James McDonald lauded as world's best

Golden Sixty won the Hong Kong Mile in 2020 and 2021 but was denied the hat-trick when runner-up behind California Spangle last year. He had won three Group 1s since that odds-on defeat last December, but hadn't been seen out since beating Beauty Joy in the Champions Mile in late-April. The absence proved no problem, though, as Golden Sixty,…

The eight-year-old Golden Sixty produced a sparkling performance to overcome stall 14 of 14 to win the Longines Hong Kong Mile for a record-equalling third time. Golden Sixty won the Hong Kong Mile in 2020 and 2021 but was denied the hat-trick when runner-up behind California Spangle last year. He had won three Group 1s since that odds-on defeat…

The New Zealand-born rider was named the Longines World's Best Jockey for 2022 and will be eager to demonstrate why is he is so highly regarded next month. McDonald is enjoying another excellent year in the saddle, most notably due to his exciting partnership with recent Cox Plate winner Romantic Warrior. The combination will be reunited next month…

This year's exciting line-up includes three previous winners - Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand and Zac Purton - of the world's most coveted jockey challenge crown, the LONGINES IJC. They will be challenged by emerging stars Bauyrzhan Murzabayev and Rachel King, who will make their LONGINES IJC debuts and the duo will certainly add another dimension to a…

Ryan Moore and James McDonald headline the cast of overseas stars poised to light up Happy Valley at the Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) on December 6, however the injured Hugh Bowman has been ruled out of the prestigious competition. While Moore and McDonald are old hands when it comes to the IJC, Australian-based British jockey…

A stellar line-up will contest the 2023 Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday, 6 December, 2023. This year's exciting line-up includes three previous winners - Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand and Zac Purton - of the world's most coveted jockey challenge crown - the Longines IJC. They will be challenged…

Superstar rider James McDonald, a perfect three from three aboard "outstanding racehorse" Romantic Warrior, holds no concerns about either Flemington's anticlockwise track or soft surface and argues there are no holes in the form of Saturday's Group One Turnbull Stakes (2000m) favourite. McDonald, who received the 2022 Longines World's Best Jockey…

The 2022/23 racing season might have come to a close but it is a season that will live long in the minds of racing fans. Hong Kong racing celebrated coming out of the pandemic lockdown with a bang, once more hosting a number of prominent international races and eminent jockeys, horses and their trainers. Fans were no doubt ecstatic to witness…

A stellar FWD Champions Day card at Sha Tin on Sunday [April 30] left Hong Kong in an unprecedented position with three of the top five on Thoroughbred Racing Commentary's exclusive Global Rankings. Former #1 Golden Sixty did not overhaul current world leader Equinox at the top, but the brilliant seven-year-old cemented his status at #2 as he…

Sydney's superstar jockey James McDonald has dismissed speculation he is considering riding overseas long-term as he sets his sights on one of racing's most revered records. The champion jockey is in hot demand wherever he rides and could command a prized position in the northern hemisphere with a leading stable or jurisdiction. But although…

California Spangle holds off Golden Sixty in Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Mile Photo courtesy of Hong Kong Jockey Club HONG KONG, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A super day for Hong Kong highlighted weekend horse racing with action-starved fans emerging from pandemic lockdowns to cheer on some new heroes from the Sha Tin Racecourse grandstand. Two-year-old filly…

They came to bow down to the old king and left saluting a powerful new prince of Hong Kong racing as Romantic Warrior left a high-class global field trailing in his wake at Sha Tin on Sunday with a thunderous performance in the HK$34 million Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m). Hong Kong racing's biggest crowd since the corresponding day in 2019 gave…

The LONGINES Hong Kong International 2022 racing came to a dramatic close at Sha Tin on Sunday with two hot favorites being defeated in the Group 1 races, but the events of the day did little to diminish the world class racing we got to enjoy over the entirety of the past week. The first upset came in the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase when the heavily…

Romantic Warrior triumphant in the Hong Kong Cup (HKJC) By Graham Cunningham They came to bow down to the old king and left saluting a powerful new prince of Hong Kong racing as Romantic Warrior left a high-class global field trailing in his wake at Sha Tin this afternoon (Sunday, 11 December) with a thunderous performance in the HK$34 million G1…

Wednesday's Happy Valley races are highlighted not so much by the horses but the riders, as it's Longines International Jockeys Championship day. Seven jockeys from outside Hong Kong join five locally-based riders for the four-race event, which carries a first prize of HK$500000 (about $64000). The international challenge is headed by Ryan Moore,…

This LONGINES IJC will also be the first time that the two leading female jockeys in the world ride on the same card - Australia's Jamie Kah who makes her debut, while Great Britain's Hollie Doyle returns for a third time. Kah, 26, is the most successful female jockey in Australian racing history with eight Group 1 wins and over 1100 wins overall.…

A stellar line-up featuring established greats and riders in scintillating form will contest the 2022 LONGINES International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. This LONGINES IJC will also be the first time that the two leading female jockeys in the world ride on the same card - Australia's Jamie Kah…

Jamie Kah and Hollie Doyle will lock horns in next month's Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley. It will be the first time the superstar female jockeys feature on the same card, and they will line up alongside last year's Longines World's Best Jockey, Ryan Moore, and in-form New Zealander James McDonald. Doyle's…

This year's LONGINES IJC will also be the first time that the two leading female jockeys in the world ride on the same card - Australia's Jamie Kah who makes her debut, while Hollie Doyle returns for a third time. Kah, 26, is the most successful female jockey in Australian racing history with eight Group 1 wins and over 1100 wins overall. In…

Glory Vase a two-time winner at the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (Courtesy of HKJC) Glory Vase, Kinross and Panthalassa head an impressive array of decorated international horses who have been invited to compete at the HK$110 million LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) at Sha Tin on 11 December. Fellow G1 winners Gendarme, Naran…

Challenged persistently by COVID-19, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (the Club) has continued to manage the global pandemic decisively, implementing world's best health protocols to protect the welfare of employees, racing participants and the public to ensure that racing continued without the loss of a single meeting to the virus. The Club closed out…

The 24-year-old rider, after spending six months riding in Hong Kong through the 2019/2020 season, not only scored a pair of Gr2 triumphs in Japan but also captured his third South Africa Champion Jockey title in the 2020/2021 season. He has returned to Hong Kong to ride this term. A stellar line-up featuring established greats and riders with red…

Although Hong Kong is home to less than 1 percent of the world's horse population, local runners made history last year at the Hong Kong International Races by sweeping all four of the horse races, a first for the event. The four winners - Beauty Generation, Exultant, Glorious Forever and Mr Stunning - are all back this year to defend their titles…