In all the hoopla of last weekend’s racing – stranded jockeys, Arc triumphs, major preparations for the Breeders’ Cup and the Melbourne spring – the story that has been all but forgotten has been that of Hong Kong’s pioneer Rich Tapestry.
The last blog from The Griffin focused on the top 10 travelling horses of the last 25 years, and while Rich Tapestry was omitted from the list, by the end of this season he could very easily be in the top three or four. But more on that later.
Michael Chang Chun-wai’s globetrotter finished sixth in the Sprinters Stakes behind last year’s Hong Kong Sprint placegetter Straight Girl, and a somewhat unlucky sixth at that. Jockey Christophe Lemaire copped some heat from Chang as well as local journalists, although the trainer was more forgiving of Lemaire’s ride on Thursday morning.
“It sounded like I completely blamed Christophe in my comments after the race,” Chang said. “But I think it was only half his fault – it was 50-50, I think the horse has lost some of his dash. Still, he rode him a little farther back than I would have liked, especially after he jumped so well."
It was a far cry from 12 months earlier, when Rich Tapestry snared a little bit of history by becoming the first Hong Kong horse to win at the highest level – on dirt, no less – in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship.
Chang had always said he was “a class or two better on dirt” and by defeating a two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner in Goldencents and a Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Golden Shaheen winner in Secret Circle, especially without the use of anti-bleeding agent furosemide (commonly known as Lasix), the horse proved the handler’s instincts to be spot on.
He certainly justified the trip to the United States, anyway, even if Chang and the connections ended up out of pocket after tax tore their prize money cheque to shreds.
Since then, however, it has all gone a bit pear-shaped.
He had blood in the trachea when he finished last as favourite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, sparking a fierce debate about the use of Lasix and the Jockey Club’s directive not to use the drug despite a long history of bleeding problems.
He required a long stint on the sidelines, emerging to run a game third fresh in the Golden Shaheen behind Secret Circle before a messy fifth behind Aerovelocity in the last ever KrisFlyer Sprint when knocked around from pillar to post.
The seven-year-old’s run at Nakayama last weekend was typical Rich Tapestry – honest, tough, looking the winner at some point in the straight before circumstances played against him.
He will never be the greatest horse to have been trained in Hong Kong – in fact, far from being the greatest of his generation, his current rating of 122 (a personal best) has him as the 10th best horse in training at Sha Tin. Even just taking sprinters into account, he is fifth behind Gold-Fun (128), Aerovelocity (125), Lucky Nine (123) and Peniaphobia (123).
(He IS, however, by far and away the best horse trained out of the much-maligned Olympic Stables – he is one of only two horses in triple figures who have been able to defy the apparent niggles for those based at the southern end of the racecourse, with Andreas Schutz’s Packing Llaregyb the other on 113. Perhaps that makes him a star in itself.)
Rich Tapestry’s success abroad is a credit to Chang, the 53-year-old local trainer who is celebrating a decade in the Hong Kong ranks. Since a failed attempt to get him into the Hong Kong Derby as a four-year-old, Chang’s analysis of Rich Tapestry has proved frightfully accurate and he has continued to push the boundaries since – whether it be at home or abroad.
By challenging preconceived notions, by testing his star where others would be too scared to try, he has created a Hong Kong racing hero out of virtually nothing.
Chang’s command of English, while not Oxford-standard, is fairly good for local trainers, and he is always willing to open up about his horses, in particular his stable star.
What can’t be underestimated too is the son of Holy Roman Emperor’s position as a marketing tool for Hong Kong racing. His victories in Dubai and the United States came at a time when commingling was just being introduced, and in particular, a large number of American horseplayers now watch Sha Tin on a Saturday night after being introduced to Hong Kong through Rich Tapestry’s feats.
Many of them would not be able to name a single Hong Kong horse off the top of their heads, except for Rich Tapestry.
Incredibly, the Rich Tapestry tale may not be over just yet with more pioneering efforts awaiting in the year ahead.
Rumours have flown around in recent days that Rich Tapestry could head to South Korea for a race on dirt in Seoul next year, cementing himself as Hong Kong’s ultimate trailblazer and perhaps becoming the first notable global star to race in one of the world’s fastest-growing jurisdictions.
The Korean Racing Authority has been in discussions with the Jockey Club, trying to get participation from Hong Kong in the Asia Challenge Cup – a race currently contested between horses from Korea, Japan and Singapore in late August or early September.
The race, worth 400 million won (HK$2.67 million) this year, was won by Singapore’s El Padrino in 2013 before he was beaten by a local, Choegang Schiller, in 2014.
Chang confirmed on Thursday morning that Rich Tapestry’s owners have considered whether to head to Korea, either for the Asia Challenge Cup or the JRA Trophy in May, but he stressed no decisions would be made until well into next year.
“We still have more racing that we want to do before then,” Chang said. “We will bring him back for the Hong Kong Sprint – he has raced at Sha Tin only once since his good run in the 2013 Hong Kong Sprint and we want his fans here to see him race. Then we will take him back to Dubai for the same two races he ran in last year, the Mahab Al Shimaal and the Golden Shaheen. We might look at Korea after that, but we won’t make a decision for a while.”
“One thing I won’t do though is keep racing him until he is too old – he has been too good to me and the owners, he deserves much more than that.”
