VINCENT HO SCORES AN HISTORIC WIN IN THE IJC

By Darren Winningham | Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Vincent Ho became the first homegrown jockey from Hong Kong to win the prestigious LONGINES International Jockeys Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on Wednesday evening.

The cracking contest came down to the very last leg after the results of the first three legs had set up a scintillating grand finale.

In the first leg of the series Rachel King partnered the David Hall trained Oversubscribed to famous win. It was King’s first ride on the Happy Valley circuit, and she rode it like a veteran.

Ho finished third in the same race aboard the Ricky Yiu trained Diamond Soars.

In the second leg of the series M Unicorn trained by Casper Fownes and ridden Ryan Moore was heavily backed into favourite and proved too strong for the opposition as he went away to win easily.

Ho again managed to post some points when he again finished third on the Ricky Yiu Sure Joyful. These minor placings were to prove super important in the final points tally.

The third leg of the series was won by local Hong Kong champion, however, still an Australian Zac Purton. Francis Lui trains Silver Sonic and when Purton took him to the lead and dominated the race from the front it was all over.

Coming into the final leg it was possible for no less than five riders to top the scoring for the 2023 LONGINES IJC title with Zac Purton, Rachel King, Ryan Moore, and Lyle Hewitson all on 12 points with Vincent Ho on 8 points and Michael Barzalona on 6 points.

The fourth leg of the series saw Vincent Ho drive the David Hayes trained Tomodachi Kokoroe to the lead. In the straight the Zac Purton ride Kaholo Angel, trained by Casper Fownes, let down and looked like he was going to go past Tomodachi Kokoroe, however, Ho sat down, rode hard and kept Purton in his shadows ... thus denying the Australian champion jockey his fourth IJC title.

Rachel King, representing Australia was able to ride the John Size trained Tornado Phantom into third.

The final placings for the 2023 IJC were:

Vincent Ho - 20 points,
Zac Purton - 18 points
Rachel King - 16 points
Lyle Hewitson - 16 points

After the victory in the final leg of the IJC Vincent Ho was genuinely surprised when he was told he had won the 2023 LONGINES International Jockeys Championship. “I was not aware I had won, and I didn't even know about the points, I just kept riding every race to have a winning chance,” said Ho.

Ho had suffered an injury in Japan in July and has been getting back to peak fitness after a slow start to the season. Ho said, "especially after a tough injury, coming back to win this, I'm really grateful for. Hopefully this will inspire more generations to come and the Hong Kong people especially.”

Vincent Ho claimed the HK$600,000 prize money and also was presented with a limited edition LONGINES watch as a memento of his memorable victory.

Ho now turns all his focus and attention to the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) on Sunday at Sha Tin where he will ride the Hong Kong champion Golden Sixty in the LONGINES Mile (Group 1) with an astounding HK$32 million on offer.

The parochial Hong Kong crowd will be looking for a clean sweep of the feature races now that they have their first local winner in the LONGINES IJC.

The visitors have been put on notice.

More articles