Ryan Moore delivered a timely reminder of his world-leading status with a supreme performance to land a third LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) in a thrilling contest which remained wide open right up to its conclusion at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (10 December).

With four riders tied in the lead heading into the last of the four rounds with 12 points under a scoring format of 12 points for a win, six points for second and four points for third, it was just the kind of competitive event the evening was designed for.

Hugh Bowman, Moore and William Buick already had a winner apiece while Zac Purton’s two second places kept him in the hunt. Others lurked with the potential to take the overall prize with victory in the final leg over 1200 metres.

Moore saved the best until last on the appropriately-named Triumphant More (130lb) in the 4th Leg, who was closer to last than first turning for home but threaded his way through the field to score by three-quarters of a length from Umberto Rispoli and Tourbillon Golfer (121lb).

Moore, previously a LONGINES IJC winner in 2009 and 2010 and a four-time recipient of the LONGINES World’s Best Jockey award, had been sidelined due to a stress fracture in his femur since late August and returned to race riding only last week.

“I’m very fortunate to have been coming back here for so many years and it’s a long time since I last won it,” said Moore, who won the 2nd Leg on front-runner Corleone (134lb) over 1650m for Caspar Fownes.

“It’s fortunate I had two very good rides today and it worked out nicely for me. I’m just thankful to be coming back here and I had the luck tonight.”

Buick, who finished joint runner-up with Bowman with both jockeys earning HK$200,000, had been delighted to reach a milestone in the 1st Leg over 1000m.

His mount Bunta Baby (123lb) was without a victory in 11 previous starts in Hong Kong, for all that he had shown the potential to get off the mark particularly with a fast-finishing second over course and distance last time.

Manfred Man’s charge came with a late challenge and passed Purton and Beauty Thunder (126lb) shortly before the line.

“It’s my first winner at Happy Valley, so I’m very happy to have achieved it,” Buick said.

“He was coming off the back of a good run last time and was one of my better chances on the night so it’s great to get it done.”

Bowman had not featured heavily with his first two rides but seized the moment in the 3rd Leg over 1650 metres. His mount, David Eustace-trained Silvery Breeze (131lb), needed to wait for an opening in the straight but picked up stylishly to power past Purton and Flying Fortress (134lb).

“It was very important actually for the way things were going,” Bowman said. “He was knocking on the door, his recent form has been very consistent and he got the set-up to suit him this evening.”

Fownes won the LONGINES IJC trainers’ bonus with 16 points on countback from Cody Mo. Fownes earned HK$300,000 for the win, while Mo received HK$125,000 while third place prize of HK$75,000 was shared by Eustace, Lor and Man, who all scored 12 points.

Four-time Hong Kong champion jockey Joao Moreira knows the Happy Valley bends as well as any and was touched by the reception from the crowd as he claimed the first two races on the undercard for Fownes-trained Family Fortune (123lb) in the Class 5 Ventris Handicap (1650m) and Lucky Generations (118lb) in the Class 5 Morrison Hill Handicap (1200m).

“Even before the race before I got on the horse’s back, people started cheering and all the hard work I’ve done here in Hong Kong, it’s still being appreciated by a lot of people and that means a lot to me,” he said. “Everything that I’ve put in, it was worth it.”

Trainers Francis Lui, Danny Shum and Michael Chang all posted winners on the undercard, along with jockeys Luke Ferraris, Keith Yeung and Bowman.

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (14 December) with the HK$130 million LONGINES Hong Kong International Races.