After he rode his third winner at Happy Valley on Wednesday night he was still steely-eyed in the victory circle, his mind already on tonight.
McDonald says he will one day move from his new home in Sydney to live in Hong Kong and he is relishing making his mark.
“This is one of the greatest cities in the world and has some of the best racing and I get to ride their best horse so this week means a lot,” says McDonald.
Romantic Warrior has only had the one lead-up run for tonight’s weight-for-age 2000m and bolted in after showing early speed which he will need again from barrier one tonight.
But he is probably the best horse in the world with the best jockey so will be the horse the huge Sha Tin crowd saves their loudest cheer for.
At this level, there are no walkovers and his competition is both international and eclectic.
From outstanding Japanese mare Liberty Island to two reps from the all-conquering Aidan O’Brien stable and Spirit Dancer, who is part-owned by somebody even more famous in Hong Kong than McDonald: legendary ex-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sha Tin on International Night is that sort of place.
So, Romantic Warrior brings real Kiwi flavour to the Cup but in the HK$26m ($5.7m) Sprint it isn’t the favoured jockey who was raised in New Zealand but the favoured horse – new speed sensation Ka Ying Rising.
Sold to Hong Kong after a minor jumpout win in New Zealand, he is now trained by David Hayes and ridden by Zac Purton, who is closing in on the all-time Hong Kong wins record.
Ka Ying Rising already has a record of his own, smashing the long-standing Sha Tin 1200m track record last start and doing it in ridiculous style, powering down a full 50m before the line.
By Windsor Park stallion Shamexpress, he is a powerful reminder of New Zealand’s new standing in the sprinting world after the recent performances of Imperatriz (albeit Australian-bred she was New Zealand trained) Roch N Horse and last year’s winner of this race Lucky Sweynesse.
A dominant potential champion horse like Ka Ying Rising is worth millions in future sales to the New Zealand breeding industry, which supplies around one-quarter of the 1250 horses in training at any one time.
“You don’t realise until you live here and talk to all the owners the enormous respect for New Zealand horses and horsepeople,” says HKJC’s sales and ownership rep Danny Rolston, one of the Kiwis now working for the huge machine which is the local club.
Rolston was at the recent Ready To Run sales at Karaka, a sale which a couple of years ago produced Antino, the main New Zealand flavour in the HK$36m ($7.9m) Mile tonight.
Already a Group 1 winner of the Toorak in Melbourne this year, he could cap a golden year for the New Zealand Ready To Run sales horses if he can triumph tonight under jockey Blake Shinn.
Add in the HK$24m ($5.2m) Vase (2400m) which has less Kiwi flavour but a horse we know so well in last year’s Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double winner in Without A Fight and the only certainty is that something special will happen at Sha Tin tonight.
The next best bet is that a New Zealander of some sort will be involved.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
