Marco Chui Kwan-lai has come out of his latest confrontation with officialdom with his reputation slightly dented, but it's nothing that will prevent him reaching his potential as a jockey with the right attitude in the longer term. Chui has been stood down from riding in races until after the September 26 meeting, and was missing at the barrier trials at Sha Tin yesterday. His career as part of the David Ferraris team is over, but that doesn't mean the bigger picture should be anything but bright. Chui has now joined Tony Cruz and it's an odds-on bet the dusty attitude Ferraris spoke of on Monday when he washed his hands of the apprentice will evaporate without trace. In fact, a cynic might wonder whether the whole thing was planned to achieve the result it did. Without taking anything away from the contribution made to Chui's career to date by Ferraris, Cruz's enthusiasm for Chui as a future prospect is a clear positive for the lad. Cruz thinks Chui is not only the best apprentice jockey going around at the moment, but the best prospect since Cruz himself was three times champion apprentice on the way to six titles as champion jockey and a record 946 Hong Kong wins. Some empowering belief from a respected peer can do wonders for the career of any young person and in the jockey business, they don't come much greater than Cruz. And the two-time champion trainer has backed his words with deeds, giving Chui his first three winners, starting with Honey Money in November 2006, and 16 of his career total of 34 winners. He's gone out of his way to coach Chui and helped him develop a technique that is very smooth for a seven-pound claimer. Chui's disobedience of instructions from Ferraris, assistant trainer Joe Tai Lap-keung and apprentice school headmistress Amy Chan Lim-chee, to attend afternoon stables, is not something Cruz would tolerate either. Yet, in showing such determination to get Chui transferred to his stable, he's expressing confidence the apprentice's bad behaviour will instantly disappear. In the end, it didn't really matter whether Chui's apparent poor discipline was real or stage-managed. Cruz has given the lad four times more winners than his former master, believes in him with a passion that will inspire, and Chui in turn is desperate to be mentored full time by the living legend of Hong Kong racing. It might be one case where the end did actually justify the means. Split loyalties The number of winners Marco Chui recorded for David Ferraris (below). Chui has now joined Tony Cruz: 4
