Medic Elite, Hong Kong’s busiest galloper this season and Ryan Moore’s lowest-rated winner in the city, is set to make his 19th start this term in Sunday’s Spessartine Garnet Handicap (1,600m) at Sha Tin.
His trainer, Pierre Ng Pang-chi, and his owners, the members of the Medicore Syndicate, may cast the only votes Medic Elite receives in this season’s Jockey Club popularity poll. However, the Class Five battler deserves some love from everyday racing fans.
Medic Elite has raced on 18 occasions this term – two times more than Power Koepp, Turquoise Alpha, Viva A La and fellow weekend warrior Regency Master – under 11 different riders for one unforgettable first, two seconds, four thirds and HK$1,372,950 in prize money.
His Class Five victory on the International Jockeys’ Championship undercard at Happy Valley in December was extra special because British superstar Moore, who will ride Hong Kong sprinter Wellington at Royal Ascot on Saturday, jumped aboard Medic Elite after French rider Mickael Barzalona tested positive for Covid-19.
“I told Ryan to get behind the speed and stay outside – don’t go inside – because the horse gets afraid around other horses, so he did 110 per cent,” Ng said a few minutes after Medic Elite’s breakthrough win.
“My replacement choice was pretty straightforward. It was Ryan or James McDonald. I didn’t think the horse would get another chance with Ryan in this class, so it was a lifetime experience for him. Maybe if I’d picked James, he’d have won as well.”
Medic Elite was triumphant off a mark of 29, which makes him the lowest-rated of Moore’s 41 winners on Hong Kong soil. Jockey Club handicappers dropped him two points following his last-start ninth, which means he will compete as a 28-rated galloper on Sunday.
Ng has booked Vincent Ho Chak-yiu to steer Medic Elite for the first time this season – the Tony Cruz Award winner-elect rode him once last term for his previous handler, Paul O’Sullivan – and hopes the four-year-old Zacinto gelding banks another cheque.
“Medic Elite is a very athletic horse, medium in size and a hard worker. He’s easy to train. He always recovers well within a couple of days of his runs, and he’s earned prize money 12 times out of 18, which has been enjoyable for his owners and stable,” Ng said.
“He was unlucky last start when he didn’t get a clear run until late. We hope the race pattern plays well for him this time, and with the help of Vincent, he manages to get into the prize money again.”
Ng will saddle six runners at Sha Tin this weekend as he looks to add to his tally of 35 victories in his rookie campaign. Cyber Patch, Tattenham, Billionaire Secret, Greenwich and Taj Dragon will accompany Medic Elite to the track for this season’s 81st meeting.
Mick Kinane, Jim McGrath rate Wellington’s Royal Ascot chances
Two Group Three contests – the Premier Cup (1,400m) and the Premier Plate (1,800m) – headline the 10-race twilight programme, with Beauty Joy and Tourbillon Diamond defending their respective titles.
Zac Purton could clinch his sixth Hong Kong jockeys’ championship as early as in the fourth event if the Australian rider wins three of the first four races and his only mathematical threat, Ho, fires blanks.
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