Nichola Yuen is back in her hometown as Hong Kong’s new apprentice jockey, preparing for the spotlight of her Sha Tin debut on April 1 with all the anticipation and scrutiny the day will bring.
And it’s all happening for Yuen under the tutelage of Ricky Yiu who knows all too well the opportunity and the challenge in front of her.
Yuen, 25, is making her way along the aspirational path that Hong Kong legends and stars have trodden before, among them the great Tony Cruz and Yiu himself, both of whom were in the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s first apprentice school intake more than 50 years ago.
It’s not a path for everyone, though: plenty of Hong Kong-licensed apprentice jockeys have stepped off after a couple of seasons or barely more, when the wins dry up and the only rides are the longshots no one else wants.
Yiu already knows Yuen. She was in his stable for part of her pre-training, learning to ride trackwork and barrier trials, before she left in November 2021 for four years of overseas development, riding as an apprentice in South Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. She bagged 61, 10 and seven wins in those respective jurisdictions: 78 wins from a total of 875 race rides across three countries
Yiu wanted Yuen back as part of his stable operation, keen to be given the opportunity to further develop a rider he hopes will make the grade on the intense two-track circuit.
“She was with me before she went abroad,” Yiu told Idol Horse. “She is friends with the staff, we all like her. I had to apply for her to be my apprentice and she said she would love to be my apprentice, so it worked both ways.
“There were six applications from other trainers, but they selected me to be her master. The chemistry is good. She is a very polite lady: punctual.”
That’s all a good start for any young jockey entering an arena which puts them under what feels like an ultra-magnified microscope, at first only during the weekend fixture at Sha Tin, then two times a week for 46 weeks of the year: scrutiny is intense.
Most HKJC trainees are never called up from their overseas apprentice stint to become a licensed Hong Kong apprentice – they return as track riders on the route to assistant trainer and perhaps one day trainer, or they might try to go it alone overseas – it’s a tough gig to get.
And every apprentice still has a lot to prove when they do join the Hong Kong roster, regardless of what they achieved on foreign race tracks.
Some who get that call home still slip out of the jockey’s room altogether after all too short a time riding the pressure-packed theatres of Sha Tin and Happy Valley. And as Yiu points out, you can never tell how they’ll get on until you see them in the thick of the action.
“She rides well in the morning, but I haven’t really seen how she rides in a race. Trackwork is fine, but in races, we have a lot to find out,” he said.
Yiu’s last apprentice was Dicky Lui, licensed at the start of the 2012-13 season and denied a renewal in July 2015, leaving an opening for Kei Chiong to slide in – Chiong was a brief sensation apprenticed to Francis Lui, but retired due to a finger injury after two and a half years.
Chiong, the most successful female jockey in Hong Kong history is now a bloodstock agent and Lui is assistant trainer to Jimmy Ting.
Yuen is the second female to receive an apprentice licence since Chiong quit, the other being Britney Wong whose path is similar to Yuen’s and who had 18 winners in her first Hong Kong campaign, has six this term, but has been on the long-term injured list since November.
Yiu is hoping Yuen can follow the lead of Jerry Chau, another rider he mentored prior to their departure for overseas experience. Chau was apprenticed to Douglas Whyte instead of Yiu on his return to Hong Kong.
Yiu said missing out on the opportunity to be Chau’s ‘master’ again when he returned was “very disappointing.” Chau’s relationship with Whyte broke down, though, and the jockey and the boss parted ways.
For some apprentices, that kind of a split would have been calamitous, but it seemed to act as a stimulus for Chau, forcing him to push out of his comfort zone and since then his ability to continue developing has seen him become a ‘top five’ rider.
“Talent,” Yiu said, is the key to being a successful apprentice, “It’s a gift.”
But talent alone won’t bring long-term success.
“The way that Jerry Chau is doing is a little bit surprising, because when he was an up-and-coming rider with me, he was good, but not this good, he is picking up skills,” Yiu explained.
“When he came back to Hong Kong he started copying some of these good riders. He is riding really well, isn’t he? But I never predicted he would be this good – I honestly thought he was an OK jockey, but he has improved out of sight.”
And putting aside the prodigious, sensational talent of a teenage Matthew Chadwick back in the 2008-09 season, improving out of sight is what every apprentice must do through their first three or four seasons. But that process will not be rushed.
“We will take her slowly but surely,” Yiu said. “I have experience.”
Yiu recalled a previous apprentice he had before Lui who he described as “a good rider.” His name was Roger Yu, who went on to become a jockey in Macau after problems on and off the track ended his Hong Kong career.
“He caused a lot of interference, he was too reckless,” Yiu said.
A reminder that riding smart, riding with managed confidence, and keeping on the right side of the stewards is as much a fundamental to apprentice success as the essential element of talent. ∎
