Saffie Osborne will join Ryan Moore, William Buick and Dylan Browne McMonagle as part of a stellar line-up for the 2026 LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong on Wednesday December 9.
Moore is currently the leading rider in the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey standings, while Buick lies in third, and James McDonald, Mickael Barzalona and Zac Purton, who make up the top five in the current standings, are also set to feature.
Adding further class to the roster are Rachel King, Christophe Lemaire and Joao Moreira.
Of the line-up, Moore, Purton, Barzalona, Moreira and Lemaire are previous winners of the LONGINES IJC, with Moore and Purton each three-time victors of the event. Buick was the joint runner-up last year, whilst King claimed third in the 2023 LONGINES IJC.
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. £720,000) in prizemoney. Meanwhile, a total bonus prize fund of HK$1 million (approx. £96,000) for the most successful riders will be split three ways, with the winner set to receive HK$600,000 (approx. £58,000), HK$250,000 (approx. £24,000) being awarded to second place and HK$150,000 (approx. £14,000) to third.
With Purton assured of 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 LONGINES IJC will go to the leading homegrown rider and the highest-ranked eligible rider in the Hong Kong standings at the selection cut-off date, which follows the race meeting on Wednesday, 25 November.
Andrew Harding, Executive Director of Racing at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “The 2026 edition of the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship is shaping to be one of our best, featuring Ryan Moore, James McDonald, William Buick, Mickael Barzalona and our champion Zac Purton. To have the current top five in the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey rankings taking part in the IJC says everything necessary about the quality of this year’s competition.
“I’m especially pleased to welcome Saffie Osborne for the first time. She is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best up-and-coming young riders anywhere in the world, and she captured the imagination of racing fans all over the world this year with her history-making victory in the Group 1 St. Leger. To also have Irish Champion Jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle, as well as Rachel King, Christophe Lemaire and Joao Moreira, rounds out the international competitors perfectly.
“With this star-studded line-up and the iconic and spectacular Happy Valley racecourse as the setting we have all the ingredients for a thrilling night of great sport.”
Debutant Osborne was recently crowned winner of the 2026 World Pool Jockeys’ Championship on British Champions Day at Ascot, after riding 13 winners on 2026 World Pool racedays in Great Britain and Ireland. Last month the 24-year-old became the first female jockey to win a British Classic when Highwayman claimed the 250th G1 St. Leger at Doncaster Racecourse. She is also a two-time Shergar Cup winner and captained Team Great Britain & Ireland to victory over Team Hong Kong this year.
Moore, last year’s LONGINES IJC champion, currently holds the top spot in the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey standings, winning seven of the top 100 Group 1 races so far this year. He recently claimed the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, and is a three-time LONGINES IJC winner (2009, 2010 & 2025). Among his career honours was being appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2026 Birthday Honours for services to horse racing and to British sport. He was inducted into British Racing's Hall of Fame earlier this month.
McDonald, Buick and Barzalona have all won Group 1 races this month. McDonald, a three-time LONGINES World’s Best Jockey Award winner (2022, 2024 & 2025), won the G1 King Charles III Stakes aboard Autumn Glow. He became the most successful jockey in Australian racing history this year by surpassing Damien Oliver’s all‑time record of 129 Group 1 wins with his 130th earlier this year. He is second in the current LONGINES World’s Best Jockey standings, claiming 10 of the top 100 Group 1 races. He claimed a 10th Sydney jockeys’ title (including eight in succession) in the 2025/26 season.
Two-time British Champion Jockey Buick is no stranger to Hong Kong. He finished joint-second in last year’s LONGINES IJC, winning the first leg of the series with Bunta Baby. Buick is Godolphin’s leading rider and has formed a formidable partnership with Ombudsman, winning the G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot this month. He has amassed 130 Group 1 winners, and his glittering career highlights span the European Classics as well as major successes at Royal Ascot.
Barzalona, the 2024 LONGINES IJC champion, is also riding high in 2026, having recently won a second consecutive G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Daryz. He also enjoyed plenty of success this year with 2025 G1 Japan Cup winner Calandagan, adding two more Group 1 wins to the horse’s tally. Another notable Group 1 winner in 2026 is Rayif, victor of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the Prix Jacques Le Marois.
“Magic Man” Moreira is another familiar face at the LONGINES IJC. He will make his 11th appearance this year. The 2012 LONGINES IJC champion played a key role in assisting Caspar Fownes to claim his fifth trainer’s championship last season, and rode 32 winners across that season, including a four-timer at Happy Valley on 8 April.
Lemaire, who shared 2009 LONGINES IJC top honours with Johnny Murtagh and Ryan Moore, is a runaway leader in the JRA Jockeys Rankings, both in terms of number of wins and total prizemoney and is on his way to his ninth JRA Best Jockey Award for races won. He has three G1 wins this season and is a four-time Japan Cup winner.
Browne McMonagle is one of global racing’s most exciting talents. Last year he was crowned Irish Champion Jockey and has won Group 1 races in Ireland, Great Britain, the United States of America, France and Germany, the latest of which was a G1 Futurity Trophy victory aboard Giant Sequoia. He rode 10 winners across a short-term stint in Hong Kong last season and placed fourth in two Group 1 races.
King made her LONGINES IJC debut in 2023 and secured a victory aboard Oversubscribed. Overall, she ranked third behind Vincent Ho and Purton. Last year she became the first female jockey to win a G1 race in Japan, claiming the February Stakes with Costa Nova. Recently, she captured the G1 Golden Rose Stakes and G1 Caulfield Guineas aboard star colt Warwoven.
Purton, a nine-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey, will chase a record fourth LONGINES IJC crown, having won the event in 2017, 2020 and 2021. He currently leads this season’s Hong Kong standings with 26 wins (as of 25 October), ahead of Nichola Yuen (13) and Ho (12). Purton’s tally of 2,047 career wins in Hong Kong is a record.
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 LONGINES 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 LONGINES IJC, substitute jockeys are eligible for points and if a countback is required, it will go back to fourth placings.
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, 7 December.
The minimum riding weight for LONGINES 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 that have shown reasonable recent form.
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