No Hong Kong trainer has had a more topsy-turvy season than Michael Chang Chun-wai and the roller-coaster ride will continue on Sunday night when he saddles up stable stalwart Rich Tapestry in Singapore’s Krisflyer Sprint.
Chang made headlines when he took Rich Tapestry to the United States in October, defying top American sprinters like Golden Shaheen winner Secret Circle and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents on dirt to win the Santa Anita Sprint Championship.
That was a clear pinnacle, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing – the horse had an internal bleed when favourite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and finished a long last, while any future American trips are unlikely after the IRS went to town on the earnings from the Grade One win. The local press say Chang barely won enough to buy one of his precious cigars.
On the home front, though, it has been lean pickings. There have been long dry spells for Chang and winners have been hard to come by. Before last Saturday, he was lingering on nine local wins from 600-odd races this season.
The other three trainers with runners in Singapore have had successful seasons.
John Moore, Caspar Fownes and Paul O’Sullivan are occupying three of the top five positions in the trainers’ championship, and have thriving stables. Moore and O’Sullivan have had the “house full” sign up for months, while Fownes was fined twice for having too many horses in the yard.
At the other end of the spectrum is Chang, making do with a stable that dropped below 40 horses before a recent revival and with his highest rated horse outside Rich Tapestry being unraced 85-rater Goal For Gold (who raced as Go For Goal in Ireland).
The local handler brought up his 13th winner of the season on Wednesday night when Forgive And Forget won the opener at Happy Valley, giving Chang 12 wins in Hong Kong plus the United States Grade One.
It’s two below the 15-win threshold which trainers must reach each season, but a close analysis of the rules shows Forgive And Forget could actually prove to be a crucial winner.
“Trainers must reach 15 wins for the season or their performance will be reviewed,” says Jockey Club executive director of racing Bill Nader. “However, a trainer can also pass the benchmark with a minimum of 13 wins, provided they have also accumulated HK$16 million in stakes money.
“Rich Tapestry’s American win, as well as his placing in Dubai, are both included, which takes Michael to 13 wins and just over HK$15 million in stakes money,” he said.
WATCH the Santa Anita Sprint Championship:
It is quite remarkable that the horseman who produced arguably the best training performance of the season, certainly from a Hong Kong-based trainer, was under threat of receiving a strike for “poor performance”.
Well, he still technically is, but the extra HK$1 million needed to get to the magic HK$16 million should be a walk in the park, even without another winner among the next 17 meetings. If Rich Tapestry runs second on Sunday, Chang will reach that target.
And while Rich Tapestry will be the outsider of the three Hong Kong raiders, and justifiably so, he has the chance to enter an exclusive club if he wins – and Chang’s top training performance will become even better, the stuff of legends.
In the last decade, horses to win an American Grade One on the dirt and a Group One on turf outside the United States are few and far between. Raven’s Pass comes to mind, with wins in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but the Classic that year was at Santa Anita when it was still a synthetic track, so it is moot.
Horses like California Chrome have won Grade One races on both dirt and turf, but his win in the Hollywood Derby is questionable and his true turf test will come in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.
WATCH California Chrome win the Hollywood Derby:
So Rich Tapestry is out to join a rare club, one which will elevate him to a pedestal beyond his actual ability.
Can he do it? It’s definitely questionable.
Rich Tapestry’s best win on turf came in the 2013 Sprint Cup, when he just held off Go Baby Go, and Chang himself says the horse is “a class better” on dirt. But with no suitable options, especially with another American trip all but ruled out, this fits in nicely.
It’s been a busy week for Chang. He’s been embroiled in the saga of the Olympic stables trainers, with the four based at the newer facilities at the southern end of Sha Tin racecourse – Chang, Sean Woods, Andreas Schutz and David Ferraris – officially requesting to be moved back to the main complex at the northern end, arguing their poor results are due to an uneven playing field.
And yet, Chang’s three wins in the last 15 races couldn’t have come at a worse time, with every victory another blow against their argument.
A Rich Tapestry victory in Singapore would be another major step towards dousing the fire of the Olympics stables saga, perhaps the killer blow, and at the same time it would give Chang another slice of history.
There’s plenty to play for.
