Rispoli to Ride in International Jockeys' Championship

A stellar line-up will contest the 2025 Longines International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday, Dec. 10, with those invited including five previous winners—Ryan Moore, Zac Purton, Mickael Barzalona, Joao Moreira and Christophe Lemaire. Moore's participation in this year's edition will be subject to Moore's final confirmation given that the two-time Longines IJC champion is recovering from a leg injury. Adding further class to the line-up are New Zealand's James McDonald and Norwegian-born British-based jockey William Buick. The 2022 and 2024 Longines World's Best Jockey, McDonald has enjoyed another immensely successful year. He currently holds top spot in the Longines World's Best Jockey standings, while Buick ranks fourth. Two renowned female riders—Hollie Doyle and Rachel King—add further quality, while former Hong Kong-based jockey Umberto Rispoli will represent the United States at 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 in prize money. Meanwhile, a total prize fund of HK$1 million (approximately $126,613) in bonus money for the most successful riders will be split three ways, with the winner set to receive HK$600,000, HK$250,000 for second place, and HK$150,000 for third place. 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 Longins International Jockeys' Championship will go to next highest-ranked rider in the Hong Kong championship standings and Hong Kong, China's leading homegrown rider at the selection cut-off date, which follows the race meeting on Wednesday, 26 November. Mr. Andrew Harding, executive director of racing for The Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: "The Longines International Jockeys' Championship is the world's most coveted such competition and this year we have one of the strongest jockey line-ups in recent years, featuring James McDonald, Mickael Barzalona, Ryan Moore and William Buick - who currently fill top four in the Longines World's Best Jockey standings, and between them this year they have won a string of the world's leading Group 1 contests. The line-up will be boosted, of course, by the inclusion of two-time Longines IJC champion Ryan Moore, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that he recovers sufficiently to be able to participate." McDonald, Barzalona and Buick are each in fine form, having scored in group 1 races held at the recent W.S. Cox Plate, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Breeders' Cup meetings. Moore also enjoyed plenty of success in 2025 before missing the latter part of the European Flat racing season. McDonald, the two-time Longines World's Best Jockey Award winner (2022 & 2024), is chasing Damien Oliver's Australian record of 129 Group 1 victories. He recently won a fourth consecutive W.S. Cox Plate atop Via Sistina to join Hugh Bowman as the only jockeys to achieve the feat. McDonald's major achievements in 2025 also included winning all three legs of the Triple Crown in Hong Kong—The Stewards' Cup, Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup and Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup with Voyage Bubble (AUS). 2024 Longines IJC champion Mickael Barzalona is also riding high in 2025, his victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) with Daryz instantly becoming a career highlight. He also enjoyed plenty of success this year with Calandagan (IRE), landing three prestigious group 1 races including the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1), King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) and Champion Stakes (G1). He also added more group 1 wins to his tally with Sahlan in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (g1) earlier in September and Gezora in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) in early November. Two-time British Champion Jockey Buick is no stranger to Hong Kong. Representing Great Britain, Buick is Godolphin's leading rider and formed a formidable partnership with Ombudsman (IRE) winning the Prince Of Wales's Stakes (G1) and the International Stakes (G1). He was also aboard the winners of both the 1000 Guineas and 2000 Guineas in Great Britain, Desert Flower (IRE) and Ruling Court (IRE), respectively. Notable Speech (GB) is his latest Group 1 winner in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1). Moore is a regular competitor in the Longines 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 (IRE). 'Magic Man' Joao Moreira is another familiar face at the Longines IJC. He will make his tenth appearance at this year's event. The 2012 Longines IJC champion is in fine form after winning the Gran Premio Latinoamericano with Obataye (BRZ) 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 Longines 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 Longines 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 Nov. 2) from Luke Ferraris (12) and Hugh Bowman (11). Both Doyle and King have proven records in the Longines IJC: Doyle finished joint-third in her Longines 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 Longines 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 (G1) with Costa Nova (JPN). 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 (G1). Formidable Man was another group 1 winner for him this year in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1). Trainers will again have an added incentive to aim their horses at Longines IJC races this year with a bonus scheme, which will pay HK$300,000, HK$125,000, and HK$75,000, respectively, to the three handlers who achieve the highest number of points across the four races.  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. Homegrown jockeys with 2 lb. or 3 lb. claims are eligible for selection for the Longines IJC but there will be no claiming allowance in the four Longines 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, Dec. 8. The minimum riding weight for Longines IJC races is 118 lb. 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.