Hugh Bowman’s start to the new season has been disrupted by a hip injury, with the Australian jockey ruled out of the next two meetings at Happy Valley and Sha Tin.

After booting home Mark Newnham’s impressive four-year-old Joyful Joy at Sha Tin’s season opener on Sunday, Bowman was declared unfit to ride by the Jockey Club’s chief medical officer on Monday.

“I’ve aggravated my right hip and surrounding muscles,” Bowman said.

“I’m in significant pain. I’m hoping with some treatment it will heal soon.”

Bowman was booked for five rides at the Valley on Wednesday night and set to ride Group One Champions Mile victor My Wish at Tuesday morning’s Sha Tin trials before the setback.

The Valley’s first meeting of the season will see Keith Yeung Ming-lun reunite with China Win when they take on the Class Three Central Handicap (1,650m).

David Hayes’ Super Seth gelding put together back-to-back wins last season when graduating from Class Four to Class Three company, and will be looking to return to winning form from a favourable draw of barrier four.

Yeung has been on board for both of the five-year-old’s lead-up trials, and was thoroughly impressed with the improvement in fitness between each.

“I think he lost form a little bit towards the end of the season, because he had a long season and tries really hard every race,” Yeung said.

“I’ve trialled him twice, once in Conghua and once at Sha Tin, and he’s picking up his form really well, so I think he’s going to have a good race on Wednesday night. We are happy to see him lifting up his fitness between the trials, so that’s a really good sign for us.

“I think he handles both tracks, it really depends on the pace of the race. [Barrier four] will be making the job much easier so we can just jump him out and then see how the race has unfolded without making him doing too much work.”

Turf Phoenix seeks a breakthrough victory in the second section of the Class Five Admiralty Handicap (1,200m) after an improved run two starts ago that saw him place two and three-quarter lengths behind Nebraskan over the course and distance.

The Jimmy Ting Koon-ho-trained galloper has had two trials, both of which Yeung was on board for, and should benefit from the bottom weight of 119lb and barrier five.

“He came in as a PP, now he’s in Class Five, so he has dropped a lot of rating points. I was just happy to see him actually do something in that race two starts ago,” Yeung said.

“Jimmy has done a really good job with him, keeping the horse fit and ready for the race. I liked when he ran third in a recent trial, he didn’t like the ground at all, but it was still a nice trial for him that shows he is in good shape. An inside draw helps enormously.”

Yeung jumps aboard Joltin, who has had two strong trials ahead of his first-up run in the Class Four Kwun Tong Handicap (1,650m) for Hayes.

“He came in as a PP, and sometimes horses just take a year or two to adapt to the Hong Kong racing pattern. I think he’s getting used to it, and both me and Hayes were really happy with how the horse has progressed and I think he’s going to show us something this season,” Yeung said.

“He enjoys running on momentum, so you need to let him travel at his own comfortable speed, and then when he’s ready you can pull him into the race and start to build him up – it seems like this is the best pattern for him.”