Ryan Moore delivered a timely reminder of his world-leading status with a supreme performance to land a third Longines International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) in a thrilling contest which remained wide open right up to its conclusion at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (December 10th).

With four riders tied in the lead heading into the last of the four rounds with 12 points under a scoring format of 12 points for a win, six points for second and four points for third, it was just the kind of competitive event the evening was designed for.

Hugh Bowman, Moore and William Buick already had a winner apiece while Zac Purton's two second places kept him in the hunt. Others lurked with the potential to take the overall prize with victory in the final leg over 1200 metres.

Moore saved the best until last on the appropriately-named Triumphant More (130lb) in the fourth Leg, who was closer to last than first turning for home but threaded his way through the field to score by three quarters of a length from Umberto Rispoli and Tourbillon Golfer (121lb).

Moore, previously a Longines IJC winner in 2009 and 2010 and a four-time recipient of the Longines World’s Best Jockey award, had been sidelined due to a stress fracture in his femur since late August and returned to race riding only last week.

“I'm very fortunate to have been coming back here for so many years and it's a long time since I last won it,” said Moore, who won the second leg on front-runner Corleone (134lb) over 1650m for Caspar Fownes.

“It's fortunate I had two very good rides today and it worked out nicely for me. I'm just thankful to be coming back here and I had the luck tonight.”

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (December 14th) with the HK$130 million Longines Hong Kong International Races. This card includes the Hong Kong Vase where Moore will be aboard the Aidan O'Brien-trained Los Angeles. The only other Irish-trained runner in the field is Joseph O'Brien's Al Riffa.