New Zealander James McDonald is on a two-pronged mission after arriving in Hong Kong following riding stints in Sydney as possibly the most in-form jockey in the world.
The expatriate New Zealander, now based in Sydney, started a five-week riding contract in Hong Kong last Sunday (26 November) and hit the ground running when he produced a winner with his first ride on Wunderbar in the Class 4 Chevalier Lifts & Escalators Handicap (1000m) for John Size.
And five races later he booted home long-shot winner, The Golden Scenery, for Tony Cruz in the Class 1 Chevalier Cup Handicap (1600m).
McDonald, who was awarded the 2022 LONGINES World’s Best Jockey, will represent his native New Zealand in the 2023 LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley on Wednesday, 6 December.
Keen to win the Championship after coming close in previous contests at Happy Valley, the 31-year-old is determined to ride as many winners as he can while on his short-term contract in Hong Kong and will again be reunited with Romantic Warrior in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m), a race he combined to win with the gelding last December.
McDonald, known to racing fans as ‘J-Mac’, hit the headlines when he rode the Danny Shum-trained Romantic Warrior to a fighting victory in the G1 W.S. Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley in October.