Wednesday is the day when LONGINES HKIR week really starts to move into high gear.
All the international horses for Sundays four G1 contests are now settled into their temporary home at Sha Tin and, back in the city, Happy Valley is all set for its biggest night of the year.
By any standards, this year’s International Jockeys’ Championship has a very special cast.
Twelve jockeys with a combined total of over 20,000 winners and more than 500 G1s do battle for the world’s most sought-after jockey challenge and any one of the riders could come out on top given the right blend of skill and good luck.
Everyone will be concentrating on star previous winners such as Ryan Moore, Zac Purton, Christophe Lemaire and Hugh Bowman – and understandably so – but this is a very deep field indeed.
It will be fascinating to see how Hong Kong riders Vincent Ho and Matthew Poon fare against some of the best in the world, while Colin Keane is a welcome newcomer from Ireland and it is great to see Javier Castellano and Yutaka Take back in Hong Kong for the first time in quite some while.
As ever at the Valley, tactics and the barrier draw will play a very significant role.
Horses drawn towards the inside have a very strong record when the rail is out in the ‘B’ position and this year’s IJC is in my view the most open contest we have ever had.
This is demonstrated by our Jockey Challenge odds which cover the 4 IJC Races with Hugh Bowman the current favourite at 3.25 with Ryan Moore, Silvestre de Sousa and Zac Purton between 7.00 and 8.50 at the time of writing.
One win and a second place could be sufficient to take the title and therefore I favour Bowman, especially with Mr Right in Race 4 and Marvel Joy in Race 5.
I’m sure a great night is in store – but Vincent Ho also has some good rides and I would not underestimate the chances of Super Eighteen, Young Glory, Little Island and Planet Star.
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