MARQUAND GOES ONE BETTER THAN LAST YEAR IN THE IJC - BUT HAS TO SHARE THE TITLE WITH DE SOUSA

By Darren Winningham | Thursday, December 8, 2022

The Hong Kong Jockey Club created LONGINES International Jockeys Championship (IJC) is all over for 2022

Four different riders win the four individual legs of the series..

The first leg went to Vincent Ho aboard the Jamie Richards trained Handsome Rebel.

The second leg went to Win Win Fighter trained by Francis Lui with local Hong Kong rider Derek Leung substituting for the COVID-19 positive French rider Mickael Barzalona.

After the successive wins to the Hong Kong riders the local spectators were hopeful of claiming all four legs of the IJC for the first time in history.

The third leg came along with last start winner Winning Dragon trained by Tony Cruz and ridden by Tom Marquand representing Britain getting the job done.

After the race Marquand said, “To be fair to him last time, watching the replay, it looked like he had a mid-race fill-up and really got rolling late and hit the line hard, so I was keen to get a similar run. He obviously got a good draw, which helped a lot, and it’s easy when you’re on the right horse.”

The final leg meant that most of the jockeys were riding to claim the HK$500,000 prize money and the opportunity to be crowned 2022 LONGINES International Jockey winner.

There was a late move in the markets for the Frankie Lor trained Adios that was smashed in the betting to start favourite. Previous winner of the IJC in 2018, Silvestre de Sousa was riding the four-year-old gelding. He jumped from barrier 4 and was always handy holding off a late surge from Red Lion ridden by Australia’s Jamie Kah.

De Sousa praised the win of Adios saying “he was tough to the line”. It capped off a great evening for trainer Frankie Lor who took out the HK$200,000 trainer’s bonus.

With the crowd trying to work out who had won the announcement was made the Tom Marquand (Great Britain) and Silvestre de Sousa (Hong Kong) would be declared joint winners on a count back where both riders had finished fourth in early legs of the IJC, and they could not be separated. They each won HK$350,000 along with LONGINES watches and medallions.

Tom Marquand was jubilant at winning the IJC at the third attempt saying after the final leg, “To finish joint in front with Silvestre is epic. He’s someone at home I’ve spent a lot of time looking up to. He’s been a multiple champion jockey, and he’s the epitome of someone who works extremely hard and gets results because of that. It’s a huge honour to win it alongside him.”

I managed to catch up with Silvestre de Sousa at the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races barrier draw held at Sha Tin on Thursday morning. He said, “I feel good, I got up early for trackwork and was excited”.

When I asked him was, he was happy to have shared the podium with Marquand he said, “I would have been happier to have won it by myself! However, Tom is a good guy, and he deserves every success as well”

Equal third was awarded to Derek Leung and Vincent Ho who pocketed HK$50,000.

The night was a tremendous success with a large crowd on hand to experience the fireworks and entertainment throughout the evening associated with the 2022 IJC.

All heads now turn to the 2022 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races to be held at Sha Tin on Sunday.

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