John Moore returns to Hong Kong racing as owner of Grand Eagle

He won’t be there in person in one of his iconic safari suits, but John Moore will make a return to Hong Kong racing in a new role as owner of Grand Eagle at Sha Tin on Saturday.

Moore is the city’s most successful trainer with a record 1,735 wins and HK$2.099 billion in prize money, along with more than 30 Group One victories, six Hong Kong Derby wins, seven championships and nine Horse of the Year titles.

Forced into retirement by the Jockey Club’s age limit of 70 years old at the end of the 2019-20 season, Moore made two aborted attempts to return to training in Australia but kept his maroon and white racing colours active in Australia with gallopers he owned.

Those same colours will be carried by Australian import Grand Eagle when he makes his Hong Kong debut in the Class Three Snipe Handicap (1,200m) on dirt.

“I don’t go racing in Hong Kong, but I watch racing all the time and I’m interested in pedigrees, what’s winning in Hong Kong and what owners might be looking for,” Moore said.

“The Jockey Club wouldn’t accept Moore Racing Syndicate, because it clashes with trainers’ syndicates, and I just came up with Go Racing and didn’t realise it was a big syndicate out of New Zealand with the same name.

“There’s eight of us – good mates, including my wife, and the best horse I had in Australia at the time of shipment was Grand Eagle.

“I’m in Australia for the sales so I’ll miss it, but I will be at the Northcliff Surf Club watching and I’ll have my each-way bet in a very deep race.”

Moore was able to get a Private Purchase (PP) permit to send Grand Eagle to Hong Kong after first becoming a member of the Jockey Club when he was an amateur jockey in 1971.

PP permits are only available to members who must then enter and win a ballot to import a previously raced galloper.

“We were on the reserve list for Grand Eagle, but the Jockey Club needed some PPs so everyone got promoted. I have put in another application but I am 74th reserve – there’s 100 or so reserves,” Moore said.

Grand Eagle notched wins at Hawkesbury and Randwick as a two-year-old and ran third in a Listed race at Randwick for the Go Racing Syndicate and co-trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou.

While it was expected Moore would send the three-year-old to Tony Cruz, whose daughter Antonia is the wife of Moore’s son George, the legendary trainer picked David Eustace, who is in his second season in Hong Kong.

“I sat beside [Eustace’s] uncle David Oughton for many, many years. I got to know him really well and I always thought a lot of the whole family,” Moore said, referring to Oughton who was also a trainer in Hong Kong.

“During a lunch with the syndicate, everybody said ‘you’re going to put forward Tony Cruz, aren’t you?’ but I said ‘my vote is for David Eustace, I’ve spoken to him and he has space for Grand Eagle’.”

Eustace said he wasn’t feeling added pressure from training for an iconic figure in Moore.

“We’ve had good discussions and I think it would be foolish to not pick his brains, so I’m grateful for the support,” Eustace said.

“The horse is only three and he’s got quite a high rating, so he’s very much a horse for next season.

“But his form in Sydney was good, I spoke to Gerald plenty about the horse and he settled in pretty well, but it will just be a case of watch and see. It’s a big ask first start on the dirt for a horse in Hong Kong.”

Moore is optimistic Grand Eagle will handle Sha Tin’s all-weather surface and prove to be a successful import in the future.

“He’s versatile. His last trial was good, [jockey] Ethan Brown didn’t really put his foot down on the accelerator – he closed off with something in hand,” Moore said.

“Of course, race conditions are going to be different because they’re going to go quick and he’s got to keep up in the first 200m.

“I’m hoping for the weekend. I believe he’s versatile and that he’ll handle all surfaces, but that race is quite strong in depth. I’m just looking forward to him hitting the line.”

Grand Eagle bumps into a strong field of all-weather specialists headed by Blazing Wind and Victory Sky, who have both been entered for September’s Group Three Korea Sprint (1,200m).