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Paul McNamara

When she shattered her pelvis in 2011, Jacqueline Lai Jing-man wondered if the music had stopped on her athletic career after one Asian Games experience just months earlier – 15 years on she is ready for her fifth.
Part of the team jumping quartet that claimed Hong Kong’s first Games equestrian medal, it was soon after she won bronze in Guangzhou in 2010, that her mother, the former actress Ellen Ng Ha-ping, revealed she had spent more than HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) on helping Jacqueline and her sister, Jasmine Lai Zin-man, become “good riders”.
At the time, Ng said she had also “moved from a big house of 3,000 sq ft overlooking Victoria Harbour to a small flat of 400 sq ft in Causeway Bay”.
That all that sacrifice, effort and commitment could have been taken away following one horrible training fall in Denmark, where Lai based herself after leaving Chinese International School in 2009 to prepare for the following year’s Games, gave the now 35-year-old “an understanding of how much I loved what I did”.
“It was pivotal for me, and it gave me a new sense of appreciation for being physically strong and able-bodied,” Lai said. “It enhances your understanding and empathy for people going through injury, and people with disabilities.
“It was tough coming back, but luckily, I was young and I had good support.”

Now living with enough metal in her pelvis to sell for scrap, Lai’s injury sidelined her for around eight months. In 2013, 2½ years after the accident, she won individual jumping silver at the National Games, having claimed team bronze at the 2009 edition.
Lai acknowledged that today her all-consuming sport had become “pretty much a lifestyle”. Based in the Netherlands, she “misses coming home at the weekend, having a family meal and talking about things that are not horses”.
“But being over there gives me the chance to be really focused and tuned in,” Lai said. “Ultimately, that’s what it takes for someone coming from a background that has nothing to do with horses. We have some catching up to do, and that takes us doing it full-time.”
Born in America but raised in Hong Kong, Lai’s best Asian Games individual jumping result was the 15th place she managed three years ago. In the team event, the city quartet’s highest finish since 2010 was the sixth place they managed four years later.
Comparing herself today with the rider and person who made her Games debut, Lai said: “I consider myself a professional athlete now, whereas in 2010 I’d just come out of school. My mum bought me my first horse [Capone 22] at that level.
“Since then, I’ve been having to train my own horses. The sport requires a deep knowledge of horsemanship, and I’ve tried to understand more every year. I’m better now at supporting my teammates and dealing with the pressure of competing at bigger Games.”
Unlike their well-supported elite horse racing counterparts, leading equestrians, Lai said, are “an all-in-one”.
“We clean the boxes, we plan the vet visits, the farriers,” she said. “We’re riding the horses and competing on them. You’re in charge of your own game as an equestrian.”
Still, Lai said the ceaseless demands had taken no physical or mental toll, and that the sport was “enriching, because it’s what I love to do”.
Nonetheless, an athlete who in 2013 raised more than HK$480,000 from a crowdfunding campaign to sustain her career, Lai said that “over the past few years, I’ve experienced an existential dilemma”.
“A lot of riders in our region drop out at a certain level, because we go to Europe as consumers of sport horses, training programmes and competitions,” said Lai, who without that cash boost 13 years ago would potentially have reverted to her original plan to go to university in America, the path her sister took.
“[In those circumstances], when our horses retire or get injured, how do we keep going?”
Lai has started to become a “supplier in the industry”, developing more stock with the intention of “building my own horsepower”.
“It might take a few years, but I hope it opens doors for the younger generation of riders from our side of the world,” she said.
Despite the shift in emphasis, Lai has “not considered quitting” riding competitively, on the contrary, she has designs on “competing at the highest level.”

“That requires a lot more than just the day in, day out,” Lai said. “It takes a lot more long-term planning and working with horse owners.
“A horse that’s ready to compete at five-star today will cost you €1 million [US$1.16 million].
“If you want five of those, you have to start with them when they’re young. Even then, there’s no guarantee they’ll reach the top, or be your ride.”
Unusually in sport, Lai has time on her side. In 2016, Nick Skelton won Olympic individual jumping gold at 58. Silver in 2024 went to 42-year-old Steve Guerdat. Months after turning 60, Roger-Yves Bost won this year’s Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show grand prix.
“I have people on board who want to go that way with me and, hopefully, in six or seven years a few of my young horses will have come up, and I can enjoy the sport at a higher level,” Lai said.
More immediately, Lai said an individual Asian Games medal on board “relatively green” nine-year-old Kalina’s Way was not realistic.
Still, after the Hong Kong team finished third in last year’s Asian Championships, Lai said that as a foursome “medals are always on our mind” when it comes to Japan.
She will channel the butterflies she expects to experience next month into a force for good.
“You have to accept the nerves,” Lai said. “We only get them because we care. Working with horses helps you control your emotions. They don’t understand when a competition is a deal breaker.
“They feel most comfortable when you have the same mindset as when you train. You have to breathe and keep as steady-headed as possible.”


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Sport

Hong Kong

Hong Kong rider Jacqueline Lai once feared her first Games appearance would be her last, now she’s ready for a fifth and eyeing loftier goals


Hong Kong rider Jacqueline Lai once feared her first Games appearance would be her last, now she’s ready for a fifth and eyeing loftier goals.


Shattered pelvis, existential crisis and butterflies all part of Lai’s Asian Games journey

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hong Kong rider Jacqueline Lai once feared her first Games appearance would be her last, now she’s ready for a fifth and eyeing loftier goals

Hong Kong rider Jacqueline Lai once feared her first Games appearance would be her last, now she’s ready for a fifth and eyeing loftier goals