A relieved, effusive Keith Yeung paid special tribute to retired trainer Almond Lee after the jockey broke a frustrating run of outs with his victory on Namjong Plus in the Class 3 Kwoon Chung Macau Express Handicap (1800m) at Happy Valley tonight (Wednesday, 3 October).
Yeung became the 18th of 21 active riders to get on the scoreboard this season with his win on the Me Tsui-trained Namjong Plus. For Yeung, though, it was a first victory since he triumphed aboard Top Score on 25 April – although the 30-year-old jockey said that he felt the six-month gap was overstated.
“There were a lot of people writing that I hadn’t had a winner in six months, and that’s true if you look at it simply,” Yeung said. “However, I didn’t ride for most of June and we didn’t race for most of July and also in August so it really has only been a month or two. It was annoying me a bit, but you can’t control it. There’s not much you can do as a jockey, we do our job and that’s the best we can do.
“When it comes to a race, all you can do is make as few mistakes as possible. For the most part, I’ve been riding well and so I knew my luck would turn around, it always does, but it’s a matter of waiting for that to happen. In the meantime, I’ve been riding plenty of work – 10 horses at least every morning, sometimes up to 16 – I’ve been doing yoga and also plenty of homework. I wanted to make sure I was ready for the opportunities that came my way.”