Luke Currie will bring an end to his Hong Kong stint after the Happy Valley meeting on December 13, with the struggling jockey to return home ahead of Australia’s autumn carnival.
While he’s licensed until February 12, Currie has made the call after going winless from 48 rides through the first 23 meetings of the season.
“The licensing committee has resolved to approve an application from Luke Currie to withdraw his club jockey’s licence effective from December 14, 2023. Jockey Currie submitted the application on the grounds of returning to Australia with his young family,” the Jockey Club said in a statement on Friday.
The Jockey Club has also agreed to grant Currie’s countryman, Brenton Avdulla, “leave of absence from Hong Kong from December 18 to December 27” so he can head away over the Christmas period, meaning the in-form rider will miss three meetings.
Meanwhile, French jockey Antoine Hamelin is expected to be fit to take his rides at Sha Tin this Sunday after falling from John Size’s Juneau Flash in a Conghua barrier trial on Friday morning.
One of six jockeys who travelled to Conghua for the trials, Hamelin was shaken up by the fall and will be assessed by the Jockey Club’s medical team in Hong Kong before being officially cleared to ride this weekend.
After hitting an improved patch of form in the past fortnight, Hamelin is booked for four mounts on Sunday – Blissful Star, Smart Folks, Sparkling Knight and Forever Folks.
Fifteen minutes before Hamelin’s fall in the sixth heat, Size’s Sight Success had his final Group One Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) warm-up over six furlongs on turf.
Second in the 2022 Hong Kong Sprint, Sight Success appears to be on track to enter this year’s edition in top shape after producing a winning trial effort under Keagan de Melo.
Sight Success will face only nine rivals on December 10, with the Hong Kong Sprint field reduced to 10 on Friday after the withdrawal of a former Size-trained galloper, Courier Wonder.
Now with Danny Shum Chap-shing, Courier Wonder, who was fourth in last year’s Hong Kong Sprint, injured a fetlock in August and only returned to the trials earlier this week.
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Joining Courier Wonder, Russian Emperor and Running Glory on the HKIR withdrawals list is Soldier Rising, who was set to be the first American runner at Sha Tin’s marquee meeting since 2017.
The removal of Christophe Clement’s galloper, who suffered a setback before departing the United States, reduces the Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m) field to 10 just 24 hours after Douglas Whyte’s Russian Emperor officially came out.
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