HK: THE LONGINES IJC. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD'S RICHEST JOCKEY CHALLENGE

By Hong Kong Jockey Club | Monday, December 4, 2017

The world’s best jockeys will compete for the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday, 6 December.

A HK$800,000 prize fund makes the annual four-race showcase at Hong Kong’s iconic city track the richest jockey challenge in the world.

Four Hong Kong-based riders and eight of the very best of their overseas counterparts will form a brilliant line-up, with each rider competing for the HK$500,000 winner’s prize. HK$200,000 will go to the runner-up and HK$100,000 to the third-placed jockey.

Joao Moreira, Hong Kong’s record-breaking champion jockey, won the LONGINES IJC in 2012. This time around, the Brazilian sensation will face one of the best line-ups ever assembled, with last year’s victor Hugh Bowman and two-time IJC champ Ryan Moore in opposition.

Bowman and Moore finished first and second respectively in the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey title which ran for the twelve month period ending November 30 this year.

This year’s overseas contingent also features some of the sport’s most exciting emerging talents. Brazil’s sensation Leandro Henrique, already a champion in Rio de Janeiro, will make his first trip to Hong Kong, as will California-based ace Flavien Prat, representing the USA. France’s challenger is Pierre-Charles Boudot, who won the French title last year with a European record 300 wins, while Cristian Demuro will attempt to claim the title for Italy.

Two experienced and outstanding champions complete the line-up. Another Brazilian, Silvestre de Sousa, ran away with his second UK championship recently, while Japan’s Keita Tosaki has won the JRA title for the last three years in succession.

Andrew Harding, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director, Racing Authority, said: “The LONGINES IJC is not only the richest jockey challenge in the world but also the most exciting. Every December, the Hong Kong Jockey Club attracts outstanding jockeys to Happy Valley’s iconic floodlit circuit for a thrilling night of great sport. This year’s event will pitch the world’s very best established riders against some of the most talented rising stars from across the globe.”

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Four Hong Kong riders will be in the line-up. As Hong Kong’s current Champion Jockey, the 2012 IJC victor Joao Moreira has the first of four berths allocated to riders from Hong Kong’s excellent talent pool.

The next three places are filled by two of Hong Kong’s current leading jockeys and the leading local jockey (a graduate of the HKJC Apprentice Jockeys’ School and currently claiming no more than a 3lb allowance) - taken as of 22 November.

As of November 22 Zac Purton and Karis Teetan were the second and third-placed riders – behind Moreira – in the Hong Kong premiership standings, with 30 wins and 20 wins apiece as of 22 November, while Derek Leung was the leading local jockey with 14 victories.

These three riders were therefore been allocated the three remaining places.

In accordance with the prospectus for the LONGINES IJC races, Leung’s normal two-pound weight allowance will not be applicable in the four legs of this event.

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The 2017 LONGINES IJC is a four-race competition in which the following points will be given to each jockey according to the placing of his mount, and the ranking of each jockey will be determined by the total number of points earned in the four races:

12 points for 1st; 6 points for 2nd; 4 points for 3rd.

In the case of dead-heats for any of the first three placings, points will be added and then divided by the number of horses involved. The appropriate points will then be awarded to the relevant jockey. The count-back will be to 4th place.

In the LONGINES IJC competition, substitute jockeys are eligible for points

The IJC champion will be the jockey with the highest accumulated points.

(*Local jockeys with 2 or 3lb claims are eligible for selection for the LONGINES IJC. There will be no claiming allowance in the four LONGINES IJC races.)

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