Nearby, Didham Is The Top Dog

The Age

Friday December 10, 2004

ANDREW EDDY

FOR much of the past seven years, John Didham has been the dominant jockey in the rapidly emerging racing outpost of Macau.

But on Sunday, when the world's racing stars come together for the nearby Hong Kong International meeting, his will be just another face in the crowd.

For Didham, to ride at the meeting now viewed as the biggest and best in the world, is a feat in itself ? Hong Kong racing is so tough to break into that despite his supremacy in Macau, Didham has ridden just once at Sha Tin in a Macau-Hong Kong jockeys' challenge.

On Sunday, he partners Macau's sprinting champion Natural Blitz in the Hong Kong Sprint (1000 metres) against Silent Witness and Yell. It is a rare opportunity to showcase his skills on the international stage for the threetime Macau premiership winner.

Didham, 35, makes a most comfortable living out of riding in Macau with its burgeoning prizemoney and low tax rates, but despite the short distance from Hong Kong, racing in Macau is still in its infancy.

But that may not be the case for long. In the seven years since he moved to Macau, Didham has seen a world of change. Poor horses have been replaced by groupstandard gallopers and prizemoney has grown rapidly, as have the facilities."

It's very much like Hong Kong in that there is a group of about 1000 horses and the season runs for about 11 months from the end of September to the end of August and by that time, you are really staggering," Didham said from Hong Kong this week."

The horses are improving each year. We have group horses like Royal Code, Winestock, Dantana and Sarson Trail racing there now and many of the horses that are being purchased are well-bred types who sell for $300,000 or $400,000, so the quality is getting so much better."

We used to get horses over here that have come off maiden wins at places like Bairnsdale, but not any more."

Didham makes good money in Macau by taking about 14 rides at the two meetings each week. "They (Macau) have double the riding fee at home (jockeys receive about $120 a ride in Australia) and jockeys are allowed 10 per cent of prizemoney from a winning ride, where you only get five per cent in Australia."

The average prizemoney per race in Macau is $A52,000 and we'd have nine or 10 races on the Tuesday night and as many as 11 or 12 races on either Saturday or Sunday, depending on when Hong Kong race."

Didham is from a famous racing family. His brother Paul is Racing Victoria's official starter and his father Midge won the 1970 Melbourne Cup on Baghdad Note.

Although he would love to secure a riding contract in Hong Kong, Didham said he was more than happy to continue in Macau."

Depending on injuries, form and the will to keep going, I could see myself riding here for another five or 10 years, hopefully."

Didham said the Macau lifestyle was now similar to that of Hong Kong and he said his wife Andrea and two boys Michael (five) and Patrick (two) were enjoying their time there despite missing many aspects of Australian life."

It is very compact and everyone lives in apartments on top of each other, but the restaurants are great and so is the shopping. You do miss having a backyard and big parks or forests, but that's what makes coming home all that more special when you do get the chance."

As for Natural Blitz, Didham said that he was easily the best sprinter in Macau and had run times that would suggest he would be competitive anywhere in the world."

He is a very fast horse and has beaten the likes of Dantana by five or six lengths and has run a 1000- metre record of 55.4 seconds in Macau. He flies out of the gates and can lead by two or three lengths after just 50 metres and he can keep that going for 1000 metres."

Natural Blitz, not to be confused with Cranbourne trainer Doug Harrison's galloper, raced five times in Perth when known as Shout From Maroof. He won two races and was runner-up in the group 2 Karrakatta Plate before being sold to Macau

© 2004 The Age

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