Tye Angland has quit Hong Kong racing knowing that no one deserves to win one of the world’s most sought-after jockeys’ premierships more than his countryman Zac Purton.
Angland says he cut short a successful Hong Kong career for personal reasons and he will leave the Asian racing capital with few regrets and high hopes for Purton to see off a challenge from Joao Moreira and 13-time winner Douglas Whyte.
Sacred Falls, Zac Purton
“I’ve seen how much work he has put in,” Angland said.
“If he does get that premiership it will be a big feather in his cap and he thoroughly deserves it.”
After racing at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, Purton holds a 15-win lead over Moreira on a Hong Kong jockeys’ premiership table in which Angland sits fourth with 48 winners for the season.
Angland insists the timing is right for him to return to Australia and he will ride at Canterbury on Wednesday before heading to Brisbane for winter carnival mounts on Saturday week.
“I’ve a got a family now,” Angland told TVN.
“I’ve been in Hong Kong for four seasons and I’ve done everything I wanted to do over there.
“I was always coming back at the end of the season but a few personal reasons came up and that just made my decision to come back to Australia early.”
He claims the highly competitive nature of Hong Kong racing has made him a more complete jockey than when he left.
“I’ve been riding against Zac Purton, Joao Moreira and Douglas Whyte so you don’t get much better than that, just learning from those jockeys,” he said.
“I believe I’ll come back a bigger and better rider.”
He is also hoping the relationships he has forged with Hong Kong’s wealthy owners can be maintained.
“There are a lot of Hong Kong-owned horses in Australia and hopefully those connections pay off in the long run,” he said.
It has in the short term with Angland booked to ride Glorious Lad, a Hong Kong-owned three-year-old trained in New Zealand, in the Grand Prix Stakes at Doomben on Saturday week.
