HKJC Junior Equestrian Team heads for training in Germany

10 July 2009

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Junior Equestrian Team is joining a month-long Club-sponsored training programme in Germany this summer, taking part in a range of local and international events that will help the team members broaden their horizons and improve their riding skills.

The four junior team members, sisters Jacqueline and Jasmine Lai, Taylor Yeung and Kendall Kruger, have left for Germany on 1 July.  Now they are staying with famous trainers Marion Ostmeyer and Lars Meyer zu Bexten and receiving intensive training from them.  They will also enter a number of local shows to gain competition experience and riding skills.  The Club has arranged for them to meet several world class European riders to learn their tips on reaching the top level of the sport.

Besides regular training, the team had the opportunity to visit the annual CHIO Aachen equestrian show last week.  At this five-star showcase event, the team members were able to closely observe the skills of top international riders and enhance their own skills through watching them in action.  Every year, more than 300 riders from some 20 different countries and cities participate in CHIO Aachen, which also attracts over 350,000 visitors from all parts of the world.

The Club has arranged for the Hong Kong juniors to go backstage and see the show offices, judging tower and warm-up arenas.  Samantha Lam, a member of the senior Hong Kong Jockey Club Equestrian Team who is currently based in Europe, also met the junior team members, briefing them on how a top-level European equestrian show works.

At the end of July, the junior team will ride in an international competition themselves.  They will be joined in the three-day German Friendships event by 25 young German riders and another 21 riders from other countries.  Each German rider will partner an overseas rider to form a jumping team competing at fence heights ranging from 1.1 to 1.3 metres.

At the end of 2008, the Club committed further funding of HK$50 million to sponsor the Hong Kong Jockey Club Equestrian Team, following its historic debut in the equestrian events of the Beijing 2008 Olympics held in Hong Kong.  Its team members include the three Olympic riders, Samantha Lam, Patrick Lam and Kenneth Cheng, along with newcomer Gaelle Tong.

The Club's funding also covers the establishment and comprehensive training of a new HKJC Junior Equestrian Team, which will recruit talented local young riders aged 12 to 18 and offer them professional equestrian training, with the aim of promoting equestrian sport in Hong Kong and carrying forward the Olympic legacy.

The HKJC Junior Equestrian Team members will be featured on the Club's Racing Horizon TV programme  on ATV's HD channel in July, when the Lai sisters and Yeung will talk about their future training plans and competition targets.