Ryan Moore is hoping to recover in time for the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse on December 10.
Moore’s participation in this year’s edition will be subject to his final confirmation given his continuing recovery from a fractured femur that has kept him on the sidelines since York’s Ebor Festival in August.
Hollie Doyle and William Buick will also represent Great Britain in a stellar line-up for the 2025 IJC in Hong Kong, with those invited also including four previous winners alongside Moore – Zac Purton, Mickael Barzalona, Joao Moreira and Christophe Lemaire.
Buick currently ranks fourth in the World’s Best Jockey standings, while Doyle, who has recently taken up a short-term riding license in Hong Kong has previously finished joint-second in two editions of the IJC in 2021 and 2024. Joining Doyle in this year’s line-up will be renowned female rider Rachel King.
LONGINES World’s Best Jockey James McDonald, who has had another immensely successful year, adds further class to the line-up, while former Hong Kong-based jockey Umberto Rispoli will represent the United States of America in this year’s event.
The LONGINES IJC is the most prestigious jockey challenge in the world and the most lucrative for the winning rider. The four races are worth a combined HK$7.5 million (approx. £740,000) in prize money. Meanwhile, a total prize fund of HK$1 million in bonus money for the most successful riders will be split three ways, with the winner set to receive HK$600,000 (approx. £60,000) with HK$250,000 (approx. £25,000) for second and HK$150,000 (approx. £15,000) for third.
With Purton assured his spot as reigning Hong Kong champion jockey and a clear leader in this season’s championship, the final two berths on the 12-rider roster for the IJC will go to next highest-ranked rider in the Hong Kong championship standings and Hong Kong’s leading homegrown rider at the selection cut-off date, which follows the race meeting on Wednesday, 26 November.
Moore is a regular competitor in the IJC, having won the event twice (2009 & 2010) and again managed to make his mark at some of this year’s major European meetings, winning seven races at the Royal Ascot meeting and three at York’s Ebor Festival before his injury. Among his highlights this year was winning the Oaks Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks and Irish Oaks aboard Aidan O’Brien’s standout three-year-old star Minnie Hauk.
‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira is another familiar face at the IJC. He will make his tenth appearance at this year’s event. The 2012 IJC champion is in fine form after winning the Gran Premio Latinoamericano with Obataye last month. His standout victories this year also include winning three Group 1 races in Japan, namely the Oko Sho aboard Embroidery, the Satsuki Sho atop Museum Mile and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen with Satono Reve.
Christophe Lemaire, who shared the IJC top honours with Johnny Murtagh and Ryan Moore in 2009, made history last month as he steered Energico to an impressive victory in the Kikuka Sho, and became the first jockey in history to win the race three years in a row. Masquerade Ball brought him the latest Group 1 win in the Tenno Sho Autumn.
Purton, an eight-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey, will chase a record fourth IJC crown, having won the event in 2017, 2020 and 2021. He reached the 1,900-win milestone last month and currently leads this season’s Hong Kong standings with 29 wins (as of 2 November) from Luke Ferraris (12) and Hugh Bowman (11).
Both Doyle and King have proven records in the IJC: Doyle finished joint-third in her IJC debut in 2020, then went one better in 2021 finishing joint-second behind the eventual winner Purton. She also finished joint-second in the 2024 edition with McDonald, winning one of the legs aboard Soleil Fighter. She became Britain’s most successful female jockey when she gained her 1,023rd winner at Ascot in May this year.
King made her IJC debut in 2023 and made an immediate impact with victory aboard Oversubscribed. Overall, she ranked third behind Ho and Purton. This year she became the first female jockey to win a Group 1 race in Japan, claiming the February Stakes with Costa Nova.
The exciting line-up also includes Italian born rider Umberto Rispoli, who became the first jockey from Italy to win an American Triple Crown race when he partnered Journalism to win the 2025 edition of the Preakness Stakes. Formidable Man was another Group 1 winner for him this year in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes.
How the IJC works
The four-race competition works on a points-based system, with 12 points for a win, six points for second place 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 placings.
Homegrown jockeys with 2lb or 3lb claims are eligible for selection for the IJC but there will be no claiming allowance in the four IJC races. Apprentice jockeys do not qualify for selection.
This year’s edition will again follow the process successfully employed in recent years of allocating rides with a model designed to make the contest competitive and to reduce the likelihood of individual riders being advantaged or disadvantaged by the draw.
This will form the basis for a process in which each rider will be allocated four rides based on an estimated average of each horse’s chance as supplied by the Club’s Jockey Challenge odds-compiling team. The odds-compiling team will assess the credentials of every runner in advance and, without knowing who will ride each horse, will submit their final assessments once the barrier draw is made on the morning of Monday, 8 December.
The minimum riding weight for IJC races is 118lb. If there are more than 12 entries for a race, the Club’s Handicapping Department will use its discretion to give preference to horses who have shown reasonable recent form.
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
