Vincent Ho Chak-yiu has become the first jockey to be named one of Hong Kong's Ten Outstanding Young Persons, capping a career that has brought him more than 600 winners and three serious comebacks from injury.
The award, announced on Tuesday, recognizes the 36-year-old's achievements in racing, his drive for world-class excellence and his contribution to society.
It is the first time in the 54 editions of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Selection that the honor has gone to someone from the racing industry.
"The Hong Kong Jockey Club is delighted to congratulate Vincent on this well-deserved honor," said Andrew Harding, the Jockey Club's executive director of racing.
"Vincent's journey is defined by his resilience and never-give-up attitude, as well as a constant desire to learn, improve and better himself."
Ho started the 2026-27 season on 648 Hong Kong wins, making him one of only 11 jockeys to pass 600 winners in the city.
That tally places him second only to the legendary Tony Cruz for the most winners by a graduate of the Jockey Club's Apprentice Jockeys' School.
Ho rode in dressage as a youngster before entering the school, which sent him to New Zealand, where he rode 44 winners under leading trainer Lance O'Sullivan.
He was Hong Kong's champion apprentice in 2010-11 and has won the Tony Cruz Award as the leading homegrown jockey four times.
His name is most closely tied to Golden Sixty, the champion he rode in every one of his races, winning the Hong Kong Derby, three Hong Kong Mile titles and three Champions Mile crowns together.
Ho also won the 2021 QEII Cup on Japan's Loves Only You, during a 2020-21 season in which he collected five Group One victories.
In 2023, he became the first homegrown jockey to win the International Jockeys' Championship, just four days before steering Golden Sixty to his third Hong Kong Mile.
"This is best exemplified by his partnership with Hong Kong racing's former champion Golden Sixty, and how he has returned to the saddle stronger from serious injuries," Harding said.
Those injuries have tested Ho throughout his career, beginning as an apprentice when a fall left him with a broken left forearm that needed a plate and screws to repair.
In July 2023, a race fall at Niigata in Japan left him with a fractured T5 vertebra, a broken rib, concussion and damage to his lungs.
The Jockey Club flew him home on a medical flight, and he was back riding for the season opener at Sha Tin less than two months after the fall.
Ho was sidelined again after a fall in January 2024, returning three months later to ride a double at Sha Tin ahead of Golden Sixty's Champions Day bid.
The most serious setback came at Sha Tin in February 2025, when his mount Oldtown clipped heels and fell, leaving him in intensive care with a brain bleed and fractures to his neck and shoulder.
He spent about five months away from riding and used trips to Northern Farm in Japan, where Golden Sixty now lives, to get back in the saddle.
"Even though the scans are clear from concussion, it was a traumatic brain injury, so symptoms can stay," Ho told Idol Horse during his recovery.
He returned to win the Hong Kong Classic Mile on Little Paradise in 2026 and captained Team Hong Kong to second place at the Shergar Cup at Ascot in August.
"His pursuit of world-class excellence, together with his utmost professionalism, rigid discipline and highest integrity, have made Vincent a role model for young people and an outstanding ambassador for Hong Kong racing," Harding said.
"Vincent has shown that lasting success comes not only from talent, but also from perseverance, humility and a commitment to doing things the right way."
