Australia’s Hugh Bowman wins Longines International Jockeys’ Championship 2016 at Happy Valley

In what proved to be a tense battle between twelve of the world’s best jockeys who were each representing their country or region, Bowman denied Ryan Moore a third title in thrilling fashion.

The Longines International Jockeys’ Championship was contested over four races of from the nine race card at Happy Valley, with 12 points awarded to the jockey for a win, six points for a second place, and four points for a third place.

Bowman claimed the 2016 title with a total of 18 points, four ahead of Moore with 14 points, with Mirco Demuro and Keita Tosaki, finishing equal third with 12 points.

Bowman started by winning the opening leg – race 4 – on Premiere by a length and a half from for trainer John Size, who played his part by providing two of the four wins. Secret Agent came in second and Powermax in third.

The second leg went to script when Moore rode Giant Turtle to victory by a length and three-quarters for Tony Millard. Moore never really looked like losing on the favourite for what was his best ride of the night, coming in ahead of Casa Master and Good Choice

Those victories quickly narrowed the competition down to a three-way contest between Bowman, Moore and USA-based jockey Florent Geroux, who had second-place points behind Premiere and his best rides still to come.

Bowman looked ready to claim the series title with a race to spare in leg 3 and race 7 when he raced to what looked an unassailable lead on David Ferraris-trained Kiram.

However Italian rider Mirco Demuro lifted the Peter Ho-trained Mutual Joy from an impossible position halfway up the straight before snatching victory on the line by a short head from Kiram. Moore for his part dead-heated on Midnite Promise for third along with Geroux on Works of Art to keep the series open.

The final leg proved to be something of an anti-climax. After 2015 series winner Gavin Lerena finished without a mount when the vets took Nitro Express out at the start, Japan’s Keita Tosaki took the spoils on Size-trained outsider Big Bang Bong, with both Bowman and Moore unplaced and without points.

It meant the series had been decided in favour of Bowman by a combination of two minor photo finishes. The first with Moore’s dead-heat for third in the third leg and sharing the four points for the minor place, and then the camera shot in the eighth race to decide whether he had run third or what was finally adjudged as fourth.

The jockeys’ talent will be celebrated again later this week with the Longines World’s Best Jockey Award ceremony, held during the annual Gala dinner of the Longines Hong Kong International Races, on Friday 9 December. This joint initiative from Longines and the IFHA honours the jockey who has scored the most points throughout the year in the 100 highest-rated Group One and Grade One races staged between 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016.