You wouldn’t expect the Longines World Best jockey of 2025 to announce his arrival for a riding stint in Hong Kong in any other way, but James McDonald’s treble at Sha Tin on Sunday … which included wins in two of the three feature races on the day … was really another extraordinary display of race riding by an extraordinary jockey with each individual ride underlining just how wide a range of skills McDonald has at his disposal.
His win on the John Size trained Fit For Beauty in the second race on the card was a fine example of patience, positioning and knowing when to put your foot on the accelerator.
McDonald was patient early here, he switched Fit For Beauty out wider, positioning his mount in clear galloping room at the top of the straight and then realised he had to push to button early as the leaders threatened to get away.
Fit For Beauty’s gained momentum and maintained a strong run to the line, taking control inside the final 50m to land a well-judged win.
Then it was on to the first of the three Group 2 feature races of the day … the BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint.
McDonald and his mount Fast Network, along with rest of Ka Ying Rising’s nine opponents, were never going to get the better of the world’s best sprinter, but McDonald did the net best thing, pushing Fast Network into second place behind the David Hayes trained superstar.
McDonald then asserted himself in no uncertain terms with back-to-back feature race successes, taking out both the BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile and the BOCHK Jockey Club Cup.
The ride on Galaxy Path in the Mile was a huge factor in the victory … a testing come-from-behind effort which upstaged the races better fancies.
Racing all of seven lengths back on the rail all the way to the home turn, McDonald had no hesitation in maintaining an inside line on straightening.
Galaxy Patch, who had been hampered at the 800m mark, was then not only able to take a straight-line home, but his straight-line speed quickly kicked in under the relatively gentle urgings of McDonald at first, before McDonald gave him the green light to fully stretch out over the final 200m … and he was very strong to the line.
All of that, and the sequence in which it played out as McDonald put Galaxy Patch into contention, was a recipe for a notable win as Galaxy Patch hit the front and was good enough to hold that advantage to the line to ward off the faster finishing place-getters out in the centre of the track.
Next up for McDonald was the mighty Romantic Warrior in the Jockey Club Cup … the best horse in the race, even although Romantic Warrior was up against the Triple Crown winner Voyage Bubble, ridden by Zac Purton, who would be right there to pounce if any dents appeared in the Romantic Warrior / James McDonald armoury.
As expected, that hope turned out to be no more than wishful thinking, but, even here, with the best horse in the race underneath him, McDonald still had to get it right, and he exactly how the best horse in the race should be ridden.
And it was that scenario that was plain for all to see at Sha Tin on Sunday.
McDonald had Romantic Warrior tracking the speed at a comfortable gallop for much of the running, before slipping up into the leading line on straightening and then simply outgunning Voyage Bubble, going past his main rival at the 250m to salute with a touch of arrogance.
Of course, all of the horses and the hard work of the respective trainers involved played their part in the McDonald and that underlines what is probably McDonald’s greatest strength … his ability to get horses to work with him which sees horse and rider form a willing partnership and create a scenario in which both of them can thrive.
