Two-time Golden Slipper-winning jockey Brenton Avdulla and apprentice Ellis Wong Chi-wang will join the Hong Kong riding ranks next month.
Avdulla, who sits seventh in the New South Wales metropolitan jockeys’ premiership, will begin his Hong Kong stint at Happy Valley on May 3 and has been licensed until the end of the 2022-23 season on July 16.
The 32-year-old, who won the Golden Slipper in 2018 with Estijaab and 2022 aboard Fireburn, joins countrymen Zac Purton, Hugh Bowman and Luke Currie on the Hong Kong riding roster.
He has landed 1,364 career winners at a strike rate of 13 per cent and has a minimum riding weight of 119 pounds.
Wong, who has been honing his craft in South Australia, has also been handed a licence from the beginning of May but will not be allowed to ride at the tight-turning Happy Valley track immediately, meaning he will make his Hong Kong debut at Sha Tin on May 7.
Wong has developed his riding skills under the watchful eye of first Grant Young and then Gary Searle in South Australia and has ridden 86 winners from 910 rides since February 2021.
The 22-year-old will have a 10-pound claim in Hong Kong and joins fellow apprentice Angus Chung Yik-lai on the roster, which will swell to 26 riders upon the arrival of Wong and Avdulla.
Meanwhile, the Jockey Club also announced on Friday it will lift Private Purchase bonuses for Class Two and Class Three horses from HK$1 million to HK$1.5 million, starting from next season.
The increase comes soon after the Jockey Club expanded its bonus scheme to include windfalls for PPs – previously raced gallopers -who win in Class Three for the first time rather than only for those who taste success in Class Two.
“Hong Kong racing is firmly established as world leading and the club is committed to continuously improving the quality of our horse population so as to further enhance our positioning on the global stage,” said Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.
Jockey Club hopes record prize-money increase can rejuvenate HK horse population
“To this end, we are committed to further strengthening incentives to owners who we recognise are facing increasing competition to source high-class horses.
“We see the HK$500,000 increase in the PP bonus structure for Class Two and Class Three as important to further enhancing the value proposition for owners making investment in high-quality horses to enable Hong Kong to further develop the quality of our racing and our international standing.”
After a record 11.5 per cent increase in overall prize money ahead of this season, the Jockey Club confirmed the “2023-24 season prize money structure will be announced in coming days”.
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