Happy Valley Racecourse is one of the most iconic horseracing venues in the world with its unique layout and spectacular urban setting and rarely do its lights shine brighter than when the world’s leading riders gather in Hong Kong for the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC).
It is now only a week until LONGINES IJC, which is not only a wonderful prelude to the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races on 8 December, but is also one of the highlights on the global horse racing calendar in its own right.
The riders selected for next Wednesday’s (4 December) lucrative series at Happy Valley reflect the importance of the event with a collective 688 Group 1 victories between them – Ryan Moore (206), William Buick (108), Hugh Bowman (106), James McDonald (104), Zac Purton (44), Mickael Barzalona (40), Yuga Kawada (31), Vincent Ho (13), Colin Keane (12), Hollie Doyle (10), Karis Teetan (nine) and Rachel King (five).
Also included in this year’s field are three previous winners of the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey Award – Ryan (2014, 2016, 2021 and 2023), James (2022) and Hugh (2017) – based on results in the LONGINES Top 100 Group 1 races.
We are privileged to have so many champion jockeys appearing at Happy Valley in the LONGINES IJC and I am excited to see these incredible athletes battle for supremacy in the four-race series.
I was privileged last Sunday (24 November) to attend the Japan Cup and the atmosphere generated by almost 80,000 passionate horse racing enthusiasts was remarkable. It showed once again the true affection Japanese racegoers have for champion horses, trainers and jockeys and the reception given to Yutaka Take after his fifth Japan Cup on DO DEUCE was incredible.
The early slow pace in the race did not suit the three European horses – GOLIATH, AUGUSTE RODIN and FANTASTIC MOON – whose connections had been encouraged to go to Japan because of the expected fast pace, but GOLIATH ran a decent race in finishing sixth, while AUGUSTE RODIN (eighth) and FANTASTIC MOON (11th) did not run to their best.
Preparations for LONGINES HKIR continue to take shape with the arrival on Tuesday (26 November) from Australia of ANTINO, WITHOUT A FIGHT and RECOMMENDATION. The trio joins DOCKLANDS and LAZZAT, who have settled into their new surroundings extremely well, and I look forward to the arrival of several other topline horses including LIBERTY ISLAND, LUGAL, JANTAR MANTAR, PRADARIA and SOUL RUSH, who are scheduled to land tonight.
By Sunday (1 December), it is expected all 29 overseas runners will have arrived at Sha Tin, setting the scene for an outstanding week of racing.
At Happy Valley tonight, the Class 3 Inverness Handicap is carded as Race 9 at 10.50pm and will be run over 1800m for prizemoney of HK$2,050,000.
The speed will be good to slow. SAMARKAND has drawn well in gate three and can lead for Jerry Chau. FORTUNE SUPERSTAR (Lyle Hewitson) will be prominent from gate two, with SHARPEN BRIGHT going forward from barrier 11.
CHAIN OF GOLD looked set to break through for a deserved win last start when taking the lead in the last 150m before being run down in the concluding stages by WINNING STEPS over this course and distance three weeks ago. CHAIN OF GOLD has drawn gate 12 and generally settles back in the field but is at risk of being caught wide and he is a place chance for Zac Purton.
WINNING STEPS made it two wins from three starts when coming widest on the turn and sustaining a strong finishing run under Karis Teetan to claim CHAIN OF GOLD on 6 November. Matthew Chadwick takes over from Karis who is suspended and WINNING STEPS is a consistent horse with a place chance.
ILLUMINOUS also comes through the race won by WINNING STEPS on 6 November when he settled near the tail of the field on the rails and didn’t get a lot of clear room in the straight and went to the line strongly to finish fourth. James McDonald rides ILLUMINOUS and if James can get him off the fence and in clear galloping room early enough ILLUMINOUS is a win and place chance.
SHARPEN BRIGHT was having second his run this preparation when stepping up in class and racing on the speed and just getting over the top of RED MAJESTY in a close finish over this course and distance on 27 October, with WINNING STEPS third. SHARPEN BRIGHT will have benefited from being at Conghua since and is a place chance with Matthew Poon riding for the first time.
ROCKET SPADE was held up for briefly for clear running last start and SAMARKAND was at his last run trying to improve and found insufficient room, struck heels and blundered badly and became unbalanced. Both horses can surprise in this very competitive Class 3.
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