MOREIRA MISSES OUT ON HONG KONG

By Graham Potter | Friday, September 19, 2025

Any possibility of Joao Moreira’s returning to Hong Kong racing in the immediate short-term has been knocked back by the Hong Kong Jockey Club with a statement released by Terry Bailey, the Jockey Club Executive Manager of Licensing reading, ‘Having regard to the roster of jockeys already licensed for the first half of the 2025-26 racing season, the club has determined that there is no availability for retained jockeys over this period.’

Earlier, trainer Caspar Fownes had set tongues a-wagging when he indicated that he wanted to bring Moreira back to Hong Kong as his stable rider from October to December, but, with the Jockey Club’s media release, that option has been taken off the table.

Thursday’s announcement came just a day after the Hong Kong Jockey Club released a list on Wednesday of four jockeys granted a Visiting Jockey’s Licence.

Those jockeys (with license period) are:

Hollie Doyle (5 November 2025 up to 23 December 2025, inclusive), James McDonald (12 November 2025 up to 23 December 2025), Maxime Guyon (30 November 2025 up to 1 March 2026, inclusive) and Dylan Browne McMonagle (1 January 2026 up to 29 March 2026, inclusive).

Bailey also confirmed that, “Applications for retained jockeys for a period of the 2025-26 racing season after February 17, 2026, should be submitted to the executive manager, licensing by December 1, 2025.”

Moreira could still be seen at Sha Tin the first half of the 2025-26 season at December’s Longines Hong Kong International Races where he could be granted a one-day licence.

Moreira is a four-time Hong Kong Jockey’s Championship winner whose fierce rivalry with Zac Purton at one time lit up the Hong Kong racing precinct. The last of those Premierships came in the 2020/21 season.

That glory run came to an end when Moreira relinquishing his licence with immediate effect in November 2022 following a period of inactivity caused by a troublesome left hip for which he underwent platelet-rich plasma therapy.

He wanted to recuperate at home in Brazil before planning to do something of a farewell tour around the world in 2023 and, since handing in his Hong Kong Licence, Moreira has returned to the saddle and ridden in various locations around the world.

For now, though, that revolving door with access to a Hong Kong racing licence has been closed at this time.

More articles