SAMANTHA LAM - HKJC



Biographies

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Equestrian Team

KENNETH CHENG (鄭文傑)

Born in Hong Kong on 7 April 1988, Kenneth Cheng began riding at an early age. "I started at about four or five because both my parents rode, but I didn't really enjoy it then", Cheng says. "It was only when I got to about 15 and was starting to get results in competitions that I started to enjoy it."

Cheng first learned to ride at Lo Wu Saddle Club in Sheung Shui, before switching to The Hong Kong Jockey Club-owned Beas River Country Club. Initially he rode only once a week, but by the time he reached 14, he was riding almost every day. It was a natural progression to start training in Europe every summer and, at the age of 17, he started preparing for the Asian Games.

Training at that time with 2002 world champion Dermott Lennon of Ireland, Cheng competed in the Asian Classic League Finals at the World Cup Finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April 2006, winning the final class of the Asian Classic League in the build-up to the Asian Games later that year.

In 1986, Kenneth's father, K M Cheng had represented Hong Kong in the Asian Games in Seoul, Korea, and was a member of the team that finished fourth, frustratingly just outside the medals. Two decades later, it was the turn of his 18-year-old son to fly the flag for Hong Kong at the 2006 Asian Games, this time in Doha, Qatar. Kenneth claimed a top 20 finish in Doha and was also selected as a torchbearer for the Games, previewing the memorable moment in May 2008 when carrying the Olympic torch on horseback, he lit the cauldron at the Olympic equestrian venue at Sha Tin.

Since 2007, Cheng has moved his training base to Europe. After a spell training in Switzerland with a colleague of former World Cup champion Marcus Fuchs, he switched to Belgium-based Dutchman Henk Nooren. In May 2008 he steered the German-bred gelding Felton Lee to victory in the Danish Nations Cup in Copenhagen, winning the Grand Prix qualifier by almost half a second from the home side's Soren Pedersen.

Three months later, when Hong Kong staged the equestrian events of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Cheng made history by being a member of Hong Kong's first-ever Olympic equestrian team. At the age of just 20, he was the youngest of the three team members. Cheng and Jockey Club Can Do hit just one fence in their first outing in the Olympic arena at Sha Tin and, two days later, completed the first round of the team qualifier.

Since the Olympics, Cheng has resumed studies at a university in Belgium, while receiving equestrian training with Ludger Beerbaum in Germany. To acquire more riding experience and learn riding skills from world-class European riders, he has taken part in several international competitions in Europe this year. He was runner-up in the CSI3* Gera in Germany and third in the CSI3* Norten Hardenberg, bettering a number of experienced European riders in the process,

Cheng's sights are now set on representing Hong Kong in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Biographies

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Equestrian Team

PATRICK LAM (林立信)

Born in Graz, Austria, on 24 June 1983, Patrick Lam favoured conventional sports such as running, football and basketball in his early years. But then he tried horse riding when he was a teenager and was hooked immediately.

The best part of riding, Lam says, is that the rider has to compete with an animal as a partner, which can mean that it’s difficult one day and easy the next. His horse, Urban, is a strong Belgian-bred stallion that likes to work.

Lam won awards in young rider classes in Austria and has since notched up placings in national 1.50 metre classes and international 1.40 metre classes.

His current coach is Dietmar Gugler of Germany. Previously he trained at the Austrian stables of Anton Martin Bauer, a former Olympian, and was based at Stal Puck in the Netherlands for a year. He has also participated in clinics offered by other well-known trainers.

In between intensive equestrian coaching sessions and teaching intermediate riders himself, Lam has studied both business and law at the Business University of Graz. He enjoys non-equestrian sports, too, he belongs to a golf club and a climbing club and is a certified diver.

Until The Hong Kong Jockey Club stepped in with sponsorship prior to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Lam's parents had been his only financial backers. “Horse riding is an expensive sport,” he says. “If you don’t have good sponsors, you can’t go to good shows.”

The experience that Lam has gained through his training with Dietmar Gugler was put to good use at the Beijing 2008 Olympics when he produced a superb clear round in the opening class, the individual jumping qualifier, much to the delight of the Hong Kong supporters. It left Lam in equal first place, ahead of reigning Olympic champion Rodrigo Pessoa, world champion Jos Lansink and other sporting legends such as Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum. A second solid performance helped Lam to make the cut for the top 50, the only rider from Hong Kong or China to make it through to the third qualifier.

Since the games, Lam has returned to Austria to continue his studies, and received equestrian training in Germany. Lam is now viewed as one of the rising stars in equestrian sport in Hong Kong. His next goal is to thrive in the 2010 Asian Games.

Biographies

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Equestrian Team

SAMANTHA LAM (林子心)

Born of Hong Kong parents in Vancouver, Canada on 29 June 1978, Samantha Lam started riding at the age of seven and got her first pony, the chestnut mare Weecha, a year later. Her first Grand Prix horse, Manadi, was originally bought for her father Solomon to jump in amateur classes, but Samantha took over the ride.

After a couple of training sessions with celebrated American trainer George Morris, Lam started training more intensively with him, making her Grand Prix debut at the age of 14. In 1996 she finished third in the prestigious US$100,000 Budweiser Invitational in Tampa, Florida. Later that year she went on to claim sixth place overall in the selection trials for the Canadian Olympic team and was named first reserve for the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

In April 1997 Lam became the youngest ever female rider to compete in the World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden and the following year she moved to Germany to focus on her riding career. During an eight-year stint in Germany she earned the respect of her colleagues on the international jumping circuit and was awarded the German Golden Riding Medal, the German Equestrian Federation's highest honour for professional riders.

Lam had met up with Nelson Pessoa, Brazil's best-known coach and a five-time Olympian, when she was competing in the Mexicocircuit when she was at age 14. In March 2006, Samantha relocated to Pessoa's stables in Belgium to work and train with the maestro, whose son Rodrigo was the 2004 Olympic jumping champion and won three World Cup Finals in a row.

Born in the Year of the Horse, Lam was one of a squad of riders to receive sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust Fund prior to the equestrian events of the Beijing 2008 Olympics held in Hong Kong. She qualified two horses for the Olympic Jumping events, Jockey Club Tresor, and the Lam family owned Coco.

Lam opted to ride the more experienced Jockey Club Tresor, but she was battling against an agonising back problem after aggravating an old injury. Despite constant pain, she completed two tough rounds of jumping and won applause from the spectators for her grit and determination.

After gaining precious experience from her Olympic debut, Lam went back to Belgium to continue training and competing in Europe. In August 2009, she won the Grand Prix in Bernkastel-Kues of Germany. Lam's next goal is a high placing in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Biographies

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Junior Equestrian Team

JACQUELINE LAI (賴楨敏)

Born in the United States on 15 February 1991, Jacqueline Lai has a natural affinity with animals, having enjoyed visits to animal shelters from an early age. She became immediately hooked on horse riding after following her mother to the stables and meeting the ponies and horses there.

Lai started riding at the age of ten at Lei Yue Mun Public Riding School. Later she moved to The Hong Kong Jockey Club's Beas River Country Club in Sheung Shui where she trained with a liveried ex-racehorse, a gelding named Fortune Tone. While continuing to train in Hong Kong, Jacqueline also travels to Malaysia as often as she can to ride her other horse, Gamo, an eleven-year-old German gelding, and compete for Hong Kong with him in international shows.

Lai has achieved several notable international results, including a second placing in a South-East Asian World Cup Qualifier in June 2008, and first prize just one month later in an international 1.40 metre class competition in Kuang Rawang, Malaysia. During 2009, she has represented Hong Kong in Japan and Korea. In April, she was a member of the Hong Kong team that competed in the KRA Cup CSI 2* in Korea for the first time and won a silver medal in the team competition, partnered by younger sister Jasmine (also an HKJC Junior Equestrian Team member) and senior rider Gaelle Tong. Her latest achievement is winning a gold medal in the 2009 National Showjumping Championship held in Beijing from 4 to 6 September, making her Hong Kong’s first national champion rider.

Over the summer, Lai has received intensive training in the renowned stables of Lars Meyer Zu Bexten in Germany. She is planning to train in Europe as well as widen her riding experience there.

Lai describes her riding career so far as an undulating and unforgettable adventure, and she greatly values her selection as a member of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Junior Equestrian Team. Sponsorship from the Club is enabling the riders to receive two years' support for their local and overseas training. She feels encouraged by this recognition of her achievements to date and believes it will be an incentive to aim even higher in the future.

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