Europe's most successful jockey this season, Irish ace Johnny Murtagh, will ride for six weeks in Hong Kong, arriving after the Melbourne Cup carnival early next month.
Director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, nailed his man at Longchamp after Murtagh, now 30, had ridden the magnificent Sinndar to victory in one of the world's greatest races, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last Sunday.
It has been an unforgettable 2000 for Murtagh who won both the English and Irish Derbys on the Aga Khan's Sinndar and last Sunday added a total of three more Group One races to his haul in the one day. He is also on his way to becoming Irish champion jockey again.
Murtagh is no stranger to Sha Tin and Happy Valley racegoers having served a Club jockey stint here three years ago but much has changed since then.
While still a top-notch rider back on the Irish circuit not everything went according to plan here and a controversial suspension handed down by then chief stipendiary steward, Clinton P. Pitts Jnr, left the jockey toiling. He ended that three-month stint with four winners from 86 rides and an overall winning percentage of 4.7.
'I don't think I did myself full justice last time I was in Hong Kong but it will be different this time around.
'In the past I have had weight problems and it has been vital for me to ride somewhere in the winter rather than sit around here and put on weight.
