Club apprentice Leung learns ropes the hard way Down Under

Rising apprentice jockey Way Leung has the air of a young man who knows the grass is definitely greener on his side of the fence. And three months of experience with Ken Callaghan in Australia has had everything to do with that.

Leung was planted into the lower echelons of Australian racing, often on fairly rough tracks and even rougher horses. It's a process that most successful Australian jockeys go through at some stage, but very different to the path apprentice jockeys come along in Hong Kong.

'I got to ride on a lot of different racecourses,' was one of Leung's comments about his Australian trip, but he stopped diplomatically short, according to Callaghan. 'Way thought we were mad,' the trainer laughed yesterday. 'We travelled to the races at Wagga one day - about three hours driving. Way said he could have gone all around Hong Kong twice in that time.'

Callaghan, an extremely capable trainer based in the countryside well away from the big city stables and glamour tracks, was probably the ideal man to take on a man from a different culture - and he believes Leung was the ideal apprentice to have sent around the world to broaden his horizons.

'Way is a terrific kid, very polite and a hard worker - I don't think he has ever worked so much in his life,' Callaghan said. 'Some days here, he would be out of bed to ride the morning gallops at 5.30 then we'd have to drive for hours to get to a race meeting. When the meeting was over, we'd drive back to the stables and he'd get to bed after 10.30 at night before having to rise again early the next day.

'He had some very long days here, often without much reward as far as riding a winner, and I think it made him appreciate the system in Hong Kong so much more. Probably did him good.'

Easy Star's win on Saturday, Leung's first victory since his return last week, displayed his new-found strength and that came as no surprise to Callaghan, who was thrilled to learn of his early success.