By Alan Carasso
Silvestre de Sousa, a two-time and the 2017 leading jockey in the United Kingdom with 155 wins, has been named to ride GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Stormy Liberal (Stormy Atlantic) in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin Racecourse Sunday, Dec. 10. Brian Trump, the racing manager to owner Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch, confirmed the news to the TDN Saturday.
A former champion rider in Brazil, de Sousa progressed through the ranks and won better than 100 races for the first time in England in 2010 before finishing runner-up in the jockeys' premiership in 2011. Retained by Godolphin from 2012 through 2014, de Sousa won the G1 Dubai World Cup aboard African Story (GB) and notched 132 winners as a freelance rider to win the jockeys' title in 2015. He has also ridden with some success on short-term raids in Hong Kong with 16 winners in each of the last two seasons.
De Sousa had rides in all four of the international races in 2016, finishing third in the Sprint aboard defending champion Peniaphobia (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}).
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