In a city where female jockeys are a relative rarity, Australian Chad Schofield still found himself on the road less travelled as he and this season's other new rider, Kei Chiong Ka-kei, were presented to the media yesterday.

Chiong, 22, will be the first locally-produced female jockey to ride here for 15 years but, as scarce as that might seem, there have been other Chinese female apprentices.

Schofield, however, will be the first expatriate to follow his father's footsteps with a club jockey contract, 13 years after Glyn Schofield won the Chief Executive's Cup on opening day to begin a successful four seasons at Sha Tin.

"It's pretty special. A large portion of my childhood was here in Hong Kong, living at Sha Tin, climbing trees to watch dad over the fence," Schofield recalled.

Father-son "doubles" have been limited to invitation events on at least one side, most recently American Stewart Elliott, a 2004 IJC invitee who grew up on Hong Kong Island when his father Dennis rode here for six seasons in the 1970s.

Chad Schofield's status as an up and coming young rider went through a rapid acceleration after winning the 2013 Cox Plate and he has continued to rise since, with a stint in England and getting right back to his South African family roots riding in the Durban July this year.

Schofield said he watched a lot of Hong Kong racing from Australia and even more since his arrival and, of course, he had his father's experiences on which to fall back.

"Dad's advice was to ride as much trackwork as possible, for as many trainers as possible, because the more support you get the better and the more horses you can fit in every morning, the more options you'll have," Schofield said.

His father hit the ground running, winning the opening day feature on the way to a top-three championship finish with 48 wins.

"I'm hoping it's a good omen - Dad won the Chief Executive's Cup for Derek Cruz and I'm riding You Read My Mind for him in the race on Sunday," Schofield said.

"I'm looking forward to riding with the best and soaking it all up. It's hard to know what to expect but I'm hoping for a contract extension and I think 25 wins, that's a realistic goal."

Meanwhile, Chiong was fending off the usual tired questions on whether she can be as strong as the boys, and was asked if she felt pressure as the first local female rider since the retirement of Carol Yu Wing-sze in May 2000.

"It's exciting. Sure, there is some pressure, but that pressure can be motivation, too," she said.

"In New Zealand, I had 545 rides and rode at 25 tracks and I also gained good general horse knowledge, about breeding and how to break-in a horse.

"These experiences have helped me a lot in preparing. I hope to keep improving my skills and hope that I can get plenty of winners."