While it seems only a matter of time before James McDonald makes a permanent Hong Kong move, the star New Zealander has things pretty well sorted in the meantime.

Set to jet in to ride likely favourite Voyage Bubble in Sunday’s Group One Stewards’ Cup (1,600m), McDonald will be chasing a fifth Group One win on Hong Kong soil in the space of 13 months.

Since the 32-year-old snared the ride aboard Romantic Warrior for the Group Two Jockey Club Cup (2,000m) back in November 2022, McDonald has matched locally based pair Zac Purton and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu with four elite-level successes at Sha Tin.

To go with his three Group One wins aboard Romantic Warrior, McDonald also saluted with Lucky Sweynesse in last season’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup when Purton opted to partner California Spangle.

McDonald edged Purton 4-3 when it came to Group One wins aboard Hong Kong horses in 2023, with both snagging three at Sha Tin and McDonald gaining the edge thanks to his Group One Cox Plate (2,040m) success aboard Romantic Warrior at Moonee Valley in October.

Throw in the fact the Kiwi plundered more loot than six-time Hong Kong champion jockey Purton during his recent five-week stint at Sha Tin and it’s clear McDonald is enjoying the very best of both worlds.

While riding winning chances in most of Australia’s biggest races, he can zip in and out of Hong Kong as he pleases and throw in an extended stint when there’s nothing worth hanging around for Down Under.

Hong Kong trainers are clambering to secure the services of McDonald – he has a cracking book of nine rides this Sunday – and he could well start the year by again outpointing Purton in a Group One.

Purton will partner another rising star in Beauty Eternal, but if Voyage Bubble’s last-start Group One Hong Kong Mile second behind Golden Sixty is anything to go by, McDonald’s mount is going to be extremely hard to beat.

It certainly won’t end there for McDonald, either, with potential big-race rides aboard Howdeepisyourlove (Classic Mile) and Romantic Warrior (Gold Cup and QE II Cup) looming in the coming months.

Fine stings struggling Ting

He’s been far from flying so far this season, with only three winners from 38 meetings, and things went from bad to worse for Jimmy Ting Koon-ho when his whole Happy Valley hand was scratched on Wednesday.

After Ai One, Concerto and Alloy King were withdrawn following inadvertent treatment, Ting was fined HK$100,000 by stewards “after pleading guilty to a breach of Rule 51 as he failed to fulfil his responsibility under the rules by allowing the said horses to be treated”.

“Evidence was taken from Ting, the trainer of the said horses, [and the] assistant trainer and head lad allocated to Ting’s stable. After considering all of the evidence, the stewards were satisfied that the three horses were inadvertently treated with supplements in the form of oral pastes at approximately 7am [on race day] despite there being a number of measures in place to ensure that the horses were not treated,” stewards said.

While Dennis Yip Chor-hong was fined HK$20,000 after a similar offence led to the scratching of Top Top Tea on Tuesday, Ting’s slip-up could have a lasting impact on a stable already operating with just 34 horses – fewer than all but fellow cellar dweller Me Tsui Yu-sak.

Ting is already facing an uphill battle to reach the 18 winners required to meet the Jockey Club’s trainers’ benchmark and avoid a strike. He certainly doesn’t need to be giving owners additional reasons to take their horses elsewhere.