The wheel of fortune has turned again for Good Ba Ba and the champion miler will be reunited with jockey Olivier Doleuze for the coming season, says the HK Racing Post. Its report adds: Doleuze was Good Ba Ba's partner during his clean sweep of the Group One miles in the 2007-08 season under trainer Andreas Schutz. The Frenchman won eight of his 13 rides on the gelding - four of them Group Ones - before he was unceremoniously dumped last year after Good Ba Ba opened the term with two defeats. Ch
The wheel of fortune has turned again for Good Ba Ba and the champion miler will be reunited with jockey Olivier Doleuze for the coming season, says the HK Racing Post.
Its report adds: Doleuze was Good Ba Ba's partner during his clean sweep of the Group One miles in the 2007-08 season under trainer Andreas Schutz. The Frenchman won eight of his 13 rides on the gelding - four of them Group Ones - before he was unceremoniously dumped last year after Good Ba Ba opened the term with two defeats. Christophe Soumillon took over as Good Ba Ba won a second Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile and Stewards Cup before he, too, was beaten at the seven-year-old's final two starts last season. Owner John Yuen Se-kit has a long history of quirky changes with his horses and made the shock decision to move Good Ba Ba from Schutz to Derek Cruz this month, despite the horse having risen to the position of the world's top-rated miler under the German trainer.
The only reasons proffered for the move were "bad fung shui" and a wish to support Cruz as the trainer has been going through a quiet time. Now Doleuze's return as the gelding's partner, after a lunch meeting with the owner yesterday to discuss the situation, is almost as surprising.
"I was very upset when I lost the ride last year," Doleuze said. "I did nothing wrong and felt very let down after all the success we had enjoyed together and I know I said then that I would never ride for Mr Yuen again. But the past is past and I want to be professional about this," he said after Yuen assured him he would have the ride for the full season. "Good Ba Ba is one of the best horses I have ever ridden, a champion, and it is hard to say no to riding a horse who has been so good to me and has been such a great horse. He is the kind of horse you wait all your life to find. Of course, Good Ba Ba is getting older and Andreas did such a fine job with him that there will be a lot of pressure on Derek and myself to keep getting the same results. But I'm looking forward to riding Good Ba Ba again and I think he should have one more good season in him for Derek - he has been well handled so far and that will help."
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