Trainer Profile
Cruz, Tony
Blazing Speed, California Memory, Zaidan
Aged 57, Tony Cruz was six times Hong Kong's champion jockey and rode 946 winners. He first landed the HK
trainers' title in 1999/2000 and regained it in 2005, setting a new record for a season's winners (91) and
earnings (HK$113m) in the process. His most famous horses have been Silent Witness, the dual HK Sprint and
nine-time G1 winner, Bullish Luck, five-time G1 winner and winner of the G1 Yasuda Kinen in Japan as well as
back-to-back renewals of the Champions Mile (2005 & 2006), and California Memory, winner of back-to-back
Hong Kong Cups in 2011 and 2012. California Memory also took the HKG1 Champions & Chater Cup in 2013
to claim the Champion Stayer crown. Lucky Owners' double in the HK Mile and HK Derby and Helene Mascot's
Derby victory also stand out. In 2010/11, in which he won two HKG1s and the G1 HK Mile with Beauty Flash,
he looked sure to win another trainers' title until caught and passed almost on the line by John Moore's late
burst. Cruz saddled 68 winners in 2012/13 and closed in to lead the trainers’ title race with a double at the last
meeting of the season, only to be overtaken again in the final race and finish the campaign in 2nd. He has a
career total of 958 HK wins, with 36 this term (as of 22 April), including Blazing Speed’s HKG1 Stewards’ Cup
win.
de Kock, Mike
Variety Club
Aged 50, de Kock won his first G1 just four months into his training career in 1989. He has won every major in
South Africa at least once and trained the South African Triple Crown winner, Horse Chestnut, as well as the
crack mares Ipi Tombe and Igugu. He has enjoyed considerable success at the Dubai World Cup Carnival
winning the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, the UAE Derby five times, both the Dubai Duty Free and the Godolphin
Mile twice with Soft Falling Rain winning the latter last year, and in 2013 he also added the G1 Al Quoz Sprint
to the list thanks to Shea Shea. Vercingetorix landed the G1 Daily News 2000 last year and the G1 Jebel Hatta
in March. He is also a force when he heads to Hong Kong, winning the APQEII Cup with Irridescence (2006)
and Archipenko (2008) and the 2008 Hong Kong Cup with Eagle Mountain. As well as his strong overseas
base in Dubai, he now has another satellite yard in England. Sent out Musir to be 3rd in 2011 G1 Champions
Mile.
Delzangles, Mikel
Mshawish
Aged 41, Mikel Delzangles was born in Biarritz in France’s Basque region. His godmother is the famed French
racehorse owner, particularly of jumping horses, the Marquesa de Moratella. After working for UK based trainer
Jimmy Fitzgerald he joined Alain de Royer Dupre as an assistant for 10 years. He first took out a licence in his
own right in 2001. His G1 victories since then include the Prix Ganay (2006 Corre Caminos), the Prix de
l’Opera (2009 Shalanaya), the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket (2010) and the Prix Jacques le Marois (2010) both
with Makfi. In November 2011, Dunaden, one of the horses he had ‘inherited’ from his friend Richard Gibson
when Gibson moved to Hong Kong, won the 151st Melbourne Cup. A month later, Dunaden went on to become
the first Melbourne Cup winner to add an HKIR when winning the HK Vase and also scored in the 2012 G1
Caulfield Cup. 2012 also brought top-flight wins in the Prix de l’Opera (Ridasiyna), Prix du Cadran (Molly
Malone) and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf (Flotilla). Flotilla gave him another classic success when
wining the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in May 2013. So far this year he has saddled Mshawish to win the
G2 Zabeel Mile at Meydan, Dubai.
Fownes, Caspar
Helene Spirit
Aged 46, Caspar Fownes assisted his trainer father Lawrie for several seasons before taking over the mantle in
2003/04. He eclipsed his father's best season stats in his rookie year with 44 wins. In 2006/07 he won his first
trainers' premiership and added his second premiership in 2008/09. His most famous victories include The
Duke's win in the G1 HK Mile of 2006, Green Birdie's win in the G1 KrisFlyer International Sprint in 2010 and
Lucky Nine's wins in the G1 HK Sprint of 2011 and the 2013 KrisFlyer International Sprint. He also saddled
Lucky Nine to a nose 2nd in Australia’s G1 Manikato Stakes in October and to victory in the HKG1 Chairman’s
Sprint Prize in 2013 and 2014. He has a good strike-rate with his runners at Happy Valley where on 20 June
2010 he sent out six winners in a single day, equalling the record in Hong Kong's professional racing era. His
61 wins in 2012/13 also included Lucky Nine's G2 Jockey Club Sprint and took him to 4th in the trainers’
premiership. His current HK career total stands at 574, including 37 this term (as of 22 April).
Gibson, Richard
Gold-Fun
Aged 44, formerly French-based Englishman Richard Gibson gained his grounding in the art with Frenchmen
Pascal Bary and Henri-Alex Pantall as well as Americans Bill Mott and Gary Jones. He took out his first licence
at Chantilly in 1996 and struck gold as early as 1999 when Lady Of Chad won the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac en
route to becoming European Champion Juvenile Filly. He has trained the winners of seven G1s altogether,
most notably Akeed Mofeed in the 2013 G1 HK Cup. Doctor Dino won successive runnings of the G1 HK Vase
and also won the G1 Man O'War Stakes at Belmont, USA. Akeed Mofeed also won the 2013 Hong Kong
Derby, while Gold-Fun won the same year’s Hong Kong Classic Mile. Gold-Fun also took the G2 Jockey Club
Mile in November and the HKG1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup in March. His other high-class trainees have been
Marotta, Lune D'Or, Cut Quartz, Mores Wells, Swedish Shave, and for a short spell Dunaden. Gibson, who
relocated to Hong Kong ahead of the 2011/12 season, saddled 35 winners in his debut HK season and backed
that up in 2012/13 with 32 wins. This season he has 26 wins for a HK career total of 95 wins (as of 22 April).
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Trainer Profile
Hogan, Tom
Gordon Lord Byron
Based in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Hogan is a dual-purpose trainer, preparing jumps horses alongside flat
racers. He first enjoyed Group race success with the durable Common World, winner of the G3 Grosser Preis
Der West LB at Dusseldorf in 2005 and the G3 Gladness Stakes in 2006. His best horse to date by some
margin is the sprinter/miler Gordon Lord Byron, rated 72 when winning an all-weather maiden (his 7th start) at
Dundalk in October 2011 but now a well-established triple G1 winner after victories in the 2012 G1 Prix de la
Foret at Longchamp, the 2012 G1 Haydock Sprint Cup and his recent win in the G1 George Ryder Stakes in
Australia in March. Gordon Lord Byron has twice been to Hong Kong, running fourth in the G1 HK Mile in 2012
and 2013.
Moore, John
Able Friend, Dan Excel, Flagship Shine
Aged 64, Moore has been involved in Hong Kong racing since the professional era commenced in 1971 and is
Hong Kong's winning-most trainer with 1,367 career wins (as of 22 April). He began training in 1985, before
which he held the position of assistant trainer to his late famous father, George. In 2007 he prepared an
international G1 double thanks to Viva Pataca in the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup and Able One in the
Champions Mile and, in a feat perhaps unprecedented in the sport, won the same two races with the same two
horses three years later. Moore is the only trainer ever to send out 1,000 winners in Hong Kong and has been
the leader in prize-money won for the past eight seasons. His total prize money of HK$102.2 million won in
2012/13 raised his career total to over HK$1.2 billion. After a 17-year gap, he clinched a sixth Trainers'
Championship with a strong finish to the 2010/11 season. He finished second in the table in the 2011/12
season with 54 winners. His big-race wins also include Xtension's two G1 Champions Miles (2011 & 2012) and
Able One's G1 Hong Kong Mile (2011). Dan Excel’s 2013 G1 Champions Mile was Moore’s fifth win in the race.
Last season Military Attack was crowned Horse of the Year after wins that included the G1 AP QEII Cup and
the G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup, the latter being Moore’s first overseas win. This term Moore
dominated the HK Four-Year-Old Series with Designs On Rome notching the trainer a third HK Derby, with
stablemate Able Friend second. He scored a second overseas success when Sterling City took the G1 Dubai
Golden Shaheen in March.
Size, John
Glorious Days, Real Specialist
Aged 59, John Size was a top trainer in Sydney before his arrival in Hong Kong in 2001 with a reputation for
improving and rekindling the spark in his horses. He broke the mould by winning the trainers' premiership in his
very first season, adding six more titles in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. He has trained the winners
of two Horse of the Year titles, the multiple HKG1 scorers Electronic Unicorn and Grand Delight. He also won
the G1 Audemars Piguet QE II Cup in 2004 with longshot River Dancer, the same year he secured two Triple
Crown legs via Super Kid. In 2009/10 he trained Brave Kid to equal the then record of six wins in a season and
Entrapment who finally broke that record with seven victories in just five months. He enjoyed a first HKG1 HK
Derby win in 2012 thanks to Fay Fay and in December 2013 Glorious Days landed the G1 LONGINES Hong
Kong Mile. He has won the Champions Mile twice with Electronic Unicorn (2003) and Sight Winner (2009).
Uehara, Hiroyuki
Meiner Lacrima
Age 57, Hiroyuki Uehara obtained his JRA training license in 1993 and has since trained no less than 340
winners, including 20 in 2013. Daiwa Major, a five-time G1 winner including successes in the Tenno Sho
(Autumn) in 2006 and Yasuda Kinen in 2007, is the best horse Uehara has trained so far.
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