Kei Chiong celebrates victory with trainer Derek Cruz (photo: HKJC)
Kei Chiong Ka-kei made history on Sha Tin’s 10 April 2016 card, winning 4 races from 8 opportunities on the day’s 11 race card. It is the most ever-recorded at one meeting by a female jockey in Hong Kong, and the most by any of Hong Kong’s 10-pound claimers in at least the last decade.
Chiong’s wins came in races two, four, six and eight and she scored winners for three different trainers. Chiong’s run started with Friends Forever (116lb) for trainer Manfred Man in the 1400m Dengshikou Handicap before Supreme Flight (114lb) obliged in the 1200m Dongcheng District Handicap, starting a double for trainer Tony Millard. Chiong charted a lonely mid-course path aboard Gallant Rock (123lb) down the straight 1000-metre track in the Dongzhimen Handicap to notch her third win of the day. Her meeting was capped with a victory in the day’s feature, the Beijing Clubhouse Anniversary Cup, aboard Derek Cruz-trained McQueen (120lb).
Chiong very nearly earned a fifth victory in race ten when Enormous Honour was denied a short head by Ho In One, ridden by South Africa’s Gavin Lerena. By the end of a rainy afternoon, Chiong’s seasonal tally jumped to 13 wins from 142 rides.
Felix Coetzee mentors HKJC apprentices Kei Chiong and Jack Wong
Kei Chiong was indentured as an apprentice jockey on 22 February 2012. She gained experience in New Zealand with Matamata trainer Graham Richardson and Plymouth handler Allan Sharrock, finishing her New Zealand stint with a record of 44 wins from 453 rides and a win strike rate of 8.25%. Chiong began her Hong Kong career in September 2015 and was apprenticed to trainer Francis Lui for the 2015/16 season.
Chiong is the first female apprentice jockey to compete in Hong Kong since Carol Yu Wing-sze retired in May 2000, and alongside fellow apprentice Jack Wong Ho-nam, she has been mentored by Felix Coetzee since September 2015.
