Welcome to our biggest week of the season. The LONGINES Hong Kong International Races are indeed upon us. Fascinating international racing action commences tonight with a host of elite world-class jockeys battling in our curtain raiser – the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse.
Every year most of the jockeys that we invite for the contest possess sizzling form. It’s no exception this year as five of our participating jockeys are reigning champions of their home jurisdictions. According to the latest rankings we have five of the world’s top ten jockeys and eight of the leading 30.
These riders all arrived at Hong Kong earlier in the week. They looked very sharp and were raring to go when they met our media friends in a pre-race session at Happy Valley yesterday. I was glad to meet them all and it’s not surprising to see American Triple Crown winning jockey Victor Espinoza and British sensation Ryan Moore being the ones attracting most media attention. The same is true for our leading local representative Joao Moreira, who rode an impressive quintet at Sha Tin on Sunday, becoming the fastest to 50 wins in a Hong Kong racing season.
Joao has already achieved some remarkable records since he has ridden here. Having been crowned champion in the World All-Star Jockeys competition in Japan in August, it’s worth noting that if Joao wins tonight he will be the third jockey – following Olivier Peslier in 1998 and Ryan Moore in 2010 – to notch a winning double within the same year for both of Asia’s premier international jockey competitions in Hong Kong and Japan. I’ll be eager to see if he can add another major achievement to his own CV.
In the first leg of the LONGINES International Jockeys' Championship, which is run as race 4 as a Class 4 handicap over 1650m, I Iike Vara Pearl most, who is working well and will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, representing Australia. First Sight Love is a place chance for me and would give Keita Tosaki some points in the challenge while another with a great placing chance is Endorsing with Joao Moreira on board. One Of A Kind is coming back to form and is an outside chance to give Brett Prebble some points too.
Race 5 is the second leg of the LONGINES IJC and Strathearn is a good chance for Prebble to get maximum points. Happy And Healthy with Ryan Moore astride, along with Noble De Man for South African Gavin Lerena and Addole with Moreira on board are my other chances in the race.
The third leg is race 7 and Call Me Achiever is working very well. With Moreira on board, that should only be an added advantage. My next picks are Top Bonus (Moore), Jolly Posh (Prebble), Excitable Boy (De Sousa) and Mr Right (Lerena).
The last leg is race 8 and Club Life (Bowman) is my first chance with Superoi (Lerena) being my next pick. Win It (Moore) should not be underestimated and Sparkling Sword is working well and can give Moreira the points he needs to win the Jockey Challenge. I think the final results should be very close tonight, and the winner should come between Moreira, Prebble, Lerena and last not least, Bowman.
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