He won’t be there in person in one of his safari suits, but John Moore will return to Hong Kong racing in a new role as owner of Grand Eagle at Sha Tin on Saturday.
Moore is the city’s most successful trainer with a record of 1,735 wins and HK$2.099 billion in prize money, including more than 30 Group One wins, six Hong Kong Derby wins, seven championships and nine Horse of the Year titles.
Forced to retire by the Jockey Club’s 70-year-old age limit at the end of the 2019-20 season, Moore made two aborted attempts to return to training in Australia but kept his brown and white colors alive in Australia with his fellow riders.
The same colors will be carried by Australian Grand Eagle when he makes his Hong Kong debut in the Grade Three Snipe Handicap (1,200m) on dirt.
“I don’t race in Hong Kong, but I watch the races all the time and I’m interested in pedigrees, what’s winning in Hong Kong and what owners might be looking for,” Moore said.
“The Jockey Club won’t accept the Moore Racing Syndicate, because it clashes with the trainers’ groups, and I just came up with Go Racing and didn’t realize it was a big group from New Zealand with the same name.
“There are eight of us – good mates, including my wife, and the best horse I had in Australia when shipped was Grand Eagle.
“I’m in Australia for the sale so I’ll miss it, but I’ll be at the Northcliff Surf Club watching and I’ll have my every side bet in a very deep race.”
Moore was able to obtain a Private Purchase (PP) permit to send Grand Eagle to Hong Kong after first becoming a member of the Jockey Club as a professional jockey in 1971.
PP passes are only available to members who must enter and win a ballot to enter a previously run athlete.
“We were on the reserve list for Grand Eagle, but the Jockey Club needed some sponsors to get everyone promoted. I’ve sent in another application but I’m 74th – there’s 100 or so reserves,” Moore said.
Grand Eagle won on debut at Hawkesbury and Randwick as a two-year-old and ran third in a listed race at Randwick for Go Racing Syndicate with fellow trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou.
Although it was expected Moore would send the three-year-old to Tony Cruz, whose daughter Antonia is the wife of Moore’s son George, the renowned trainer chose David Eustace, who is in his second season in Hong Kong.
“I lived next door to (Eustace) David Oughton’s uncle for many years. I knew him well and I always thought a lot about the whole family,” Moore said, referring to Oughton who was also a coach in Hong Kong.
“At the luncheon and the fundraiser, everybody said ‘you’re going to put Tony Cruz, right?’ but I said ‘my vote is for David Eustace, I have spoken to him and he has a chance at Grand Eagle’.”
Eustace said he wasn’t feeling any extra pressure from a celebrity workout at Moore.
“We’ve had a good discussion and I think it would be foolish not to pick his brain, so I appreciate the help,” Eustace said.
“The horse is only three and he has a very high standard, so he is a very good horse for next season.
“But his situation in Sydney was good, I talked to Gerald a lot about the horse and he stayed well, but it will just be a look and see. It’s a big question to start dirt for horses in Hong Kong.”
Moore is hopeful that the Grand Eagle will handle all of Sha Tin’s weather conditions and prove to be a successful product in the future.
“He’s strong. His last test was good, (jockey) Ethan Brown didn’t put his foot down on the accelerator – he closed with something in his hand,” Moore said.
“Of course, the conditions of the race will be different because it will be fast and he will have to keep going in the first 200 meters.
“I’m looking forward to the weekend. I believe he’ll have a lot of ability and he’ll handle everything, but the race is very deep. I’m just looking for him to cross the line.”
Grand Eagle faces a strong field of all-weather specialists led by Blazing Wind and Victory Sky, who are both included in September’s Group Three Korea Sprint (1,200m).
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