Happy Valley

The world's highest-rated sprinter, Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) scooped a trio of titles including Horse of the Year at the Hong Kong Champion Awards at the Rosewood Hotel in Hong Kong on Friday night. The 4-year-old gelding also earned the title of Hong Kong Champion Sprinter and Hong Kong Champion 4-Year-Old at the ceremony. Running in the colours of the Ka Ying Syndicate, Ka Ying Rising was undefeated during his 2024/2025 season with eight wins in eight trips to the post for David Hayes. His final seven starts of the...

Zac Purton has broken Douglas Whyte's Hong Kong all-time win record of 1,813 after scoring at Happy Valley on Wednesday evening. Purton was aboard Spirit Of Peace (Aus) (Harry Angel {Ire}) in the Class 4 Kowloon Park Handicap over 1200 metres, the third race on the card, when he tied Whyte's record. In Wednesday's finale, the Class 3 Victoria Park Handicap, the Australian booted View Of The World (NZ) (Derryn {Aus}) home to bring his all-win record on the island to 1,814 and take the record outright. A multiple champion...

On the back of a victory aboard Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) for Coolmore and trainer Andre Fabre in the G1 Investec Epsom Derby in 2011, a then 20-year-old Mickael Barzalona took up a short-term contract to ride in Hong Kong, bringing up a single winner from 42 rides. Now all of 33 years of age, the Frenchman experienced the other end of the spectrum to take out the valuable Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) before a packed house at Happy Valley Racecourse, book-ending the four-race competition with victories en...

Jockey Vincent Ho made history Wednesday night at iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island, becoming the first 'homegrown' rider to take out the prestigious Longines International Jockeys' Championship. With a narrow victory over Zac Purton in the fourth and final leg of the series, Ho amassed a total of 20 points to Purton's 18, with Australia's Rachel King and the locally based South African Lyle Hewitson on 16 points. King was declared outright third, with her victory in the first leg of the competition and an additional third-place...

The Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) is the premier event of its kind in the world, and with good reason, as it brings together 12 of the most-accomplished riders from all corners of the globe vying for the winner's share of the HK$800,000 (£81,120/$102,320) prizemoney on offer. The IJC, the true start of Longines Hong Kong International Races festivities, takes place annually at iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island, its tight turns and unique configuration offering up additional challenges, especially for jockeys based outside of Hong Kong. Britain's...

Coronavirus dictated that it wasn't exactly business at usual at Happy Valley Racecourse for the staging of Wednesday's Longines International Jockeys' Championship. But there was a return to at least some semblance of normalcy, as a crowd of about 11,000 fans filed into the stands and into the beer garden to watch Silvestre de Sousa finish level with Tom Marquand to cause a dead heat for just the third time in the history of the event. The duo shared HK$700,000 (£73,544) in prize money. COVID-19 had already resulted original IJC...

Hollie Doyle may be the roughest chance in the field of 12 for Wednesday evening's Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) at Hong Kong iconic 'city track' at Happy Valley Racecourse, but she'd be considering herself fortunate to take her chances at all. The 26-year-old, who returned an 'indifferent' COVID test upon her arrival from Japan, was given the green light to compete Tuesday after the chief medical officer for the Hong Kong Jockey Club confirmed that the original result was a 're-positive' case, per a release. "After careful clinical and...

Owner Edmond Yue Kwok-yin splashed out HK$7 million on the advice of trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing for a 3-year-old son of Starspangledbanner (Aus) at the Hong Kong International Sale, and the gelding made a small, but not insignificant first return on that investment with a handy career debut Wednesday evening at Happy Valley Racecourse. Nordic Dragon (Ire) had made a favourable impression in a pair of barrier trials, winning one such event going 1200-metres around the city circuit Oct. 14 (video) and another when switched to the dirt track at...

Nine of the finest jockeys representing six of the world's most important racing jurisdictions will take part in the Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) to be held at iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island Wednesday, Dec. 7. Making her third appearance in the IJC, having finished second in last year's event, is England's Hollie Doyle, who set a new record for wins by a female jockey in a British calendar year in last term. The 26-year-old has put together another fine season in 2022 and earned her first...

European-based jockeys managed victories in three of the four races comprising Wednesday's Longines International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island, but consistency was rewarded when Zac Purton--out of luck on the evening--had the last laugh, placing in all four legs to take home the HK$500,000 (£48,558/€56,739) first prize. Currently atop the jockeys' premiership in Hong Kong, Purton was winning the IJC for a third time in five years, having taken it in 2017 and again 12 months ago. He joins Frankie Dettori and Douglas Whyte as...

Eight high-profile overseas jockeys will join four Hong Kong-based riders to compete for the HK$500,000 top prize in the Longines International Jockeys' Championship to be held at the iconic Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island Wednesday, Dec. 8. Ryan Moore is set to jet in to make a 15th appearance at the IJC, having dead-heated for the spoils with John Murtagh and Christophe Lemaire in 2009 before winning the title outright 12 months hence. Moore, who has finished on the podium four times since his most recent victory, currently...

The 2020/2021 racing season in Hong Kong concluded July 14, with the Hong Kong Jockey Club reporting turnover in excess of HK$130 billion (£12.1b/€14.2b/US$16.7b) for the first time. A total of 88 meetings--one more than last season--were conducted between September and July, with no programs lost to the coronavirus. The HKJC staged 835 races at Sha Tin and Happy Valley Racecourses, and took 206 races from overseas for simulcasting purposes. Total turnover was HK$136 billion, representing a 12.1% increase over last season. The HKJC is the single largest taxpayer in...