By Leo Schlink
Preparing to contest the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (LONGINES IJC) next month, Hollie Doyle opened her latest Hong Kong stint in perfect fashion at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (5 November), striking in tandem with familiar ally Run Run Smart (122lb) in the Class 4 Japan Racing Association Trophy Handicap (1200m).
By Declan Schuster
One of world racing’s leading female riders, Hollie Doyle, will begin her short-term contract in Hong Kong on Wednesday night (5 November) at Happy Valley, where she takes seven rides across the nine-race fixture.
Doyle, 29, has five Hong Kong wins. She began riding in 2013, and since then has won 10 Group 1 races before becoming Great Britain’s most successful female jockey by surpassing Hayley Turner with a 1,023rd British winner at Ascot in May, 2025.
When weights were announced in mid-September for Monday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, the gelding Valiant King ranked 76th among the candidates.
Since then, Valiant King has forced his way into the field, and will start in the famous two-mile race for the second consecutive year.
Trained by Chris Waller, Valiant King earned a guaranteed berth to this year’s $6.53 million Melbourne Cup with a win at 60-1 in the Group 3 Bart Cumming Stakes at about 1 9/16 miles at Flemington on Oct. 4.
Masquerade Ball rallied between rivals in early stretch to win Sunday’s autumn running of the Grade 1 Tenno Sho at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan. It was the 3-year-old colt’s first victory in a race at the highest level and his debut against older horses.
The win may lead to a start in a Grade 1 race in Japan in coming weeks and months, with the $7.07 million Japan Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Tokyo on Nov. 30, or the $7.07 million Arima Kinen at 1 9/16 miles at Nakayama on Dec. 28 as options.
Sunday’s Tenno Sho was run at 1 1/4 miles.
Two stakes wins by Parchment Party in long-distance stakes at Saratoga in June and August have not impressed Australian bettors in advance of Monday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse.
As of Thursday, Parchment Party was a 40-1 outsider in an expected field of 24 in the $6.55 million Melbourne Cup, run at two miles on turf.
Parchment Party, a 4-year-old colt trained by Bill Mott, is winless in two starts on turf. He was ninth of 11 in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Gulfstream Park on March 1 in his latest start on the surface.
By Paul Ryding
David Eustace will turn to one of his yard’s emerging talents as he bids to build momentum and snap a frustrating spell when Hong Kong racing shifts to Happy Valley’s rare weekend meeting on Sunday (2 November).
Stuck on one win through 15 meetings of the 2025/26 campaign, Eustace, who picked up 36 winners during an excellent debut season in Hong Kong, has been left frustrated by a run of narrow defeats this term.
