Australian Tim Clark seems in no hurry to return to his homeland, but when he does, the 26-year-old expects to be an improved version of the rider that arrived at Sha Tin nearly 18 months ago.
Other than championship leader Zac Purton, no-one is riding better than Clark, who yesterday notched a double, his fourth and fifth victories of the calendar year pushing him to 22 wins and fourth place in the jockeys' championship.
Clark was no battler before he went abroad - he finished third in the tough Sydney premiership - but he believes the intense atmosphere of his new base has further honed his competitive instincts.
"Hong Kong teaches you that you need to fight for what you want - so that's going to bode well for when I finally do decide to go back to Sydney," he said.
"It's a hard place to come to and you've got to knuckle down and work for everything."
Clark is thriving despite not being first choice in any one stable - similar to the pinch-hitter niche he filled in Sydney - and he can now add Michael Chang Chun-wai to his ever-expanding list of supporters after a win on Prince Of Sunshine.
"I've barely ridden for Michael, but I did get two rides for him late last term when Douglas Whyte was injured, and I happened to ride a winner on the last day of the season. Since then there's been more opportunities with him," Clark said.
"We tried to step the horse up to 2,000m because there weren't many opportunities for him and just to try him out, and while he didn't really get the trip, it gave him a good grounding for today."
Chang was still ruing the fact Ultimate Winners missed the start in the previous event and was narrowly beaten when Prince Of Sunshine's second career victory put a smile on his face.
"This is a horse who is at his best on the dirt," Chang said. "He is pretty limited overall, but in these Class Four dirt races, they are all the same horses, and they are all pretty slow."
Clark's second win was from a more regular provider of chances - Moore, with Thanksgiving winning his first race of the season.
After dropping to a competitive mark of 48, Thanksgiving put the writing on the wall last start when running on for fourth and unwound with another strong come from behind effort.
"He won a couple in a row late last season but has struggled for form this time in," Clark said.
