David Probert: ‘Hong Kong is a step in the right direction. It has more to offer me with my style of riding’

David Probert is the latest jockey to try his hand in Hong Kong as the new season kicks off at Sha Tin with a ten-race card on Sunday.

Probert, 36, joins colleagues Harry Bentley and Richard Kingscote in a full-time commitment to Hong Kong, highlighting the opportunities on offer in the jurisdiction but also the talent drain from British racing’s professional riding ranks.

It is a decision he did not make lightly. “When I was approached in June it was the third time I’d been asked and the message came back that this would be the last approach,” he explains.

Despite a prolific record – he has ridden 608 winners at a strike-rate of 13 per cent on British tracks over the last five seasons – Probert has not ridden a Group 1 winner. It is something that gnaws at him.

“I felt I was ready to make the move to Hong Kong, which has a lot more to offer than where I was at in Britain. I’ve ridden more than 100 winners in each of the past six seasons in Britain but I wasn’t lucky enough to find that Group 1 horse to take me to the next level,” he says.

“I feel Hong Kong is a step in the right direction. It has more to offer me with my style of riding. I’m looking at it that way rather than thinking I’m giving up so much in Britain. 

“I’ve always ridden on a second-jockey basis and I don’t want it to be highlighted as though I never really got the opportunity,” he adds.

• As Richard Kingscote and David Probert relocate to Hong Kong, should alarm bells start ringing over Britain's talent drain? 

Again this year – when Probert has ridden 70 winners in Britain – there have been fleeting moments of optimism in that quest for his ‘one good horse’. He partnered Never So Brave to victory in the Group 2 Summer Mile at Ascot in July, which acted as a stepping stone to a gutsy win for the the Saeed Suhail-owned, Andrew Balding-trained four-year-old in the Group 1 City of York Stakes under Oisin Murphy. 

“Never So Brave has an unbelievable turn of foot,” Probert says. “When he arrived at Andrew’s (after Sir Michael Stoute’s retirement), he was precocious. He wanted to get on with things, do everything quickly, but he has wound down now and he’s taken his races so well. He’s very talented.”

And then there is his Group 2 Richmond Stakes winner, the Clive Cox-trained Coppull, who carries the red and white colours of David Armstrong.

Coppull streaks home for David Probert in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood Credit: Edward Whitaker

“He ran so well when third behind Gstaad in the Coventry at Royal Ascot and then went on to win the Richmond. He looks a Commonwealth Cup type for next year. Clive has been a great supporter.

“I can’t deny the yearning for that Group 1 winner is still there. Hopefully, one day it will happen.”

Like a prospector panning the river bed, there have been times Probert thought he might have unearthed his ‘welcome stranger’, his very own nugget. In 2022 he partnered the Balding-trained Hoo Ya Mal, a 150-1 shot, who chased home Desert Crown in the Derby at Epsom, although the Balding-trained colt was beaten two and a half lengths and the winner had it sewn up well over a furlong out. 

“I was on the inside for the whole race in a big field and I got a dream run through. I stayed on the rail and came off it to go around the Ballydoyle horse Changingoftheguard. Westover went around them and finished third.

“Richard Kingscote was away and gone on Desert Crown; he was three or four lengths clear very quickly so I knew we didn’t have a chance of beating him. But to finish second was surreal. My horse was not expected to run so well and exceeded all our expectations.

“It’s funny how Richard and I are now here in Hong Kong. He’s had a better season than me with two Group 1 winners [Time For Sandals in the Commonwealth Cup and Qirat in the Sussex Stakes].”

It has been a long haul for Probert despite being at an age many consider perfect for a top-flight jockey. Experienced and in his prime physically, he had an excellent, thorough grounding through pony racing in his youth and then his years at the Kingsclere academy with the Balding family, capped by sharing the 2008 apprentice title with ‘classmate’ William Buick, tied on 50 winners.

“William was a year ahead of me but I got quite lucky, I got on a roll. I managed to get upsides him and to share the title was a relief . . . on my part anyway. 

“We were in the same stable, competing for many of the same rides, but we were friendly rivals. I don’t think anybody could have foreseen we would be joint-champion apprentices.

“It was great to share the title with William. We had a very good apprenticeship together. We bounced off each other in the early part of our careers and we had a great mentor in Ian Balding. Andrew has been a great boss and a good friend too.”

The move to Hong Kong is an expansion to Probert’s international experience. He was a frequent visitor to Germany and Italy in his early days, then a regular at the major meetings in Qatar and he enjoyed a successful stint in Dubai.

However, he gained a feel for what might be in store heading east with a five-month spell riding for the Indian trainer and former leading jockey Pesi Shroff. “I was based in Mumbai but we travelled around the country. It was a real eye-opener,” he says. “I learned a lot about Indian racing and I was fortunate enough to win the Indian Oaks.

“Off the back of that I came back to Britain and had my best season, riding 169 winners [in 2021], so that was pretty good,” he adds.

Clearly, the rough and ready conditions at a variety of tracks in India added a dimension to his riding repertoire.

Now, Probert is giving it a crack in Hong Kong. “I’m under no illusion how different it’s going to be. I’ve come to work hard, train hard, compete and build relationships. I want to get that first winner on the board and I’m hoping something evolves from it. I’m here to give it a go and try my best.”

Ka Ying Rising leads the return to action

Hong Kong fans have been starved of local action for just over seven weeks but horse of the year Ka Ying Rising is set to give them a first-day treat when he lines up in Sunday’s feature at Sha Tin.

Trainer David Hayes is delighted with the world’s best sprinter after watching him hack up in two recent barrier trials at Sha Tin and reckons he has the gelding bang on target for his $20m objective, The Everest, in Sydney on October 18.

Ka Ying Rising is back in action at Sha Tin on Sunday as a prep for The Everest next monthCredit: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

He broke the clock in his first trial on August 22, winning by more than 14 lengths on the all-weather track, and then scored by a more modest two lengths, hard held, in his second trial on the straight turf course last Saturday. Both contests were over five furlongs.

“The one on the all-weather was the fastest dirt trial ever timed at Sha Tin,” Hayes reports. “It was actually a warm-up for his trial on the turf. Zac Purton was shocked by his gate speed, he was that quick. He’s just more settled. He knows what it’s about now.”

Hayes says Ka Ying Rising is going to go into Sunday’s race about 20lb above last season’s body weight and that the race will probably trim him down. “With the trip to Sydney, he will be a little bit heavier because he’s a bigger horse. It will have him where I want him to be for The Everest,” he says.

There will be one new trainer in the Hong Kong ranks this season: Brett Crawford. Zimbabwe-born but formerly a big name in South Africa, where he trained around 1,500 winners, 38 at Group 1 level, which included two Durban July winners, he starts with 25 horses.

Meanwhile, David Eustace has a stable of 70, including a collection of well-handicapped prospects, for his second Hong Kong season.

Richard Kingscote is back, this time for the whole season, and Vincent Ho is poised to return to the saddle after seven months on the sidelines following a traumatic brain injury sustained in a fall.

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