Hugh Bowman believes this year\u2019s LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on 10 December is wide open, with the winner of the annual showcase likely to be decided by the luck of the draw.<\/p>
The 12 elite riders who will compete at the 2025 edition will gather for the Jockeys\u2019 Allocation, which determines each of the jockeys\u2019 rides on the night, at a traditional ceremony in Hong Kong on 8 December.<\/p>
Bowman dismissed suggestions that familiarity with the Happy Valley track might provide him and the other local competitors, former IJC winners Zac Purton and Vincent Ho, with an added advantage.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019d say all of the jockeys that are in the competition this year have all ridden there, so they\u2019re more familiar with it,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cThey\u2019re all, obviously, world-class riders, and I think it\u2019s going to be more determined by what horses are drawn than anything else.\u201d<\/p>
Bowman is no stranger to the jockey challenge format and could fairly be considered something of an expert in the discipline. He won the LONGINES IJC in 2016 as well as Ascot\u2019s Shergar Cup in 2007 as captain of the Rest of the World team. He is also the only non-European rider to have twice won the illustrious Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle, awarded to the individual jockey with the most Shergar Cup points.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9854″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201c(IJC) is always a great spectacle, and it\u2019s a great week of racing in Hong Kong with the International Races on the following Sunday,\u201d Bowman said. \u201cIt\u2019s always good to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>
The HK$1 million LONGINES IJC kickstarts a blue-riband week of racing in Hong Kong, culminating in the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races meeting on Sunday, 14 December. And despite almost two decades at world racing\u2019s top table, the 2017 LONGINES World\u2019s Best Jockey and Australian Racing Hall of Famer remains as enthusiastic as ever when Hong Kong\u2019s showpiece week of the calendar rolls around.<\/p>
\u201cFinancially, this challenge is far more rewarding than any other jockey challenge I\u2019ve participated in, so that certainly adds a bit of character to things,\u201d Bowman added. \u201cIt\u2019s just lovely to catch up with your fellow riders who you\u2019ve come across throughout the calendar year, but you pass in the wind a little bit. Whereas (for) this, we all settle in, have a few days together and get there on the night for good solid racing. It\u2019s got a very good feel about it and the competition is always very tight.\u201d<\/p>
In addition to Purton and Ho, Bowman will be joined by William Buick, Hollie Doyle, Rachel King, James McDonald, Ryan Moore (subject to fitness), Joao Moreira, Christophe Lemaire and Umberto Rispoli as well as the defending champion Mickael Barzalona.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9852″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hugh Bowman believes this year\u2019s LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on 10 December is wide open, with the winner of the annual showcase likely to be decided by the luck of the draw.The 12 elite riders who will compete at the 2025 edition will gather for the Jockeys\u2019… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9853,"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\/9850"}],"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=9850"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9867,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9850\/revisions\/9867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}