Avantage continued her strong juvenile form into her three-year-old season, winning two of her three starts, and her connections are hoping for her run of form to continue into the new season. 

 

The rising four-year-old daughter of Fastnet Rock won the Gr.3 Hawke’s Bay Breeders’ Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) at Hastings in September, and had a successful autumn campaign in Sydney, winning the Gr.3 Birthday Card Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in her Australian debut before finishing third in the Gr.2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) at Randwick.

 

Trainer Jamie Richards is pleased with the way she has returned after her spell at Te Akau Stud and is excited about her prospects in spring.

 

“She’s coming up really well, she spelled well at Te Akau Stud after Sydney. She is not quite as forward as Melody Belle and Te Akau Shark, but she will trial at the end of July,” Richards said. 

 

“She will have a couple of trials and then we will work it out from there. Whether she has a run in New Zealand as a lead-in to going to Melbourne or Sydney, we’ll just see how she trials.”

 

While there are plenty of options in Melbourne for Avantage, Richards admits the A$7.5 million prizemoney on offer for the Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill on November 2 is a big incentive to head to Sydney.

 

“There are a lot of nice fillies and mares races for her in Melbourne and there is also a very big carrot in Sydney now with the Golden Eagle,” he said. 

 

“We’ll just leave it open at this stage, but there are a lot of nice races for a filly like her. I certainly believe she can be competitive in whatever she steps out in.”

 

 

 

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has confirmed that next season will be trainer John Moore’s last, with the club’s retirement rule set to be enforced. 

 

Moore was granted a special extension at the usual retirement age of 65, four years ago, but Jockey Club executive director of racing Andrew Harding said there was a hard cap at 70.

 

Moore is keen to train on beyond 70 and speculation has been rife in recent weeks that his late-season bid to claim this season’s trainers’ premiership could earn him another extension, but that now looks out of the question.

 

“One thing that is very important is that everyone is treated fairly, the goalposts were set in 2013, they were clearly known, and they are consistently applied,” Harding told the South China Morning Post. 

 

Moore puts the polish on New Zealand-bred gelding Beauty Generation, who is rated the world’s best miler, while he also trains rising three-year-old Aethero, who has been dominant in his three starts at two. 

 

Having held a licence since 1971, Moore will depart Hong Kong next year as the record holder for all-time career prize money, having amassed almost HK$2 billion for connections in his career while training more winners (1,675) than anyone else in the territory.