Champion South African jockey Aldo Domeyer will call Sha Tin home with the 32-year-old signing on for the rest of the season with the Jockey Club.
Domeyer had a bad fall at Kenilworth on Tuesday but appears to have come out of it unscathed – but shaken and bruised.
The South China Morning Post confirms that Domeyer will go to Hong Kong looking to fill the sizeable hole left by the departure of Brazilian Silvestre de Sousa last month, who returned home to Britain to fulfil a retainer for King Power Racing.
Since de Sousa’s departure, champion jockeys Zac Purton and Joao Moreira have accounted for more than a third of all winners, saluting in 22 of the 63 races.
Domeyer comes from South Africa with a big reputation, having secured the his first Cape Champion Jockey title last year, earning him a spot in Singapore’s International Jockeys’ Challenge. He will begin his contract at Happy Valley on May 1.
His current strike rate in South Africa sits around 20 per cent, placing him among the best in the world with 980 winners to his name along with three Group One wins.
Hong Kong-based South African trainer Tony Millard had earlier this month publicly called on the Jockey Club to bolster the jockeys’ ranks because a lack of depth in top-line riders.