Brenton Avdulla has declared he has no intentions of returning home to Australia this season as he bids to prove himself worthy of a licence extension beyond February.
After two strong campaigns in Hong Kong, Avdulla slid down the championship standings with 21 wins last season, prompting the Jockey Club to hand him a six-month licence.
“I’ve got no ambitions to go home. That’s one thing I’ll make clear, I don’t really want to go home,” Avdulla said.
“I’ve been here three seasons – I had a good first season, a really solid second one when I finished fourth and rode 47 winners and then below par last season, but I still rode 21 winners.
“I lost a fair bit of support the second half of last season and I’m just trying to work hard this season, build some support up from trainers and owners and if I can do that, I’ve got no doubt that we can ride some winners and get flowing again and extend the season to the second half.
“I was disappointed to only receive six months, but what do you do? The Jockey Club has high standards to uphold and they felt like six months was what I deserved. I’ve got the fire in the belly a bit more to prove I deserve to be here.”
Avdulla is keen to open his winning account for the new term at Sha Tin on Sunday, with the talented Flow Water Flow and Thunder Prince among the best chances of his seven rides.
Flow Water Flow returns in the Class Three Yiu Tung Handicap (1,400m) after an impressive debut campaign, notching back-to-back wins and three seconds to catapult his name into Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) conversations.
A fever in February scrapped those plans and trainer John Size brought the son Proisir back for one final run in July – a solid fifth to Lucky Sam Gor over 1,600m.
“He’s obviously a nice, improving horse. The 1,400m is probably short of his best but being fresh up early in the season, I think it’ll be OK for him,” Avdulla said.
“He’s got that bit of residual [fitness] because he raced towards the end of the season. He’s drawn low as well, so he’ll get his chance. He’s at a mark where I think there’s still points in hand, so it’s nice to get the ride on him.”
Flow Water Flow, who warmed up for his seasonal reappearance with a strong third in a dirt trial last week, jumps from gate four in a competitive race to close the 10-event card.
Thunder Prince backs up in the Class Four Hing Wah Handicap (1,000m) after a horribly unlucky ninth last Sunday, with Avdulla blocked for clear running on the Jamie Richards-trained sprinter over the final 200m.
“He’s had two trials and then had a third trial up the straight the other day. It was his first time for a while having a look at the 1,000m, Jamie decided to put the blinkers on him and he drew the outside gate, which is always a positive,” Avdulla said.
“But sometimes at crunch time at the 300m when you need a run, you can just be a bit bottled up. I don’t think he would have won the race – he probably would have run third or fourth, but he just didn’t get his chance to close off.
“He switches from the outside draw to the inside draw which isn’t ideal, but we’ll have to work that out.”
Sea Diamond, Beauty Viva, California Waves, La Forza and Stay Cosmic are Avdulla’s other Sha Tin rides.
