Horse racing: James McDonald shines with three wins at Longines International Jockey Challenge

James McDonald rode three winners at the meet. Photo / HKJC

By Michael Guerin in Hong Kong

World champion Kiwi jockey James McDonald may have had to settle for second in the Longines International Jockey Challenge but there was still plenty of New Zealand success at the meeting.

McDonald rode a winner in one of the four legs of the IJC but his run of placings in the rich invited jockeys series at Happy Valley continued as he finished equal second with England’s Hollie Doyle behind runaway winner Mickael Barzalona from France.

Barzalona won two of the four legs so took home the HK$1 million winner’s cheque.

McDonald was the other jockey star of the night, riding three winners on the nine-race card including one of the IJC legs on Prince Alex.

The adoration McDonald is held in by the local punters is impossible to ignore, with plenty of “Jmac, Jmac” calls around the hyperactive Happy Valley parade ring.

They will get louder at Sha Tin on Sunday if McDonald can boot home Hong Kong’s most popular horse Romantic Warrior in the HK$40m Longines Hong Kong Cup.

It wasn’t just McDonald who was doing the New Zealand thoroughbred industry proud on Wednesday night though with four New Zealand-bred winners including two by Highview Stud stallion Wrote.

He sired both The Azure and Chilli Chibi to win and while one of the cheaper commercial stallions in New Zealand, Wrote is establishing his presence in Hong Kong with the unique demands it places on horses.

That should help his yearlings sold this summer as some owners or agents buying for Hong Kong will be more interested in them as will traders looking to pinhook Ready To Run horses or buy horses to trial and/or race before selling them to Hong Kong.

Sunday’s meeting, which starts at 5.25pm NZ time, hosts races worth HK$128m.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.