It is entirely fitting that Jerry Chau’s breakout season began on a horse called Self Improvement and will end with a first Tony Cruz Award as Hong Kong’s leading local rider.
It was last September, on an overseas mission, that Chau steered the unheralded Sha Tin sprinter to victory in Seoul’s G3 Korea Sprint, denying a 1.3 favourite ridden by Japanese great Yutaka Take.
That result announced Chau to the racing world beyond Hong Kong, and it set the tone for a campaign that has delivered 47 winners* so far, an unassailable lead in the Tony Cruz Award and a place ensconced in the championship’s top five – with outright fourth, held by Karis Teetan on 48, within reach over the final three meetings of the season.
“It’s my first time winning it and it’s meaningful for me, because I’ve been riding in Hong Kong for six years already and haven’t won it yet, but it’s always been a goal of mine,” Chau said. “This season has been a great season for me and every local jockey wants to win the award.”
The award has been a long time coming. Chau rode 58 winners in his second season, only to be run down on the line by Vincent Ho late.
“I remember, about a month before the end, I thought I had the chance to win it. But on the last day Vincent got two winners and that was it,” he said with a laugh. “After that I graduated and then I didn’t have much to claim anymore, only the two-pound claim, and it was difficult to get support. But all along I wanted to win this award.”
Now Chau wants to go to another level again, and he will use his place on the Hong Kong team at next month’s Shergar Cup at Ascot – confirmed on Saturday alongside captain Vincent Ho and Luke Ferraris – to keep honing his craft.
“It will be the first time for me to ride in Europe and the Shergar Cup. It’s a milestone for me,” he said. “I really think European racing is so much different than Hong Kong, tempo-wise. I’m just looking forward to learning something different.”
The man the award is named for approves. Tony Cruz used annual riding trips to Europe and France to better himself during a legendary career in the saddle, and sees the Ascot assignment as the next step in Chau’s education.
“Matthew Chadwick went there and won it and he came back better,” Cruz said. “Of course it helps when you go and ride in a different place – but he is going to have to be sharp, and hopefully he gets a good result.
“But you should be learning and trying to improve every day of your life, wherever you are. It’s all about learning and improving. Every day is a learning day.
“Going there is a chance to learn how top jockeys go about things. Planning. Changing bad habits into good habits, and watching the best and learning from them. Jockeys learn from their own mistakes – watch replays, watch where you went wrong and ask what is happening, especially before you have the experience.”
Cruz points to a patience that can be rare in younger riders as the mark of Chau’s development.
“I like his style of riding and I like his mind – he is very cool and calm, he can wait in a race and he has the chance to be one of the best local riders ever,” Cruz said. “Winning my award is a great start.”
Self Improvement, it turns out, is not just a horse’s name. It is how Chau operates. Ask him what pushes him and the answer is disarmingly simple.
“I really love horse racing. That’s why I really focus on it,” he said. “I just love riding and that’s why I can keep focusing on it and keep improving.”
His study habits would please his mentor. Chau watches Zac Purton’s rides closely at home and reveres Ryan Moore from afar – “he’s my idol” – though he has spent years too shy to approach him at Sha Tin’s December internationals.
The overseas opportunities have kept coming, too, and it was while riding on a star-studded night in Riyadh that Moore finally broke the ice.
“But one day I saw him at the Saudi Cup, and he talked to me, and he said, ‘You’re riding good now,’ and it made me feel very proud. I was so happy.”
Chau’s obsession is with the parts of a race the public rarely notices. “The public, trainers or owners like to focus on the last 400m of a race, but I think the most important part is the first 200m or so – finding a position, then getting the horse to settle.”
Is he competitive by nature? Chau insists not, at least on the soccer pitch, where he admits he is “too kind” and prefers speed and skill to contact.
“But soccer is a hobby – just for fun, maybe that’s why I’m a little bit soft – and racing is my career,” he said. “I always try to win. I always try to improve.”
The season started with Self Improvement is not finished yet. ∎
*He has ridden 47 winners with three meetings to go at the time of publishing.
