HK APR 7 - DOUGLAS WHYTE SIZZLES AT SHA TIN

By Hong Kong Jockey Club | Monday, April 8, 2013

Douglas Whyte was in scintillating form at Sha Tin yesterday.

Hong Kong’s champion jockey stole the riding plaudits with six wins on the 11-race card to equal the jurisdiction’s professional era record for most victories in a single day.

That record was established on 20 June, 2010 when Brett Prebble partnered his own sextet of winners at Happy Valley Racecourse.

Whyte’s sixth success came in the day’s final event and proved to be one of his easiest on the day as the John Moore-trained Secret Sham quickened to a no-nonsense success.

“Fantastic!” was how the champion described the achievement. “It’s been a long time between drinks and I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.

"Good on Brett, he did it before me but we share the record now and it’s been part of something that I’ve wanted to close the chapter on for a long time, but that chapter’s closed and I can look forward to other challenges.”

The South African, Hong Kong’s champion jockey for 12 straight seasons, has faced a strong challenge to his dominance this campaign from Zac Purton but has begun to assert in recent weeks and went into today’s meeting with a three win advantage over his rival.

Whyte fired off a quick double in the first two races atop Kynam and Sunshine Boy, only for apprentice Alvin Ng to halt the early domination when battling up the stands’ side rail on Joy Together to best the champ and his wayward mount Brave Brother by a short-head.

Hypersonic was an easy victor in the fourth and after running third in the fifth, Whyte made certain of win number four courtesy of All Bountiful in race six.

Three defeats, including runner-up efforts in races eight and nine, stalled momentum but the champion scented a share of Prebble’s Hong Kong professional era record when he punched Little Men to victory number five in the penultimate race.

“Brave Brother let me down – it would have been seven winners – he came to win the race but ducked out sharply; he was very green, he didn’t know what he was doing and I couldn’t ride him properly from hanging but I’m looking at the bright side, I’ve had six winners and a fantastic day,” said Whyte, who had ominous words for his jockeys’ room colleagues.

“I’m hungry and I’m up for anything now. My confidence has increased and I’m riding better than ever – and I’m getting support from everyone,” he said.

* Whyte first six- timer added to his record of five five-timers, 35 four-timers and 132 trebles.

** Whyte claimed a new Jockey Challenge tally record of 94 points. Apart from the six wins he also had three seconds and a third, meaning he was only unplaced once in the eleven races.

*** Whyte’s run of success put him nine clear in his drive towards a 13th consecutive Hong Kong jockeys’ title. He is taking nothing for granted though, with good reason. When Prebble won his six races at Happy Valley in June 2010, it gave Prebble a nine-win lead over Whyte with only six meetings remaining, but Whyte fought back to win by one.

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