JAMES MCDONALD KICKS OFF FIVE WEEK HONG KONG RIDING CONTRACT WITH A FEATURE RACE WINNER

By Darren Winningham | Monday, November 27, 2023

James McDonald, the 2021/22 reigning LONGINES World's Best Jockey was riding at Kembla Grange on Saturday before making his way to Sydney and boarding a flight to Hong Kong to take up a five-week contract with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Arriving in the early morning hours on Sunday, McDonald, the ultimate professional, made his way to Sha Tin for several rides.

The feature race on the program was the Class One Chevalier Cup. McDonald teamed up with the outsider in the markets, The Golden Scenery trained by Tony Cruz and got the chociolates.

Nothing like stamping your mark on Hong Kong racing by winning the feature race on your first day.

Earlier in the program he rode the John Size trained three-year-old sprinter Wunderbar, who looks a genuine serious prospect when he faces the starter next time out, hopefully on LONGINES Hong Kong International Race (HKIR) day. He is undefeated since debuting in Hong Kong. The son of Rich Enuff, Australian bred showed some promise early on in South Australia and was sold to Hong Kong.

McDonald will be looking to get back aboard the latest Hong Kong champion racehorse, Romantic Warrior, trained by Danny Shum. Who saluted last time out in the Group 1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.

Romantic Warrior will contest the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (Group 1) – HK$36 million on HKIR day. He will be first up after his win in Australia back on 28 October.

There are a dozen nominations for the race – three Japanese runners, one from Ireland, one from France and seven Hong Kong runners. Romantic Warrior has dominated the local runners previously – so unless there is an outstanding runner in the international invaders he looks like a certain winner.

Back in Hong Kong I am sure Romantic Warrior is back eating up his muesli mix from America that was originally banned from Australia when he was stabled at Werribee in preparation for the Cox Plate assignment. Common sense eventually prevailed when the Australian government approved his special mix feed to be transported from Hong Kong. Clearly the feed made a huge difference, and the rest is history.

On a side note, whilst McDonald rode a double on Sunday, Australian and Hong Kong’s leading jockey, Zac Purton, did not ride a winner on the program. Maybe he is just warming up to dominate on LONGINES HKIR 2023.

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