Derek Leung soared into elite company during a meeting of milestones at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (8 October) by becoming only the fourth homegrown Hong Kong, China jockey to reach the 500-win landmark.<\/p>
Leung, 37, joined Tony Cruz (946), Vincent Ho (612) and Matthew Chadwick (569) as the city\u2019s only homegrown riders to post 500 or more wins when Frankie Lor\u2019s Regal Gem (128lb) triumphed by a short head over Never Too Soon (121lb).<\/p>
\u201cFirst, I\u2019d like to say thank you to The Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Apprentice School for looking after me and helping me with everything,\u201d Leung said. \u201cI need to thank all the trainers and owners who have always supported me. So many great experiences and opportunities I can\u2019t forget.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s good to make 500 winners and be the fourth local jockey (to reach that landmark). I hope I can keep it up and keep riding winners. Every winner is very important for me, especially the first winner and the first Group 1, and representing Hong Kong is unforgettable. I hope to keep improving myself and keep doing great.\u201d<\/p>
Leung\u2019s biggest successes in Hong Kong so far include winning the 2017 G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) aboard Beauty Generation and the 2024 G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) with Victor The Winner, as well as twice winning the Tony Cruz Award as Hong Kong\u2019s leading homegrown jockey in 2016\/17 and 2017\/18.<\/p>
Leung\u2019s achievement followed Angus Chung\u2019s effort to clock his 100th Hong Kong success.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6475″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Celebrating his best meeting of the 2025\/26 season with a treble, the legendary Cruz anointed Chung as a potential future star after the young jockey brought up his century of victories.<\/p>
As one of the most decorated figures in Hong Kong racing history with six jockey championships, two training crowns and a combined 2,522 wins \u2013 946 as a jockey and 1,576 as a trainer \u2013 Cruz said Chung has the attributes to reach the top after his victory on Parents\u2019 Love (133lb) in the Class 4 Man Yiu Handicap (1000m).<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a young jockey with a bright future, I believe he\u2019s improving all the time,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cWhatever I say, he always remembers \u2013 I don\u2019t have to repeat what I say \u2013 and he\u2019s one kid who\u2019s learning and improving all the time and he\u2019s very keen.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s spot on with the morning trackwork and never one time is he late, so I see a lot of potential. He wants to be successful in Hong Kong as a local jockey and I want him to accomplish what I have done in my life.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6474″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Chung credited the bulk of his success to his mentor after Parents\u2019 Love led most of the way in the first leg of a running treble for Cruz.<\/p>
\u201cTony is my main support \u2013 probably half my winners have come from him. He has taught me quite a lot of things. If not for him, I cannot get in that race so I appreciate people who support me,\u201d Chung said.<\/p>
\u201cParents\u2019 Love had an easy lead and finished very well. He gave me full confidence and I didn\u2019t have to worry about a horse going past me.\u201d<\/p>
A product of the Hong Kong Jockey Club\u2019s Apprentice Jockeys\u2019 School, Chung rode 76 winners in South Australia from 2021 when attached to trainer Jon O\u2019Connor\u2019s stable before returning to Hong Kong for the 2022\/23 season.<\/p>
Chung showed the benefit of his overseas stint with 46 wins in the 2023\/24 season to claim his first Tony Cruz Award.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019m very grateful to have such a good master and to stay with him (Cruz),\u201d Chung said. \u201cIt\u2019s my fourth season and I\u2019m glad that I can get 100 wins, but I\u2019m trying to get more.\u201d<\/p>
Cruz combined with another of his proteges, Chadwick, to land the Class 3 HKEX Cup Handicap (1650m) with Viva Graciousness (116lb) before teaming with Jerry Chau to score with Flying Wrote (124lb) in the first section of the Class 4 Li Yuen Handicap (1200m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6473″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Mark Newnham extended his lead at the top of the trainers\u2019 championship when Lunar Dash (131lb) finished solidly to land the second section of the Class 4 Li Yuen Handicap (1200m) for Zac Purton.<\/p>
With 10 wins, Newnham leads David Hayes (eight), Caspar Fownes (seven), Danny Shum (seven) and Cruz (seven) and hopes Lunar Dash can continue to develop.<\/p>
\u201cHe showed above average ability from the start.\u00a0His trials have always been good,\u201d the Australian said. \u201cHe\u2019s maturing slowly. Through\u00a0the race, he was good, but\u00a0when he joined the lead, he still got a little bit lost and wanted to wander out,\u00a0so he\u2019s got improvement to come. I just think that it\u2019s going to take a while for him to realise his potential, but he\u2019s certainly got enough.\u201d<\/p>
Purton completed a race-to-race double when Francis Lui\u2019s Mighty Steed (129lb) prevailed in the first section of the Class 4 Man Cheung Handicap (1650m) before David Hall-trained Kyrus Dragon (124lb) snared the first section of the Class 3 Harbour View Handicap (1200m) under Karis Teetan.<\/p>
Winless in his first 24 Hong Kong starts, Shum\u2019s Hakka Radiance (135lb) made it two victories in a row by landing the Class 5 Pedder Handicap (1800m) before Manfred Man\u2019s Sturdy Ruby (135lb) notched his third course and distance triumph with success in the second section of the Class 4 Man Cheung Handicap (1650m) under a patient ride from Ho.<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (12 October).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6472″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Derek Leung soared into elite company during a meeting of milestones at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (8 October) by becoming only the fourth homegrown Hong Kong, China jockey to reach the 500-win landmark.Leung, 37, joined Tony Cruz (946), Vincent Ho (612) and Matthew Chadwick (569) as the city\u2019s only homegrown… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6470"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6476,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6470\/revisions\/6476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}