One win at happy Valley last night was all it took for Hugh Bowman to clinch a prized place in the lucrative International Jockey’s Championship which will take place at Sha Tin on December 10 … but it was a really close call.
Bowman trailed Luke Ferraris by one win going into the last qualifying meeting for the place designated to the next highest-ranked Hong Kong-based jockey after Zac Purton … but he did have the advantage of having gained more second place finishes than Ferraris meaning Bowman would get the result he desired on a countback ruling if he could level up with Ferraris’ total number of winners.
In the third and fourth races it looked like the racing Gods might not be with Bowman as not only finished second in successive races, but his horse only went down by a nose on both occasions.
At that stage it was a case of so near yet so far.
But, although he had to wait a further three races, Bowman’s fortunes did change in race seven where, considering the prize he was shooting for, his win on the aptly named All Cash put him level with Ferraris.
He had left it late. All Cash was Bowman’s last ride on the night.
That was a pivotal result because had it gone the other way, Ferraris, who finished only a neck back in second place aboard Fortune Star, would have pulled away and clinched the IJC place instead of Bowman.
In the end, you could say the neck margin of victory there decided it all in Bowman’s favour.
Ferraris had one last chance of pegging Bowman back in the final race on the card but finished out of the placings.
With fifteen winners apiece, Bowman then qualified for the IJC on a second place countback.
The IJC is the most lucrative jockey challenge in the world. The winning rider receives HK$600,000. Second place earns HK$250,000, while third collects HK$150,000.
