Wednesday night\u2019s (7 December) LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley will feature the world\u2019s best jockeys and send the first signal of a rejuvenated Hong Kong, according to Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cWe have demonstrated that Hong Kong is back open again and this is the first phase of our opening. We hope next year to welcome tourists again but the first step was to welcome the top trainers, jockeys and owners and that they could enjoy Hong Kong in a manner they think makes it worthwhile coming.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cThe relevance of Hong Kong racing was demonstrated at the recent Financial Summit where global leaders attended and we were on the same status and that showed it was obviously important for the government to acknowledge the importance of Hong Kong racing overall, to support us in staging such an international event and as a symbol of Hong Kong\u2019s resilience,\u201d Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said at Monday night\u2019s IJC Press Conference at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33801″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The stage is set for a spectacular night\u2019s racing with the world\u2019s two highest-profile female jockeys; the soon to be crowned LONGINES World\u2019s Best Jockey of 2022; a husband and wife and four past winners, including a local hero seeking a third straight victory competing in a compelling 25th edition of the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship.<\/p>\r\n
Australia\u2019s Jamie Kah, the Victorian metropolitan jockey\u2019s premiership winner in season 2020\/21, and England\u2019s record-breaking Hollie Doyle are the two acclaimed female riders and their Happy Valley rivals include Doyle\u2019s husband Tom Marquand; James McDonald who will be officially named LONGINES World\u2019s Best Jockey this Friday night (9 December) and the local circuit\u2019s superstar Zac Purton whose many credits include wins in the past two editions of the IJC.<\/p>\r\n
Ryan Moore, fresh from a spectacular win aboard Vela Azul in the 27 November G1 Japan Cup (2400m), joins fellow past winners Hugh Bowman and Silvestre de Sousa in the fray; along with 2021 French Champion Jockey Mickael Barzalona and Japan\u2019s current championship leader Yuga Kawada.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33802″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Hong Kong\u2019s young guns Vincent Ho and Matthew Chadwick complete the roster. \u201cIt\u2019s in the Jockey Club\u2019s DNA to develop local talent and nothing gives me greater pleasure than to see Vincent and Matthew represent Hong Kong. Hong Kong in December is the place to be,\u201d said Andrew Harding, Executive Director, Racing, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.<\/p>\r\n
The appearance of Kah for the first time and Doyle, who\u2019s achieved podium finishes in each of the past two years, adds a special edge to a spectacular night of Hong Kong sport and in one of the few sporting domains where men and women compete on equal terms.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33803″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cIt\u2019s always been a dream of mine to ride in Hong Kong,\u201d said Kah, \u201cAnd this is my first time here. I literally had a stopover once but didn\u2019t set foot outside the airport. It\u2019s a buzz to be part of this IJC and The Hong Kong Jockey Club has looked after me amazingly well.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting out there (on the track). I\u2019ve been told by a lot of people it\u2019s a very interesting course but I\u2019ll do my homework and I\u2019ve had a lot of advice from jockeys who\u2019ve ridden here. I\u2019ll walk the track and do the form. I\u2019ve always thought about riding here and this can be a good introduction to see if I like it for the future.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
Kah said she was looking forward to riding against Hollie Doyle and \u201call these amazing jockeys\u201d but added it would be particularly special to beat the boys. \u201cAbsolutely, that would be great and to do it in Hong Kong would be extra special,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n
Defending champion Purton acknowledged the strength of his opposition. \u201cThese are the best jockeys from around the world and they\u2019ve had the most success in recent times as well. They\u2019re all in good form,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n
Hugh Bowman, the 2016 IJC winner, is hoping his good luck can hold as he\u2019s made an excellent start to a new three-month contract in Hong Kong with six winners in five meetings.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cThree of mine are well drawn and that\u2019s a big plus. I\u2019m looking forward to the night. I reckon I\u2019ve ridden in the IJC six or seven times and won it once. I\u2019m coming off the bench this time and I feel for Jye (McNeil) but I\u2019ll be grabbing the chance with both hands,\u201d said Bowman who was a late replacement for the COVID-sidelined McNeil.<\/p>\r\n
The four-race IJC series is part of a nine-race card at Happy Valley, starting at 6.30pm. The first IJC race is the fourth on the programme, the Class 4 LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship Handicap \u2013 1st Leg (1000m) at 8.10pm and the Championship will conclude with race eight, the Class 3 LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship Handicap \u2013 4th Leg (1200m) at 10.10pm.<\/p>\r\n
The meeting also sees the return to race riding of the 2019 IJC winner Karis Teetan, who has been sidelined since September.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”33799″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Wednesday night\u2019s (7 December) LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley will feature the world\u2019s best jockeys and send the first signal of a rejuvenated Hong Kong, according to Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club. \u201cWe have demonstrated that Hong Kong is back open… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":33800,"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":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33790"}],"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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33828,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33790\/revisions\/33828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}