By Alan Carasso
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 route to amassing 30 points and easily outdistancing 11 other top riders from all over the world.
A 30-1 chance pre-post for the IJC, Barzalona was off to the perfect start in the first leg over the 1000 metres, driving fellow roughie Sergeant Pepper (Aus) (I Am Invicible {Aus}) to a victory that was anything but 'lonely,' as Lean Master (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), the mount of William Buick, and Parents' Love (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}), ridden by defending champion Vincent Ho, chimed in late on. In so doing, Barzalona scooped the 12 points for finishing first (video).
Barzalona was alloted the mount on Forever Glorious (GB) (Archipenko), who was off at 20-1 in the second leg going 1650 metres, and he looked well on his way to all but sewing up the IJC when he swept in from approaching the final furlong. He was joined shortly thereafter by James McDonald and Prince Alex (Aus) (Animal Kingdom)–a 6-year-old full-brother to US Grade I winner Oleksandra (Aus)–but went down to a battling defeat when the dust had settled (video). Colin Keane and Sure Joyful (NZ) (Tarzino {NZ}) got home well for third.
Hollie Doyle rarely leaves empty-handed on IJC night, having finished a joint-third on her maiden appearance in 2020 and a dead-heat second the following season. Her first-ever victory in the IJC came courtesy of trainer David Hayes on a hot favourite in 2020, and the Lindsay Park maestro was responsible for getting her into the thick of things on Wednesday. Assigned the mount on $6.30 (5.30-1) gamble Soleil Fighter ( GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), Doyle was able to settle the 4-year-old on the back of the speed, peeled out and proved narrowly best over Silo (Aus) (National Defense {GB}, Karis Teetan) and Aestheticism (NZ) (Derryn {Aus}), Zac Purton) (video).
Five of the 12 IJC contestants were in with a winning chance heading into the final leg at 1200 metres. Barzalona's mount, Aurora Lady (Aus) (Star Witness {Aus}) was the third choice at just below 6-1, but had a potentially tricky draw to deal with in 12 for trainer Pierre Ng. Away alertly and ridden positively, the bay raced three wide and without the benefit of cover in the first third of the field and put the race away in the straight, comfortably holding Kyrus Dragon (Aus) (Safeguard {Aus}, Keane) and Super Joy N Fun (NZ) (What's The Story {NZ}, Ho) (video). McDonald and Doyle were unable to add to their 12 points and shared runner-up honours.
“Pierre was quite confident in Aurora Lady's chances after he disappointed at Sha Tin last time when things didn't work out,” said Barzalona. “He's been unlucky a couple of times recently and given we were drawn wide he told me to try and get forward as long as they didn't go mad early on. I trusted my horse and he didn't let me down.
“It's a hyper-competitive jockeys challenge and when you see the major names up there on the roll of honour, I'm delighted to have mine alongside,” Barzalona said.
Barzalona, who takes home the HK$600,000 first prize, becomes the fourth Frenchman to take out the IJC, joining Olivier Peslier (1998, 2006), Christophe Soumillon (2004, tie with Yutaka Take) and Christophe Lemaire (2012, tie with Ryan Moore and Johnny Murtagh). Barzalona has the call for Fabre aboard Marquisat (Ire) (Zarak {Fr}) in Sunday's G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase. It will be his final Group 1 ride for Godolphin before he takes up a role as first jockey for the French-trained horses of the Aga Khan Studs in 2025.
Smashing night! 🎆@LONGINES | #IJC | #HKIR pic.twitter.com/xzVIpPMKKA
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) December 4, 2024
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