1000 wins for Francis Lui as Speed Dragon takes G3 January Cup

Francis Lui Kin-wai reached a historic milestone at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, becoming only the sixth trainer in Hong Kong racing history to saddle 1,000 winners after Speed Dragon captured the G3 January Cup Handicap.

The victory placed Lui alongside John Moore, John Size, Tony Cruz, Caspar Fownes and Ricky Yiu on the all-time wins list — a significant marker in one of the world’s most competitive racing environments.

Now 65, Lui has been part of Hong Kong racing for more than five decades. A graduate of The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Apprentice Jockeys’ School, he rode 36 winners between 1975 and 1982 before moving into training, first as an assistant and then as a licensed trainer from the 1996-97 season.

His career has spanned long periods of steady accumulation and elite success, most notably through Golden Sixty, a 10-time Group 1 winner and one of the most accomplished horses in Hong Kong racing history. Lui has also won two BMW Hong Kong Derby titles — with Golden Sixty (2020) and Cap Ferrat (2024) — and claimed the 2023-24 Hong Kong Trainers’ Championship.

Needing two winners on the programme to reach the milestone, Lui struck earlier in the night with Winning Money in the Class 4 Monaco Handicap before Speed Dragon sealed the moment in the January Cup.

“I feel very happy,” Lui said. “It’s a big number and it’s not easy. Golden Sixty is special, but every winner to me is very important — and for the owners.”

Looking ahead, Lui suggested Speed Dragon would continue to be campaigned across both circuits.

“It all depends on the programme,” he said. “But I think he’ll race at both Happy Valley and Sha Tin.”

For winning jockey Lyle Hewitson, the January Cup marked his first Group race win in Hong Kong.

“I got shuffled back to last on the turn, but that was where they picked up the speed,” he said. “I got a track into it and he quickened so well. Before the gap had any chance to close, he was through and he won with authority.”