Young apprentice Matthew Poon made his first Wednesday night race meeting a memorable experience, scoring a double under lights on Sha Tin’s all-weather track on Wednesday night.
Poon is currently only licensed to ride at Sha Tin, with his ticket for Happy Valley still forthcoming. That has restricted him to weekend day meetings at the bigger circuit, at least until Wednesday night when a rare midweek fixture was held at Sha Tin.
Poon got into the winning groove early with a win in the second race, the Class 5 Silvermine Bay Handicap (1800m), aboard Ricky Yiu-trained Gentlemen (109lb), before the claimer added the second section of the Class 4 Hap Mun Bay Handicap (1200m) on Kirov (113lb) a race later.
Apprentice jockey Matthew Poon partners the David Hall-trained Kirov for a win in the second section of the Class 4 Hap Mun Bay Handicap, photo HKJC
Kirov was Poon’s third winner for his master David Hall, and the trainer was quick to suggest that the apprentice’s 10-pound claim was pivotal to the Al Maher six-year-old getting his third win at his 34th Hong Kong start.
“I think there’s obviously been a bit of hype about Matthew, he’s been getting some good opportunities and he’s been chipping away with a few winners,” Hall said. “He’s doing his job really well, but he’s still got a long way to go and it makes it a lot easier when he’s minus 10. But he’s a good lad, he listens, he’s keen and I think he’s heading in the right direction.
“Take Kirov. Once he had the claim, he was always going to be dangerous with the right run. We’ve all seen he’s quite a capable Class 4 horse, but once he’s carrying that sort of weight off a good draw, it’s pretty straightforward. I knew if Matthew could get him into the right spot, he’d be tough to beat.”
Gentlemen broke through for his first win at start 15 after Yiu made a raft of gear changes, but he was another to take note of the 10-pound claim.
“He only had to carry 109 pounds,” Yiu said. “That sort of weight, it always makes them hard to beat. This horse has just struggled to put it all together but tonight everything went his way.”
Poon holds the distinction of snaring a winner at each of the seven meetings at which he has ridden. He is now halfway to outriding his 10-pound claim, with a total of 10 wins to date; his claim will drop to seven pounds when he reaches 20 victories.
