The line-up for the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on Wednesday (10 December) is being hailed as the best collection of international riders and depth of horses in the history of the lucrative competition.<\/p>
The riders \u2013 12 of the best in the world \u2013 will compete for the richest prize money on offer globally for a jockey challenge across the four-race series, which operates on a points-based system, with 12 points for a win, six for second and four for third.<\/p>
The overall winner pockets HK$600,000, while HK$250,000 goes to second and HK$150,000 to third.<\/p>
The 12 riders were randomly allocated their rides for the series, which carries prize money of a combined HK$7.5 million, at\u00a0a traditional ceremony at Sha Tin today (Monday, 8 December).<\/p>
Seven previous LONGINES IJC winners will feature in this week \u2013 defending champion Mickael Barzalona, Vincent Ho (2023), Zac Purton (2017, 2020 & 2021), Hugh Bowman (2016), Joao Moreira (2012), Christophe Lemaire (2009 \u2013 tied with Ryan Moore and Johnny Murtagh) and Moore (2009 \u2013 tied with Lemaire and Murtagh, & 2010).<\/p>
Rachel King, Hollie Doyle, James McDonald, William Buick and Umberto Rispoli are hoping to break through for a maiden victory.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10270″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Purton was happy with his allocation of rides \u2013 Beauty Thunder (Race 4, 1st Leg), Youth Power (Race 5, 2nd Leg), Flying Fortress (Race 7, 3rd Leg) and Kyrus Dragon (Race 8, 4th Leg).<\/p>
\u201cI need to digest it a little bit more,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are a couple there that are okay, and a couple are going to find it a bit tough.<\/p>
\u201cI think there is probably a little more depth to the fields this year which is good to see, and it comes down to the luck you have in running.\u201d<\/p>
Purton said it would be nice to win another title, but doesn\u2019t believe he will start too strongly. He said he hopes to build during the night.<\/p>
Bowman also believes the fields are good and even.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great night,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the fields are stronger and I\u2019ve been in this competition many times and I think it could be the strongest group of riders as a conglomerate as well. It\u2019s a really strong event.\u201d<\/p>
Trainers also have an added incentive to train as many winners as they can in the four nominated LONGINES IJC races, and David Hayes has targeted the event with seven runners.<\/p>
The bonus scheme for the trainers works on the same allocation of points as the jockeys and will pay HK$300,000, HK$125,000 and HK$75,000, respectively, to the three handlers who achieve the highest number of points across the four races.<\/p>
Hayes is confident of his chances and said it was always good to go to Happy Valley with in-form horses.<\/p>
\u201cThey have drawn well and they are in form,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think many will be favourites but they are well in the market.\u201d<\/p>
Hayes said it was good for the challenge with trainers having so many in-form horses.<\/p>
\u201cJockeys aren\u2019t riding 100\/1 shots,\u201d he said.<\/p>
Happy Valley\u2019s nine-race card on Wednesday night (10 December) kicks off at 6.30pm with the Class 5 Ventris Handicap (1650m) at 6.30pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10269″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The line-up for the LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on Wednesday (10 December) is being hailed as the best collection of international riders and depth of horses in the history of the lucrative competition.The riders \u2013 12 of the best in the world \u2013 will compete for the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":10197,"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":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10266"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10271,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266\/revisions\/10271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}