Moreira hits fastest Hong Kong century at Happy Valley

22/04/2015

Joao Moreira completed the fastest century of winners in Hong Kong racing history when he drove Win It to a short-head victory in the Class 4 Shek Kip Mei Handicap (1650m) at Happy Valley tonight, Wednesday 22 April. The success in the evening’s third race was also the Brazilian’s 200th career win in Hong Kong.
 
Moreira smashed the record for the fastest century. Douglas Whyte, the previous record holder, took until June to reach his quickest 100. Moreira reached his century at the 60th fixture of Hong Kong’s 83-meeting season.
 
The Brazilian is only the third jockey to have completed a century of wins in a single campaign. Whyte, Hong Kong’s 13-time champion jockey, has achieved the feat six times, while Zac Purton became only the second centurion when he notched 112 wins to secure the champion jockey title last season. That haul was two shy of Whyte’s Hong Kong record win total of 114 in a season.
 
Moreira, with a strike-rate of 23% heading into this evening’s fixture, is on target to potentially smash Whyte’s record total.
 
The “Magic Man” was delighted with the landmark success, punching the air and saluting his fans as he returned to the winner’s enclosure to be greeted by his wife and winning trainer Chris So.
 
“With Win It, we won it!” exclaimed Moreira. “I was expecting to get stuck on 99 because that is what has happened to me the last times when I’ve been in the same position in Singapore and Brazil. Fortunately we were able to make it today.”
 
Moreira followed up in the very next race with an easy front-running triumph on the John Size-trained Shadowfaxe.
 
“It was great to win two races right away,” added Moreira, who had had to wait through a three-meeting suspension before he could move off the 99 mark. “The first was important because it gave me more confidence for the second.”