Michael Cox
There won't be any surprises for Britney Wong Po-ni when she gets her riding instructions in the pre-race parade ring before her eight races on the Sha Tin dirt tonight.
"Very simple, jump and run!" Wong told The Standard before breaking into her trademark smile at trackwork yesterday morning.
"So many of my opportunities so far have been on the dirt and they have been straightforward and honest horses. Easy, jump and run horses that are clean out of the starting gates and try their best.
"My job is just to make sure they jump clean, get to the front and keep on rolling. It seems the dirt track suits me at the moment so hopefully we can keep it going."
Wong was the center of media attention at morning trackwork yesterday courtesy of being the leading rider on Sha Tin's all-weather track through 56 meetings of her rookie season.
Heading into tonight's nine-race card, seven of the 25-year-old's 12 wins have been on the dirt track and she has the highest strike rate of any rider on the surface at a lofty 18 percent.
Not only are all of Wong's rides tonight front-runners, she has employed 'catch-me-if-you-can" tactics on each of her seven dirt winners previously and all but two of her winners overall have led.
Wong can see the danger of being pigeon-holed as a front-running specialist and acknowledges the need to develop her skills in time. But she can also see the upside in the opportunities she has been given and knows simple instructions come with the territory of being Hong Kong's only '10-pound claimer.'
"Obviously I don't want to be just a one-way rider that just leads, but if it is working for me at the moment I am happy to keep it going," she said.
"I gain experience in time. I am grateful for the opportunity and I am looking forward to riding some horses that have a different riding style."
Although Wong has had some of the usual first-season growing pains of any apprentice, she is proud of what she has achieved so far, particularly as the city's first full-time female rider since KK Chiong Ke-kei retired in 2018.
"I don't usually point out that I am a female rider, but I think being a new girl apprentice in such a highly demanding place, I think I am going okay," she said.
On her rides tonight, Wong was excited to be teaming with her boss David Hall on last-start winner Natural High (R5 No 3) and stablemate Fun N Glory (R7 No 11).
"Fun N Glory has been a promising horse that has been running close but it has been hard to get a win on him," Wong said. "But he has been running placings and not far away and he has barrier one. He is another jump and lead horse, so hopefully we can break through for a win."
michael.cox@singtaonewscorp.com
