James McDonald

James McDonald will once again ride second string for Wathnan Racing during the Royal Ascot meeting next week. The Kiwi-born McDonald earned his fifth Royal Ascot winner aboard Wathnan's Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) in last year's G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes. Overall, the Wathnan colours were first past the post five times during the 2025 edition of Royal Ascot. "We've got a young fellow from New Zealand who's not too bad called James McDonald on the teamsheet," said Wathnan's racing adviser Richard Brown when asked about riding plans in races where...

Despite facing what trainer Danny Shum described as the strongest field to go to post for the G1 FWD QEII Cup "for 15 or 20 years", it was a case of business as usual at Sha Tin on Sunday as Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) saw off a formidable international challenge to register a record-extending fourth success in the HK$30-million showpiece on FWD Champions Day. Racing in a clear fourth as last month's Hong Kong Derby second Numbers (Tivaci) led the eight-strong field to the home turn, the strong-travelling Romantic Warrior soon...

Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) barely came out of second gear as he repeated his 2024 success in the HK$13-million Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday, emulating the likes of Viva Pataca (2008 and 2009), Designs On Rome (2015 and 2016) and Golden Sixty (2021 and 2023) as a dual winner of the Group 1 prize. Trained by Danny Shum, Romantic Warrior is also now just leg away from becoming only the third horse in history to complete the Hong Kong Triple Crown after this effortless win. Racing...

Yulong's champion racemare Via Sistina has been retired from racing and is set to return to the UK in the coming weeks in preparation for a visit to Dubawi. Bred by Laundry Cottage Stud, Via Sistina was initially trained by Joe Tuite after being bought by Stephen and Becky Hillen for just 5,000gns at the 2019 Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. When Tuite retired from the training ranks in August 2022, having saddled Via Sistina to win two of her first six starts, she was transferred to the care of George...

HONG KONG, CHINA - Hong Kong International Races day began under gray skies and chilly temperatures, but heated up quickly with an opening performance from K-Pop legend RAIN, who brought out the sun for a legion of fans lined up outside the paddock with signs bearing his name and had even HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges bopping along to his performance. The day's expected headliners and hometown heroes Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) and Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) delivered in spades, but the quartet of international races opened with...

HONG KONG, CHINA -- There is likely never a bad time for a horse racing fan to visit Hong Kong, which conducts racing twice a week alternating between a pair of breathtakingly beautiful racetracks, but the action is extra special this week. It kicked off Wednesday night with the Longines International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley--a racetrack which fairly glitters against a backdrop of skyscrapers--and will conclude Sunday with four Group 1 races comprising the Longines Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin. Even before the jockey championship--which pitted 12...

James McDonald has won the Longines World's Best Jockey title for the second consecutive year and third time overall. The New Zealand-born, Australian-based jockey also won the Longines World's Best Jockey Award in 2022. The awarding of the Longines World's Best Jockey title is based upon performances in the 100 highest-rated Group and Grade 1 races as established for the year by the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings Committee. The scoring incorporates races from December 1 of the previous year until November 30 of the current year. Jockeys accrue 12...

By Kit Gow/TTRAusNZ Last year James McDonald stood in the irons approaching the line in the G1 Cox Plate as his mount Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) surged to an astonishing eighth-length victory. This year, the Moonee Valley crowd had their hearts in their mouths as the returning champion rounded the corner out wide, fighting to get past Nepotism (Brutal) and Treasurethe Moment (Alabama Express) to defend her crown. But it wouldn't be a fitting swansong for the Valley before its reconstruction without that height of drama. For fleeting seconds as...

Jockeys Hollie Doyle and Dylan Browne McMonagle lead a quartet of international riders granted Hong Kong temporary licences in the coming months. Doyle, who has participated in the last five Longines International Jockeys' Championships (IJC) at Happy Valley and also ridden at Sha Tin's Longines Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) meeting, has won four times in Hong Kong. Her licence is from November 5-December 23. Doyle said, "I've had the pleasure of riding in Hong Kong over the last few years, albeit for in-and-out trips to compete in the IJC...

Wathnan Racing's Crimson Advocate (Nyquist), who annexed the 2023 G2 Queen Mary Stakes for George Weaver, returned to the scene of her greatest triumph with a decisive victory in Wednesday's G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes. Her 1 3/4-length tally provided the Gosden stable with a record-extending sixth win in the one-mile contest. Crimson Advocate had previously registered a second stakes win in Goodwood's Listed Conqueror Stakes last month, her third outing and first win for John and Thady Gosden since joining from the Weaver stable, and the four-year-old landed a...

James McDonald has been recruited by Wathnan Racing to carry their colours during the first three days of Royal Ascot. The star rider will be utilised on an as-needed basis besides first-call jockey James Doyle, with William Buick and Colin Keane also in the mix. McDonald, or J-Mac as he is known Down Under, will have the call on Yulong's Carl Spackler (Lope De Vega) in the  in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes on opening day. Wathnan's racing adviser Richard Brown said, "We're going to have a good-sized team with...

Voyage Bubble (Deep Field) streaked to a three-and-a-half-length victory in Sunday's G1 HK$13 million Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin, in the process becoming become only the second horse in Hong Kong racing history after River Verdon in 1993/94 to complete the Triple Crown. Following victories in the G1 Stewards' Cup (1600m) and G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), Voyage Bubble was chased home by a pair of high-class four-year-olds, Rubylot and Cap Ferrat, as he secured the Triple Crown bonus of HK$10-million for also winning...