Ricky Yiu is bearing down on a fourth straight 50-plus win season in Hong Kong and the 2019/20 champion trainer is thrilled with the current campaign, hailing Voyage Bubble’s Triple Crown success last month as a ‘peak’ moment not only during the 2024/25 term but chiefly across his three decades long training career, which commenced in 1995/96.
Yiu, 67, first worked with former trainers Gordon Smyth and Eddie Lo after starting out as an apprentice jockey in the early 1970s. He has 1,065 training wins and has enjoyed incredible highs with turf heroes Sacred Kingdom, Fairy King Prawn, Ultra Fantasy and Amber Sky. He has also won elite level races overseas in Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
“My favourite moment this season is, of course, when I won the Triple Crown with Voyage Bubble. That’s a dream come true. It’s very, very special. Over my 30-year training career, this is a real thrill, this is a peak,” Yiu said. “To win these three races, the Triple Crown, is like a dream. You need a very talented horse to do that.”
Voyage Bubble rewrote Hong Kong racing history for Yiu by becoming the second Triple Crown winner after only River Verdon (1993/94) to complete the stamina-testing three-race challenge, prevailing in the HK$13 million G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m), HK$13 million G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and HK$13 million G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) – all in the same season and each time ridden by James McDonald.