Hong Kong Horse of the Year Good Ba Ba has been removed from the stables of Andreas Schutz and will now be trained by Derek Cruz.

Schutz is currently on holidays in Germany and knew nothing of the transfer.  He won 10 of 16 starts domestic starts with the American-bred gelding.

Owner John Yuen Se-kit made headlines last year when he sacked jockey Olivier Doleuze and replaced him with Christophe Soumillon after Good Ba Ba finished third in the G1 Cathay Pacific International Mile at Sha Tin.

Yuen created some sort of record several years ago when his galloper Run And Win changed trainers 8 times in a 46-start career.

South African Tony Millard was one of Run And Win’s trainers and he selected Good Ba Ba for Yuen at the Hong Kong International Sale.  However, the gelding was transferred to Alex Wong prior to his debut.  Wong won the Champion Griffin award with Good Ba Ba before losing him to Schutz in November 2006.

The Lear Fan gelding became the highest-rated Hong Kong galloper of all time with Schutz.  He became the first horse to clean sweep Hong Kong’s major mile races and he also defeated Sacred Kingdom in the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) in March 2008.

After winning his second G1 Hong Kong Mile last December, Good Ba Ba was raised to an official rating of 124.  That elevated him to a Top 10 world-wide ranking.

Good Ba Ba has accrued over HK$48 million from a 23: 15-5-2 race-record placing fifth among all-time Hong Kong prizemoney earners behind Vengeance of Rain, Viva Pataca, Silent Witness and Bullish Luck.