Alex Lai Hoi-wing is hoping to follow in the footsteps of former jockey Ben So Tik-hung as he looks forward to joining David Hayes as a senior work rider next season.
After working under Hayes following his retirement from race riding at the end of the 2019-20 season, So has earned himself a promotion and will be Danny Shum Chap-shing’s assistant trainer (AT) next season.
Lai is hopeful of following a similar path.
“I’m looking forward to going straight into the stables. My title is senior work rider for David Hayes. I will try to follow Ben So and maybe one day become an AT,” Lai said.
First though, Lai will attempt to finish his career in the saddle on a high across the final three meetings of the 2022-23 season.
It’s been a low-key campaign for Lai, with only 46 rides and no wins, but he will get at least two chances to add to his 283 Hong Kong victories.
Lai rides Podium for Francis Lui Kin-wai in Sunday’s Class Four The Chow Silver Plate (1,600m) at Sha Tin, but it is Travel Golf for Dennis Yip Chor-hong next Wednesday night that he hopes could provide him with a fairy-tale farewell.
“Everything is just normal. I’m just doing my best to finish strongly,” said Lai, whose last win came aboard The Best Hero for Peter Ho Leung in September 2021.
“I’ll try to do my best on Podium, but he would need to improve a lot. I have one next Wednesday for Dennis Yip. I think he’s got a chance. I haven’t got anything for next Sunday yet.”
What Lai does have, however, are the everlasting memories of his greatest career achievement – his victory aboard $32 chance Ultra Fantasy in the Group One Sprinters Stakes (1,200m) in Japan in 2010.
“It’s my best memory. It was just amazing. I didn’t think my horse was a chance, so for him to win was just amazing,” said Lai, who has been a member of the Hong Kong riding ranks since 2004.
Lai is one of three jockeys hanging up their whips at the end of this season, along with Victor Wong Chun and Jack Wong Ho-nam.
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Neither of that pair has a ride at Sha Tin on Sunday, and – like Lai – there are certainly not trainers lining up to try and send them out on a high.
Since the Jockey Club’s licensing committee confirmed the retirement of the trio on June 16, Lai has had six rides, Jack Wong has had two and Victor Wong four.
Meanwhile, Wellington’s move from the retiring Richard Gibson to rookie trainer Jamie Richards was made official on Friday afternoon, with the young Kiwi star tasked with ensuring the four-time Group One winner continues to race somewhere near his best in his seven-year-old season.
Gibson has two runners at the third-last meeting of his 12-season Hong Kong career, saddling up Surrealism and Turin Warrior on Sunday.
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