Cruz becomes third trainer with 1,400 HK wins
HONG KONG • Etching his name deeper into local racing lore, Tony Cruz has become only the third trainer to saddle 1,400 winners or more in the former British colony.
The legendary figure joined John Moore and John Size in a select band following Circuit Nine’s success at Sha Tin on Sunday.
For good measure, he won the last race with Five G Patch.
Bolstering his reputation as Hong Kong’s greatest local horseman, Cruz reached the landmark in perfect fashion as his former apprentice, Matthew Chadwick, piloted the unbeaten Circuit Nine to success in a race named in honour of one of Cruz’s many champions – the Pakistan Star Plate (1,200m) for Griffins.
Taking his tally of combined winners as a trainer and jockey to 2,347 (1,401 as a trainer, 946 as a jockey), Cruz remains a towering figure on the Hong Kong racing landscape as a six-time champion rider and dual champion trainer.
Only Moore (1,735) and Size (1,404) have saddled more winners in a relentlessly competitive environment.
“It’s always an achievement. I’m, hopefully, expecting to break some records in Hong Kong and make some history, too,” said Cruz, 65, after Circuit Nine’s win.
“If you count the amount of winners I’ve had in Hong Kong as a jockey and trainer, it would be 2,346 – but I’ve been here the longest, too.
“Racing is part of my life. I love doing this business – it’s the only thing I know. Circuit Nine was the raging 1.2 favourite, so I expected him to win.”
The son of Johnny Cruz, an esteemed rider during Hong Kong’s amateur racing days, Cruz started his association with the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1972, when he was in the first intake at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Apprentice Jockeys’ School.
With 56 victories this season after Five G Patch’s victory in the Class 3 Exultant Handicap (2,000m) – another race celebrating one of his former champions – Cruz trails only Frankie Lor and John Size (both 74 winners) in the battle for the 2021/22 trainers’ championship. – HKJC
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