Choi hoping for Luck To Win
After months of getting his horses ready, ex-Macau trainer launches his M’sian career
KUALA LUMPUR - Former Macau-based trainer Ricky Choi Chun Wai is eyeing a winning start to his Malaysian campaign after putting in the hard work for the past several months.
Choi has entered seven horses, spearheaded by Who Love To Dance, who will contest the RM50,000 (S$15,000) Metro A set-weight event over 1,400m (Race 4), at Sungai Besi on Nov 17.
His very first runner will be Lucky To Win in Race 2, a good omen perhaps for Choi.
His other entries are Luen On Feelings (Race 3), Oriental Halflamma (Race 6), Brother Lian’an (Race 7), Handsome Joyful (Race 8) and Wealthyness (Race 9).
“I am both excited and hopeful at starting a new chapter of my career,” said Choi. “Of course, a winner or two to kick off my new journey will be a morale booster.”
Choi has 27 horses – all former Macau gallopers – in training at his new base, with some having arrived here last June, others in August.
“I have given them time to acclimatise and all of them have gone through barrier trials,” he said.
“Depending on how these horses fare here, I might convince my owners, who are all from Hong Kong, to invest in new stock.”
Choi will be glad if at least one of his owners were railside at Sungai Besi to cheer on their horses on Nov 17, but will not hold it against them if they cannot make it.
“I hope at least one of them will come, if not, I understand,” he said.
“They are busy running their businesses and it takes a four-hour flight to reach here. Anyway, I hope to bring them good news.”
While Choi has been waiting for the right time to send out his first runner, one ex-Macau galloper he has followed is Daylight.
Daylight was trained by Choi when he raced as Yuanno in Macau, winning four races, including the Group 3 Derby Trial. He then ran second in the Group 1 Macau Guineas and third in the Group 1 Macau Derby.
Now trained by Wayne Lim, Daylight has raced four times over 1,200m and 1,300m for a third and fourth (on Nov 10).
It is also heartening to Choi that three ex-Macau gallopers – Gold Samurai, Mega Gems and Silver Samurai – have already found success in Malaysia and he is keen to add to that number this weekend and in the weeks to come.
Choi is a former Hong Kong champion apprentice jockey (1991-92) who rode in Macau in 2000 and 2011 before hanging up his boots and becoming a stable supervisor to trainer Geoff Allendorf.
In the 2014-15 season, he was promoted to the position of assistant trainer, which he held until September 2018, when he was granted a trainer’s licence.
Choi has tasted success in Macau’s biggest race, the Derby, when he was the assistant to Allendorf. The stable won the 1,800m classic for four-year-olds with Turquoise Power in 2016.
Choi later won three big races in his own right – the Honorary Racing Stewards Charity Cup with Star Of Yiu Sun in the 2018-19 seasons, the Macau Classic Cup with Smart Win (2019-20) and the Bonus Cup with Cumberbatch (2021-22).
Although he is seven years old, Who Love To Dance has not done much racing, having started out only as a four-year-old in Australia, where he managed two wins over 1,666m and 2,000m and came second four times in nine starts.
In Macau, Who Love To Dance won once over 1,600m and was placed twice in six runs before racing came to an end in the former Portuguese enclave on April 1, and he was flown to Malaysia last June.
Who Love To Dance will take on the likes of Berry Bliss, Violet, Good Fight and Gulf Eagle, who is gunning for his fourth win in a row.
Lucky To Win won over 1,350m in Australia and also picked up a win over 1,800m in Macau. Luen On Feelings managed three wins over 1,500m and 1,800m, while Oriental Halflamma had four wins over 1,050m and 1,350m.
Brother Lian’an won seven races from 1,200m to 1,500m, Handsome Joyful had three wins at 1,050m on the sand track and Wealthyness came with a record of six wins over 1,200m and 1,500m. SELANGOR TURF CLUB/TURFONLINE
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