Ex-pat Australian John Moore is open to continuing his career in Sydney if he is forced to retire from training in Hong Kong.
Moore, the winner of seven Hong Kong championships, has another 12 months in Hong Kong under the rules of compulsory retirement at 70.
The rule was changed from 65 to 70 to accommodate Moore who said Sydney was his preferred option if he had to leave Hong Kong.
Moore is in a battle with another ex-pat Australian, John Size, for this season’s premiership which has two meetings remaining at Happy Valley on Wednesday and Sha Tin on Sunday.
Size has a one-win advantage after Sunday.
Moore told Melbourne’s RSN927 he would have to discuss future plans with his family but indicated a move to Sydney was high on the list.
“Whether I come back to Australia to train in Sydney is still to be discussed at the table with the family,” Moore said.
“I’d like to. I’d like to come back and try and just see how I could go with respect to the training in Australia, because I still haven’t trained a Group (One) in Australia yet.
“I’ve had two seconds in Group Ones with Super Kid a while back.”
He said if he did return to train in Australia it would be in Sydney.
But Moore, who currently trains Hong Kong’s champion horse Beauty Generation as well as rising star Aethero, indicated he had not completely given up on the HKJC reviewing the situation.
“I’ve got a lot of people behind me, both owners and racegoers, that are really pushing hard behind the scenes to see if they could change the present status,” he said.
Moore grew up in Sydney and honed his craft under TJ Smith and Colin Hayes before becoming assistant trainer to his father George Moore.
John Moore was licensed in his own right in 1985.
His brother Gary Moore is a trainer at Rosehill in Sydney.
