One of the best young riders in Hong Kong is enjoying a three-week work experience spell in Britain thanks to Brighton trainer Gary Moore.

Philip Cheng, 20, has already had a couple of rides for Gary and is desperate to partner a winner before he returns to Hong Kong on August 1.

Cheng said: "This is my first visit to Europe, but I have spent time in New Zealand and in Sydney, Australia, with the brother of my boss in Hong Kong, John Moore."

By coincidence, the Sydney-based trainer is another Gary Moore, a former jockey and son of George Moore who rode Royal Palace to win the Derby in the Sixties.

Cheng has ridden 22 winners in Hong Kong and two more in nearby Macau and is a product of the successful apprentice school at Beas River, close to the Chinese border.

It is at this school that the idea of apprentice schools in Britain was based and retired British jockey Brian Rouse, winner of dozens of top races in England and abroad, including the Japan Cup, was chief instructor at Beas River for several years until March of last year.

He said: "Philip was one of my pupils in my penultimate season. He was always very willing and obviously going to make the grade, but because he was in so much of a hurry it took him time to get the hang of things. Now he has really got it all together and I am very proud of what he has achieved."

Early in August, Cheng will represent Hong Kong in a young riders' competition in Tokyo before beginning the home season next month.

He said: "My parents are not involved with horses at all, but I began riding at a local riding school as a child and it went on from there."

Racing in England has been a revelation to the 20-year-old.

"It is totally different from home where we do all the morning exercise on the track and race in the evenings twice a week. The English courses are all different from each other, up and down, left-handed, right-handed and, as I saw at Newmarket, there are even straights of a mile or more. At Happy Valley in Hong Kong the straight is only 300m!"

It has not been all work for the visitor. He has been to London to see the sights, taking a tour on an open-topped bus and visiting the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace among other tourist attractions.

Adapt Rouse said: 'I still keep in touch with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and it was my suggestion that Philip went to Gary Moore for his visit here.

"I have known Gary since he was a kid, because I used to ride for his father Charlie. Not only is he a very decent trainer, but he has done so well with young jockeys in the last year or two."

Gary's wife Jayne, a vital member of the team at Ingleside Stables, appreciates how Cheng has had to adapt.

She said: "This has been a major culture shock for Philip. In Hong Kong, the apprentices are given leave for just two hours every Saturday. Here he has been riding out on the Sussex Downs, crossing roads and opening gates, something he would never do at home. But I think he is enjoying every minute of it and he has been able to go into Brighton in the afternoons and evenings as well."

Cheng is the best possible ambassador for Hong Kong and for himself as well. He speaks excellent English, is smart, polite and cheerful. In racing's ever widening world, it's odds on he will become a major item, because his riding is pretty good as well.