Fownes claims fifth HK title
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Caspar Fownes (right) and jockey Joao Moreira celebrating his fifth champion trainer’s title in Hong Kong at the 2025/26 season.
PHOTO: HKJC
HONG KONG – Caspar Fownes sealed a fifth Hong Kong trainers’ championship and Jerry Chau claimed the Tony Cruz Award for leading homegrown jockey at a pulsating Sha Tin finale race day on July 12.
With only nine races left to be run at the 2025/26 season finale at Happy Valley on July 15, Fownes holds an unassailable lead with 69 wins over Danny Shum (64) and Mark Newnham (60) and cannot be caught based on entries for the final meeting.
Fownes, 58, previously won the Hong Kong trainers’ championship in 2006/07, 2008/09, 2013/14 and 2020/21 and has a career tally of 1,235 Hong Kong wins.
“It’s massive, very relieved, happy – lots of love to my family for pushing me with this one,” said Fownes. “It’s special. It means a lot to me.
“It’s been hammer and tong the whole way and I’m looking forward to next season already – that’s how we roll.”
With 48 wins, Chau holds a 10-victory buffer over Vincent Ho (38) and was jubilant formally sealing victory in the race for the Tony Cruz Award.
He has ridden 221 winners in Hong Kong since returning to the city from a stint in Australia.
Ka Ying Rising was announced the Most Popular Horse, while Zac Purton received a fourth Most Popular Jockey crown.
Tony Cruz’s nine-year-old Beauty Joy ($50) earned a tilt at his seventh Hong Kong season after he landed the Class 1 Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Trophy Handicap (1,600m). HKJC
