The HK$800,000 LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship is the richest contest of its kind in the world and annually draws an array of the sport’s greatest riders in four-race combat at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley Racecourse. This year’s competition, on Wednesday, 9 December, has a new make-up thanks to the inclusion of one more rider from Hong Kong’s own pool of world-class jockeys.
The LONGINES IJC remains a 12-jockey competition but this year four Hong Kong-based riders will participate. Since 2009 the competition has featured three locally-based jockeys, the previous season’s champion, the leading homegrown rider (Hong Kong Apprentice Jockeys’ School graduate) and the highest ranked rider in the Premiership leading into the IJC, excluding the reigning Hong Kong champion.
This year, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has amended the composition of competitors to also include the next highest ranked rider in the Hong Kong jockeys’ premiership, based on the standings at the end of racing on Wednesday, 25 November.
The balance of this season’s competition is four Hong Kong-based jockeys to eight overseas jockeys.
The line-up of elite overseas riders for the 2015 LONGINES IJC will be announced on Wednesday, 18 November.
Mr. William A. Nader, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director of Racing, said: “In terms of international jockeys’ competitions, the LONGINES IJC continues to ride the crest. It is the richest in the world and each year it draws the world’s very best riders for a thrilling four-race contest. The change to enable four locally-based riders is in keeping with that world-class profile and this decision has been made on the basis that here in Hong Kong our top jockeys are of the very highest standard.
“The leading four in Hong Kong, as it stands right now, features Joao Moreira, Douglas Whyte, Brett Prebble and Zac Purton, four riders who between them have won championships in Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and Brazil. We have a jockeys’ room that is full of stars, each of whom would be worthy of a place in any jockeys’ challenge in the world. This inclusion of a fourth Hong Kong-based rider is a positive move, and one that will further enhance one of world horseracing’s great competitions.”
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