John Size has taken six of the nine trainers' championships he has contested and will again hold the whip hand this season with his dominance of the middle order, reports the Racing Post in Hong Kong. It adds: While John Moore again has the ammunition for the majors, he, Caspar Fownes and Tony Cruz are likely to be following Size home again for the title.The success of Size has been relatively simple in strategic terms in the past half a dozen seasons, as the stable transfers at which he proved
John Size has taken six of the nine trainers' championships he has contested and will again hold the whip hand this season with his dominance of the middle order, reports the Racing Post in Hong Kong.
It adds: While John Moore again has the ammunition for the majors, he, Caspar Fownes and Tony Cruz are likely to be following Size home again for the title.
The success of Size has been relatively simple in strategic terms in the past half a dozen seasons, as the stable transfers at which he proved so good early diminished and the Australian moved to specialising with Private Purchase Griffins (PPGs). Many have shown above average talent in trials overseas and pick up their two or three races in the ratings from 52 to 80 before they start to meet their match. This group of new horses contributed 35 wins in his championship last season (if you include three griffin races), as part of the 52 victories that came in Classes Three and Four in his final tally of 75.
Once again, Size will start with twice as many PPGs as Moore and Fownes and many more than Cruz, and has the still relatively unexplored PPG "leftovers" from last season such as Sichuan Success, Ejimeric Te Specso, Mandarin and others in Class Three. Highlighted last season, of course, were 13 wins from Brave Kid and Entrapment and they will begin as his main hopes for the big races, but he has other lightly raced horses capable of improving to be contenders, too.
His Achilles heel is Happy Valley, where he isn't a factor, but he might argue that the reasons for a poor recent Valley record have everything to do with why he is so hard to beat on the more conventional track at Sha Tin.
Happy Valley still belongs to Fownes, who also fared strongly in the middle classes last season with 46 of his 66 wins, and his astute placement of horses seemingly at their mark was key to Fownes' ultimately finishing second. Once again he has a well-balanced team with strength in numbers in the middle grades, but with the likes of Green Birdie, Super Satin, Thumbs Up and Fair Trade - to mention a few - Fownes will be focused on playing a role in opposition to Moore at the top end.
Moore was a strong player in the three-way championship fight two seasons ago, just failing to hold on after having the front most of the way and that left him top-heavy before last term's championship.