The official word.....
Daniel Nikolic released from Club Jockey's agreement
12 September 2007
The Licensing Committee has, by circulation of paper, agreed to a request from Club Jockey Daniel Nikolic that he be released from his agreement to ride with the Club with immediate effect.
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At least the real story came out - to some degree - on SCMP.....
Poisonous culture hangs Nikolic out to dry
ON THE RAILS, with MURRAY BELL
The demise of Danny Nikolic as a club jockey is a tale of the intrigue that lies behind Hong Kong racing - a startling reminder of all that is good and bad in this exciting, crazy city and how western influences may change many things, but domestic culture escapes largely unscathed.
Nikolic found his position untenable through circumstances out of his control. He gave a big-name horse a perfect ride - and we mean perfect in every sense of the term - but when it finished fourth the silent assassins moved in.
He "held" it, the gossips said. But true to the culture, no one would personally put that proposition to Nikolic himself.
The week after Sacred Kingdom was beaten by rising star Medic Power in course record time in June, Nikolic knew he was in grave risk of being kicked off the horse, but had no idea how bad it would get.
Trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fie would not talk to him. Yiu has been here a lot longer than Nikolic and has seen the worst of it himself. We are talking about the original trainer of Fairy King Prawn, Electronic Unicorn and Bullish Luck.
Yiu had won the Hong Kong Sprint with Fairy King Prawn so he could scarcely be accused of underachieving. But he lost the best horse in town to Ivan Allan.
So, when the natives became restless after the defeat of the previously unbeaten Sacred Kingdom, you could scarcely blame Yiu if he fell strangely silent amid the gossip and innuendo surrounding Nikolic.
After all, Yiu understands the culture as only a three-time victim can, and expected the owners would want someone to punish for the defeat. Given a choice of himself or the jockey, he probably felt he had "no choice" than to cut the jockey adrift
When Nikolic returned from holidays and began riding work, the deed had been done. But still - again, true to the culture - Nikolic had not been told. Outstanding French jockey Gerald Mosse had accepted an offer from the owners to take over the riding of Sacred Kingdom and gave Nikolic a friendly call to update him. Different culture entirely.
This column can say without fear of contradiction that rumours of Nikolic having allegedly pulled up Sacred Kingdom reached the ears of the stipendiary stewards, who immediately pulled out the videos to see what, if anything, they had missed.
There it was, a two-horse race on paper, with main danger Medic Power running third on the fence and Nikolic was tactically perfect in positioning Sacred Kingdom up outside him. That Medic Power won easily should demonstrate this was the ideal place to be, yet this column hears that convoluted thinking has it the other way, as "evidence" that the horse was "held".
Nikolic said he was concerned going into the race that Sacred Kingdom had peaked for the season and had expressed those views to Yiu beforehand. Colleague Alan Aitken and I also sensed it and tipped Medic Power to win the race with his five-pound weight advantage.
The stewards know they have no place responding to rumours, which owners would only deny anyway, but they all feel badly for Nikolic.
When he returned to riding from the summer break, most of the local trainers for whom he rode last year told him they didn't want to put him on, even in trackwork. The poison had taken root.
The gossip had been repeated until it became accepted fact, while the real facts were there plainly for all to see, if only they'd look. And all that work Nikolic put into the education and steady development of a raw talent called Sacred Kingdom, work that gave the owners such a bountiful harvest, was dismissed without even a phone call.
When locals are asked to explain this thinking, the answer is "saving face". But for those of us brought up in a different culture, we may never understand how an unjustified character assassination gives or saves face for anyone.
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