Nash Rawiller highlights big day for Aussie jockeys in Hong Kong
Nash Rawiller wasn’t sure if he would ever score 100 winners in Hong Kong, but the Australian jockey scored a winning double on Saturday when bringing up the ton.
Rawiller notched the century with Strathclyde in the Class 4 Zhongshan Hakka Handicap before adding another to his list with Ace King in the World Hakka Handicap.
The roll continues for Rawiller, who at one point thought his career in Hong Kong was stalling.
“I’m happy because at one stage, it didn’t look like I would ride 100 winners here,” Rawiller said.
“I’ve stuck at it though and I’m starting to get a few rewards for the time I’ve put in, and I’m starting to feel like I’m building some momentum again.”
Rawiller was the shining light on a big day for Australian jockeys. They won nine of the 10 races with Chad Schofield, Zac Purton, Brett Prebble and Rawiller taking the honours.
It was also a big day for former Australian trainer David Hall, who scored a win with New Zealand export Little Giant in the Hakka Culture Handicap.
With wins over Humidor and Chocante in New Zealand, the form of Little Giant was always going to hold up well in Hong Kong and Hall never questioned its ability to run on the dirt surfaces.
“We were thinking about running him in a 1200m on the grass a couple of weeks back, but he missed a trial due to bad weather,” Hall said.
“I just decided I wasn’t frightened to run him on the dirt, so we waited a little bit longer. The horse had yielding track form in New Zealand, he’d worked and trialled well on the dirt, there was never a question in my mind about whether he’d handle it.”
Little Giant had to overcome some trouble at the top of the straight, but the classy type was good enough to overcome that.
“It was a very tough performance today, he almost got cleaned up on the bend and again in the straight. He had to be pretty brave and I noticed the margin to the third horse was sizeable, so I was impressed,” Hall added.