The success of Sam Clipperton has been one of the main storylines of the current Hong Kong racing season and the plot developed further after the freshman Australian rider scored a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday.
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Sam Clipperton rode a treble on the card at Sha Tin, including the Class 2 Cymbidium Handicap (1650m) on John Moore-trained People’s Knight.
Clipperton returned from a hit-and-run trip to his native Sydney, where he rode a G3 winner and was just nosed out in the G1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) on Saturday (11 March), and he bounced back into Hong Kong racing with a bang, taking two of the first three races – both for trainer Tony Millard. He won the Class 5 Snapdragon Handicap (1650m) on Atomic Blast (119lb) and the first section of the Class 4 Oncidium Handicap (1400m) on Bold Stitch (127lb), before later adding the Class 2 Cymbidium Handicap (1650m) on John Moore-trained People’s Knight (121lb).
“It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours, that’s for sure,” Clipperton said. “But to ride winners in both Australia and Hong Kong over a weekend, that’s a dream and I can’t believe how this season keeps progressing. I’m very happy at the moment.
The three-timer took him to equal fourth in the jockeys’ championship on 29 wins, alongside another former Sydney rider in Nash Rawiller.
Moore was especially effusive in his praise for Clipperton, saying the 23-year-old has maturity and ability well beyond his years.
“He’s been part of the team since day one,” Moore said. “When Tommy (Berry) rang me and told me he was coming here, he told me you wouldn’t find a nicer boy. And when I watched him in Sydney yesterday, he asked me for my opinion and I told him that I thought he rode great. He would have won the G1 if he had drawn a gate and he was only just beaten by Tye Angland’s ride.
“I always think that you gain confidence riding up here in Hong Kong. There have been so many young jockeys that we see come here and ride well and then they go back home and they are better riders, they are sharper and they have a greater appreciation of different styles. I think we saw that with Sam yesterday, although I hope that he is here for a while yet – he is very talented.”
Moore confirmed that Clipperton would not ride Booming Delight, who he has partnered to three wins this season, in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) with Ryan Moore jetting in to take the mount, but he revealed that Clipperton would now be aboard G1 Queensland Derby (2400m) runner-up Rodrico in the four-year-old. However, he has also booked the rider for a prized mount on the undercard.
“He will ride Able Friend next weekend,” Moore confirmed, with the 2014/15 Horse of the Year to join Helene Paragon, Dashing Fellow and Invincible Dragon in a Class 1 handicap over 1400m. “Joao (Moreira) will ride Invincible Dragon, and Sam is a valuable part of the team so I’m happy to have him on Able Friend.”
People’s Knight provided Clipperton with his 13th winner for Moore, the rider having scored on the Exceed And Excel four-year-old twice in a week late last year. And the trainer believes that the horse may have found his niche on the surface.
“On breeding, it always looked like he would enjoy the dirt,” Moore said. “The Exceed And Excels go OK on the dirt, but he’s out of a Dehere mare. The way he accelerated there, he clearly loves it, so I’ll just keep him to this course and distance I think until I’m forced to look elsewhere.”
