Hong Kong’s newest apprentice Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu has made an emphatic early statement at Sha Tin with a riding double, but trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai says he will keep developing his indentured rider slowly and methodically despite her flying start.
Yuen, 25, partnered Flashing Fighter to win Race 5 and then Fortune Link in Race 9 – the first two winners she and Yiu have combined for since the apprentice returned home to join his stable. The double lifted her tally to four wins from just three meetings and 18 rides into her Hong Kong career, a healthy strike rate in a jurisdiction where apprentices often wait weeks for their first success.
It is exactly the kind of start Yiu wanted for the rider he fought to secure as his apprentice, but the veteran trainer is determined not to let the early flurry dictate the pace of her education.
“I am happy about getting our first winner together. It happened a bit earlier than I expected, but they will keep coming,” Yiu said. “For the time being, she’s been restricted to six or seven rides at a meeting, so maybe I’m going to allow her to ride more than six or seven and get her to eight or nine. I’ve got to communicate with the apprentice school, the instructors and masters and all that, and hopefully I can pick more good rides for her.”
Yiu has said from the outset that Yuen would be brought along “slowly but surely,” drawing his experience mentoring young riders, including Jerry Chau Chun-lok, who has since pushed into Hong Kong’s top five. Yuen spent part of her pre-training in Yiu’s stable before heading overseas in November 2021 for four years of development in South Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, returning with 78 winners from 875 rides across the three jurisdictions.
Both of Yuen’s wins came from up on the speed – a common formula for apprentices, especially when they still have the benefit of a 10-pound claim.
“They are a good type of horse for a young apprentice, these front-running types, they can lead, sit second, and it makes things easier for her,” Yiu said after Yuen’s aggressive ride brought Flashing Fighter across from gate 12 to lead. “You know, this time we didn’t have a good draw, but we still managed to hit the front. As I said to her, this horse is very green and is scared of everything.
“It’s a horse that will love to go to the front and be chased by the other horses, rather than him doing the chasing. So I really wanted her to lead and it makes a hell of a difference. It was even a better ride than her last winner.”
Beyond the two winners for her master, Yuen finished equal first with Australian Brenton Avdulla in the Jockey Challenge with two wins, a second and a third from her six rides – a complete meeting that underlined the potential Yiu spotted in her years ago.
“Now I can say I am pretty optimistic that she can keep doing well,” Yiu said.
Yuen is one of two female apprentices on the current Hong Kong roster alongside Britney Wong Po-ni, and is yet to be licensed to ride at Happy Valley.
