Jamie Kah wins aboard favourite at Hong Kong meeting
Jamie Kah has scored a win in Hong Kong in only her second ride in the Asian nation — and narrowly missed out on winning the International Jockeys’ Championship.
Superstar hoop Jamie Kah has scored a win in Hong Kong in only her second ride in the Asian nation.
Kah booted home the $2.15 favourite Hearty Wish in race 3 at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
She is in Hong Kong for the the International Jockeys’ Championship.
It was a great birthday present for Kah who turned 27 on Wednesday.
Kah followed the win up with a third placing on rank outsider Free Foal in race 5 — the second leg of the IJC — which paid $7.20 the place.
In the fourth and final leg of the IJC, Kah’s $14 chance Red Lion finished second by only a short-half-head.
If the horse had won, Kah would have won the IJC, creating history as the first woman to win the championship.
The IJC was jointly won by Silvestre de Sousa and Tom Marquand.
Save this one off, @jamieleekah07! 💾
— Hong Kong Racing (@HongKong_Racing) December 7, 2022
Star Aussie rider Jamie Kah sealing her first win in Hong Kong aboard HEARTY WISH.#HKRacing#IJC#HKRacingpic.twitter.com/6lKbBNZmXS
‘ONE RACE I’D LOVE TO WIN’: J-MAC HAS SIGHTS ON HK CUP
James McDonald has a lot of big races on his CV but he’s determined to add the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup to that list and he won’t get many better opportunities than this Sunday with rising star Romantic Warrior.
The Danny Shum-trained four-year-old is favourite for the HK$34m (A$6.5m) contest, having won eight of his nine starts, including the Hong Kong Derby, the Group 1 QE II Cup last season and then making a fantastic return in the Group 2 Jockey Club Cup.
McDonald got the late call-up to partner Romantic Warrior in that 2000m contest last month after his regular rider Karis Teetan was sidelined for three months with a thyroid issue.
The 30-year-old, who will officially be crowned the World’s Best Jockey for 2022 at a function in Hong Kong on Friday night, has retained the ride for the big international meeting and is looking to strike while the iron is hot.
How good could he still be!? 💫
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) November 21, 2022
Romantic Warrior was all class at Sha Tin yesterday leading home a one-two finish for Danny Shum in the G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup. @mcacajamez | #HKIR | #HKracingpic.twitter.com/XnrFeW2ztw
“It’s going to be a very competitive Hong Kong Cup and it’s one race I’d love to win and I’m definitely on the right horse to do that,” said McDonald, who has won features like the Melbourne Cup, the Cox Plate and The Everest in the past two years.
“I was really taken by my first feel on him, I thought he was outstanding that day and he can only improve.”
Romantic Warrior holds top spot in the market at $3, but the next four slots are all taken up by Japanese raiders – Jack D’Or ($4.20), Panthalassa ($6.50), Danon The Kid ($8) and Lei Papale ($11).
“It’s going to be some race. It’s obviously another step up in class taking on the Japan horses that are coming across but he’s a star in his own right,” McDonald said.
“Danny has done a marvellous job on him, he’s a real winner the horse, so I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
McDonald will also jump aboard the sole Australian-based horse competing at the Hong Kong International Races, the Annabel Neasham-prepared Laws Of Indices.
The son of Power wasn’t beaten far in the Cox Plate and put in an eye-catching effort when second in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap in October, with the star hoop in the saddle on Tuesday morning for his last serious piece of work.
Laws Of Indices, who won a Group 1 in France as a three-year-old, is one of the outsiders in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile – a race where the betting will be dominated by Hong Kong hero Golden Sixty – but McDonald thinks it would be foolish to dismiss him entirely.
“He’s a competitive little horse, he had probably his best spring down in Melbourne – he was competitive in a lot of big races,” McDonald said.
“He should probably be (an Australian) Group 1 winner – he drew 16 of 16 in the (Toorak Handicap), which is (a really hard task), he was back last and rattled home.
“The blinkers will go on Sunday and that will sharpen him up. He’s a proper miler but he’s up against the Hong Kong champ and California Spangle is a notable leader, so he’s got the task in front of him.
“But I wouldn’t put it past him, Annabel is a good trainer and she has him here in really good order.”
Originally published as Jamie Kah wins aboard favourite at Hong Kong meeting
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