Newnham hopes HK connections can help him hit the ground running at Sha Tin

Hong Kong owners have been crucial to Mark Newnham’s success in Australia and the trainer hopes the bonds he has built during the first seven years of his career will help him succeed when he makes the move to Sha Tin.

Sydney-based Newnham, who has this term’s best city win rate among Australia’s top 30 handlers, will become the latest addition to the Hong Kong training ranks next season after the Jockey Club unveiled him at Sha Tin on Friday morning.

“A lot of Hong Kong owners have become friends. On my trips here, I’ve met a lot of their friends who are owners with the Jockey Club,” said Newnham, adding that he intends to wind up his Sydney stable over the next couple of months before moving to Hong Kong in May.

“I’m expecting there’ll be lots of lunches and lots of dinners. Hopefully, those lunches and dinners turn into owners for horses in my stable.”

Swapping Sydney for Sha Tin is something that has been on Newnham’s agenda for more than three years.

“It was during the international week in 2019 I first asked [Jockey Club executive director of racing] Andrew [Harding] what the process would be if I was interested in coming here,” Newnham said.

“His answer was I’d been on the Jockey Club’s radar anyway. He said, ‘we’ll ring you, you don’t need to ring us’. I was pleased to get his phone call.

“The Hong Kong Jockey Club has proven to be a leader in world racing. It’s the pinnacle in world racing. As a trainer, it’s the top of the tree and what I’ve aspired to achieve. It’s an achievement getting here, but there’s more work to do yet.”

Newnham is equal fifth in this term’s New South Wales metropolitan trainers’ premiership with 26 victories from 118 starts. His 22 per cent win rate is double that of champion-elect Chris Waller and higher than most of his peers around the country.

Hong Kong racing fans may know him through his connections with 2019 Classic Cup winner Mission Tycoon – the galloper he educated to win his two pre-import races – and Joyful Fortune, the one-time Hong Kong hype horse he guided to this year’s The Everest.

Blessed with a pedigree page that reads like a Who’s Who of Australian racing, Newnham was a travelling foreman for the Cups King, Bart Cummings, before – after enjoying a working holiday in the British Isles riding out for several Group One-winning handlers – he returned to Australia and became an apprentice jockey, learning the ropes from Ron Quinton before forming a long association with Gai Waterhouse.

When Newnham retired from the saddle in 2011 – he had short stints as a rider in Korea and Macau but spent most of his career on the New South Wales provincial circuit – he became Waterhouse’s right hand man, his assistant trainer duties including riding brilliant colt Pierro in most of his work.

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In 2016, the 55-year-old branched out on his own. It took him only two years to prepare his first Group One winner – 2018 Spring Champion Stakes (2,000m) heroine Maid Of Heaven – and he is likely to reach 400 Australian wins before he leaves his home land.

Harding is delighted to add Newnham, who has saddled four Group One winners, to the Jockey Club’s roster.

“We know the trainers ranks in Hong Kong are ultra competitive. We take the most elite trainers – people who have proven themselves in overseas countries – and bring them here,” Harding said.

“Opportunities to introduce new trainers don’t come along often. When they do, the licensing committee selects only those who meet a very high standard. Mark Newnham meets that standard.”

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