Castellano to Try International Jockeys' Championship

The world's best jockeys will compete for the Longines International Jockeys' Championship in a spectacular night of racing at Happy Valley Dec. 5. 

Hong Kong's champion jockey Zac Purton lifted the coveted IJC trophy for the first time last year and is clear about where the event ranks on the world stage. 

"I think it's probably the strongest jockey's competition out of all those around the world," he said. "It's certainly the most exciting one, being at Happy Valley under lights as part of international week." 

Purton heads the list of four Hong Kong-based jockeys who will take on eight of their very best counterparts from all over the globe in pursuit of bragging rights and the lion's share of the HK$800,000 ($104,000) prize pool, which makes the four-race showcase at the iconic city track the world's richest jockey challenge. 

Seven of the eight overseas challengers have been champions in their home or adopted countries in recent years and all have proven their elite talents with big-race successes on the sport's greatest stages. 

They include Silvestre de Sousa, champion jockey in Britain for a third time this year, along with the 2017 champions of Ireland and Japan in Colin Keane and Christophe Lemaire respectively. Lemaire won this year's JRA World All-Star Jockeys, while compatriot and fellow group 1 ace Mickael Barzalona brings further flair to the contest.

Also in the gilded line-up is global big-hitter, Ryan Moore, a three-time champion in Britain, two-time winner of the Longines World's Best Jockey Award (2014 and 2016) and a dual IJC winner. 

Legends of the sport in Japan's Yutaka Take and Javier Castellano, from the United States, will also be making their way to Happy Valley. Take, who has ridden more than 4,000 winners, competes after a 12-year absence while Castellano recently notched his 5,000th win and is fresh from a double at the Breeders' Cup. 

Australia's Hugh Bowman won the 2016 IJC and the 2017 Longines World's Best Jockey Award. He is known around the racing world for his partnership with champion mare Winx, having guided her to a fourth win in the Cox Plate (G1) this year. 

Four Hong Kong-based jockeys will also be in the lineup. With Purton guaranteed a spot as reigning domestic champion, two places will go to the next two highest-ranked riders in the Hong Kong championship, as well as the leading homegrown rider (a graduate of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Apprentice Jockeys' School) at the cut-off date, which follows the race meeting Nov. 21.

"The Longines International Jockeys' Championship is not only the richest jockey challenge in the world but also the most exciting and the most keenly sought," said Hong Kong Jockey Club executive director of racing Andrew Harding. "Each December, the Hong Kong Jockey Club is able to attract the world's best riders, who ensure this is a world-class sporting competition. We are able to pit established champions against talented rising stars, and it all takes place at Happy Valley, our spectacular floodlit circuit, on a night which is eagerly anticipated."

Purton leads the Hong Kong Premiership by three wins from Karis Teetan with homegrown riders Matthew Poon and Vincent Ho sitting third and fourth respectively with the former having a one-win advantage after the Nov. 10 Panasonic Cup meeting. Three further race meetings will be conducted before the Hong Kong representatives are finalized. .

The 2018 IJC is a four-race competition in which points will be awarded as follows in each race: 12 points for first, six points for second, and four points for third. The ranking of each jockey will be determined by the total number of points earned over all four races and the IJC champion will be the jockey with the highest accumulated points. 

In the case of a dead-heat for any of the first three placings, points will be added and then divided by the number of horses involved. In the IJC, substitute jockeys are eligible for points and if a countback is required it will go back to fourth place.