Who\u2019s the world\u2019s best jockey? Every racing fan will have their own opinion.<\/p>
And it\u2019s one thing, for parochial Australian and New Zealand fans and even former champion jockey Glen Boss to hail Hong Kong-bound James McDonald as the best in the world right now.<\/p>
It\u2019s quite another, however, that the claim has official ratification pending with McDonald next month to be named LONGINES World\u2019s Best Jockey as he has an unassailable lead on the rankings released by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.<\/p>
In the meantime, his focus will be heavily on Hong Kong as he bids to continue his spectacular form – of the past two years – which prompted four time W.S. Cox Plate and three-time Melbourne Cup winner Boss to recently declare: \u201cHe (McDonald) is the best jockey in the world. I’ve been saying that for 18 months, two years.\u201d<\/p>
Last year, it was another former champion jockey Malcolm Johnston singing his praises. \u201cThe biggest asset any racehorse can have is James McDonald,\u2019\u2019 said Johnston who predicted the New Zealand-born 30 year-old would \u201cbreak all riding records\u201d.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
James McDonald wins the 3rd Leg of the 2021 LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship atop Invincible Missile.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
McDonald has already amassed 60 Group 1 wins in Australia, plus 13 internationally-recognised Group 1 races (11 in New Zealand and one each in Hong Kong and England). That is more than Australia\u2019s most successful Group 1 jockey Damien Oliver had at the same age (Oliver\u2019s current tally is 127, including four in New Zealand).<\/p>
McDonald\u2019s numbers are astronomical in every sense. In the current Australian racing season, which runs from August to July, he has already slotted Group 1 wins in less than four months. He\u2019s leading the Australian Jockeys\u2019 Premiership; won eight races during the Melbourne Cup carnival and is already odds-on to claim his seventh Sydney Metropolitan Jockeys\u2019 Premiership.<\/p>
Last season (from August 2021), he rode ten Group 1 winners in Australia, including the Melbourne Cup, plus the King\u2019s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, as well as The Everest which does not have Pattern race status but does have a handy HK$78 million in prize money.<\/p>
In season 2021\/22 he rode 147 winners (at 23%), including a record ten in Melbourne Cup week, and his mounts earned prize money of approximately HK$182 million which was just shy of HK$185.3 million earned by Zac Purton\u2019s rides in Hong Kong.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
James McDonald scores in the 2022 King\u2019s Stand Stakes with Nature Strip.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
He finished tied for second behind Purton in the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship at Happy Valley and, following this week\u2019s announcement of the IJC invitees, we know the Mac and Zac show will be on again on Wednesday, 7 December.<\/p>
However, the competition begins earlier than that with McDonald arriving this weekend to partner Danny Shum-trained star Romantic Warrior in the G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m) and David Hayes\u2019 sprinter Super Wealthy in the G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m).<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s such an exciting time of year for Hong Kong racing. I\u2019m on the plane on Thursday and I can\u2019t wait to be part of it, especially with the chance to ride a horse like Romantic Warrior. Hopefully he runs well and we\u2019ll be on song for the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup three weeks later,\u201d said McDonald, whose partner Katelyn Mallyon gave birth to their first child Evie Belle on 7 November.<\/p>
The man, who rode his first Group 1 winner at just sixteen years of age and is the youngest inductee into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, would also love to add the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship to his resume as he competes for the seventh time.<\/p>
He finished second on debut to Frankie Dettori in 2011, third in 2014 and tied for second last year. He also won the 2012 Champions Mile on Xtension for John Moore who described the ride \u201cas the best you\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>
McDonald was unable to stay for last year\u2019s LONGINES Hong Kong International races because of a previous commitment in Australia and the difficulties of quarantine protocols then in place but is looking forward to being part of the action this year.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”31560″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Who\u2019s the world\u2019s best jockey? Every racing fan will have their own opinion.And it\u2019s one thing, for parochial Australian and New Zealand fans and even former champion jockey Glen Boss to hail Hong Kong-bound James McDonald as the best in the world right now.It\u2019s quite another, however, that the claim has… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":31566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31555"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31555"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31571,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31555\/revisions\/31571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}