LYLE HEWITSON HAS A REAL OPPORTUNITY TO WIN THE LONGINES INTERNATIONAL JOCKEYS' CHAMPIONSHIP

By Darren Winningham | Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Lyle Hewitson will ride in his second LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship tonight at Happy Valley.

He has replaced the Japanese representative Yuga Kawada who has tested positive to COVID-19 prior to his departure from Japan.

Hewitson has picked up a strong book of rides in the reallocation of the Kawada rides.

Hewitson will ride:

Race 4 – Charming Steed for Casper Fownes
Race 5 – Sunny Delight for Charlie Shum
Race 7 – Red Majesty for David Hayes
Race 8 – Here Comes Ted for David Hall

Charming Steed is trained by Casper Fownes who has an excellent strike rate at the track. Has had a month freshen up since finishing a close fourth in a race here. Drawn nicely in barrier 2 – another solid chance.

Hewiton rode Sunny Delight to victory here a fortnight ago and now gets the opportunity to maintain the winning association with the gelding. On that occasion the Danny Shum trained horse drew well and positioned midfield just behind the speed prior to proving too powerful over the concluding stages. He is ideally drawn in barrier 3 and should have every opportunity to post consecutive wins at the track.

Red Majesty is trained by David Hayes and can mix his form. However, has had eight career victories and all of them at the Happy Valley circuit. He drew barrier 1 last start and was a gallant second – he has drawn well tonight in barrier 6 and should get a nice run-in transit over the 1650 metres.

In the last leg of the IJC Hewitson will ride Here Comes Ted for David Hall – who each year seems to have horses peaking for this night. He is second up after striking trouble in the running first up when resuming over 1200 metres. He drew poorly in barrier 11 in his last start and had to be ridden for luck. From barrier 2 he is ideally drawn and has a solid second up record that should not be overlooked.

On assessment of his rides Hewitson looks to have every opportunity of winning the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship. If he does succeed, he will be the first South African jockey since Douglas Whyte to win the prestigious event since 2008 which was the first year that this concept was introduced to Hong Kong.

Douglas Whyte was a champion rider who dominated Hong Kong racing from 2000/01 until 2012/13 winning 13 consecutive Hong Kong jockey titles until being beaten by Zac Purton in 2013/14 season. Whyte now maintains his association with the HKJC being a successful trainer since retiring from the saddle in February 2019.

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