Sometimes a gamble pays off, sometimes it doesn’t, and then sometimes it fails but a card or two fall your way anyway. That’s where Jerry Chau finds himself as he looks beyond Saturday’s Shergar Cup at Ascot to the Korea Cup meeting in Seoul on September 6, where he will ride Hong Kong challengers Beauty Waves and Romantic Thor.
Chau’s biggest career win came in Seoul last year when he partnered another Hong Kong horse, Self Improvement, to victory in the G3 Korea Sprint. And he might have been booked for the same gelding again had he not taken a failed gamble on riding another horse, which he had hoped would fulfil another ambition to ride a big winner in Japan.
“I noticed Dennis Yip wanted to send Fast Network to Japan so I asked for the opportunity to ride him there,” Chau told Idol Horse.
He had ridden Fast Network in a barrier trial at Conghua in January and felt the Group 1-placed gelding would be suited by the fast pace you get in Japanese races. But the G2 Centaur Stakes, Fast Network’s lead-in to the G1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama, is on the same day as Korea’s big races.
“On the other side,” Chau said, “Self Improvement’s owner Mr Wong and his trainer Manfred (Man) told me he was going to Korea again. I really wanted to ride in Japan though, so I said to them I need to wait a little bit to see if I can go.
“When Dennis told me he had booked Damian Lane for Fast Network – they chose to get a jockey with a lot of riding experience in Japan – it was too late for me to ride Manfred’s horse, the ride had gone, so I asked for the other horses, Beauty Waves and Romantic Thor.”
Despite missing out on an opportunity to gain new experience riding in one of Japan’s big races, Chau is pleased with how things have turned out.
“I’m really excited about Korea,” he said. “I really think Beauty Waves has a good chance. He’s raced once on the all-weather track in Hong Kong and he has trialled very well on it, so I think he handles the dirt. But there is a bit of a difference between the all-weather track at Sha Tin and the sand in Korea. He’ll also have to handle the left turn, so it’s a big challenge for him, but he has a bit of class and I hope he can handle it.”
“I rode Romantic Thor last time in Hong Kong, in Happy Valley,” he continued, “and I felt like he’s a real stayer type. I think he can handle the Korea Cup because I think the 1800 metres will be fine. The new surface, the sand track, might just freshen him and he can have more early speed and then stay on.”
Tony Cruz-trained Beauty Waves is a Group 3 winner in Hong Kong who has regularly faced the best sprinters there, including the great Ka Ying Rising; the Danny Shum-trained Romantic Thor won the G3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap over 2400m at Sha Tin in May and won the Listed Dee Stakes at Chester, England two years earlier, when ridden by Ryan Moore.
Chau will be up against Moore this weekend when he competes at the Shergar Cup jockey challenge, as part of the first Hong Kong team at the event, alongside Vincent Ho and Luke Ferraris. Moore was a late confirmation this week to ride for the Great Britain and Ireland team.
“I was watching the rider list and I’m very happy Ryan Moore is joining the Shergar Cup,” Chau said. “And Dylan (Browne McMonagle) as well, he was in Hong Kong for a few months so I was riding with him and he’s a very talented young jockey, he’s very strong and very smart. I’m really looking forward to riding against them.”
Chau has already had a few days in London – his first visit to England – checking out sights like Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and riding the huge London Eye ferris wheel, but he has prepared for his first time riding at Ascot with a few relaxing days in Naples, Italy and will fly back to England to arrive at Ascot Thursday evening.
“I’ve been watching many race replays of Ascot, it’s a big track and very different from Hong Kong, the racing pattern is different,” he said.
“It’s very amazing for me to be part of this, I didn’t think before that I’d get selected to represent team Hong Kong. Now Vincent, me and Luke, I’m just very excited now and I think Vincent as a captain, he will guide me and Luke in a good way, to share the experience he has from riding here before, and get a good result.”
A win at Ascot in the Shergar Cup would be a great summer bonus for a rider who at 26 has already experienced the drop-off from apprentice sensation into a mid-table battler. But last season he was back on the up with 48 wins, fifth in the title race and the recipient of the Tony Cruz Award as Hong Kong’s leading homegrown jockey.
“When I won my first overseas Group race in Korea, that gave me confidence to take back to Hong Kong,” he said. “I asked every trainer for support and they were happy to give me a try, so I’m very happy I could win for 14 different trainers. The season went quite smoothly.
“The overseas experience I had already helped me to calm myself down and gain more confidence. I just love riding horses, and I really love working with them, so every time I race I learn something more.”
He’s happy with how the cards have fallen, and he believes riding at Ascot and going again to Korea will help his development as a jockey both at home and on the world stage. ∎
