'Sorry, not sorry’: Nichola Yuen beats Purton again to reach 20 Hong Kong wins

Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu is making a habit of spoiling Zac Purton's afternoons at Sha Tin, and the in-form apprentice has no intention of apologizing for it.

Yuen got the better of the champion jockey again in a tight finish to Sunday's last race, driving Aeroinvincible home ahead of Purton on Circuit Champion to complete her first Sha Tin treble. 

"The last race was very, very tight. I thought I'd lost," she said. "I was riding against Zac Purton again and I beat him again – sorry, but not sorry! It's happened quite a few times since I've been here."

The treble came four days after she rode her first winner at Happy Valley. She opened Sunday's account on Causeway King for her boss Ricky Yiu Poon-fai then combined twice with Pierre Ng Pang-chi, first on 13-to-one outsider Victor The Winner and then on Aeroinvincible, which also sealed the Jockey Challenge for the apprentice. 

It has been a long road to this point. Yuen joined the Hong Kong Jockey Club's trainee program in 2016, riding trackwork for Jimmy Ting, Ricky Yiu, Cody Mo and Manfred Man, before stints in South Australia, where she rode more than 60 winners, New Zealand and South Africa. She won on PI Legend on her Hong Kong debut on April 1 and finished her rookie season with 14 wins.

But the elevation from Hong Kong debut, to riding at Happy Valley, and now the 20-win threshold that reduces her claim to seven pounds, has been a whirlwind ride for the 26-year-old.

"It all happened so suddenly. I didn't expect it today – I thought maybe in a month or something – but I didn't expect to go straight down to seven pounds in one meeting," she said. "A treble is something I never expected in Hong Kong. It's a very competitive place."

Yuen is hoping the reduced allowance does not change how trainers see her.

"Hopefully the trainers don't feel like I'm different now because I don't feel any different," she said. "Seven pounds, 10 pounds – it's only three pounds between them, so hopefully trainers and owners keep giving me support in the future.

"I'm tired as hell. I had eight rides today and it was so hot, but it's really great to have a treble."

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓