — that's the explanation I'm hearing. If you imagine sand on a beach: when it's wet, it's firmer down near the water; up near the top, you're not going to run as much time. I don't know that that's the perfect description for it, but it was softer underneath, and it resulted in some alarmingly slow times.
And when I say alarmingly — weird, I don't think anyone was registering it as being unfair, but it was surprising to people, especially given the track speed at Sha Tin. And then we came back to Sha Tin last Sunday and again: quick, class records, really fast times. So that's what I'm looking for in Hong Kong this week. Big watch on Happy Valley. A little bit of rain around today in Hong Kong, on Monday. So by Wednesday, we want to see — Stephen Higgins has been quoted in our story today as saying that those times should shift more towards standard as the rail moves across the profile. But we'll wait and see. A big watch there. There are very, very few places in the world that receive as much scrutiny. That's another part of the two-track, twice-a-week features of Hong Kong, isn't it, David?
21:39 — David Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. There's an awful lot of talk, everyone focusing on the minute details. And it's part of what makes the whole thing so fascinating and so interesting — that scrutiny that everything is put under.
21:53 — Michael Cox: So, thanks for joining us, David. And that is the News Desk for this week. This show is brought to you by Keeneland — the September Yearling Sale, opened today, runs twelve sessions through to Saturday the 26th, with more than 4,000 yearlings catalogued. As we mentioned, Frank Chang is at Keeneland for this week, so keep an eye on idolhorse.com for his reporting from the sale grounds. And if you're wondering where to start in a catalogue that size, we've already picked out ten of the most interesting prospects from a global perspective — the pedigrees that should matter in Hong Kong, Japan and Australia, not just in Kentucky.
For David Morgan and the Idol Horse News Desk Podcast, I'm Michael Cox.