Alexis Badel celebrated his most productive meeting of the 2026/27 season at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (11 November) when the Frenchman posted a treble and Jerry Chau edged closer to a berth in next month’s (9 December) LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC).



Riding in brilliant form, Badel triumphed on Me Tsui’s Pope Cody, Douglas Whyte’s Cheerful Wongchoy and Ricky Yiu’s Lovely Miles to take his seasonal haul to 10 wins.



“It’s good. I think I’ve had some good rides – some good draws, some bad draws – but we were able to work it out,” Badel said. “The horses have been in good form. So, that’s good.”



Badel’s display on Pope Cody (135lb) in the Class 3 Fung Mo Handicap (1800m) summed up the Frenchman’s confidence. Racing near the tail of the field, Badel had no hesitation in making his move from 900m to cruise into a striking position, ultimately judging his run to the line to perfection to defeat Shooting To Top (118lb) by a neck.



Badel also produced an equally well-judged, front-running ride on Douglas Whyte’s Cheerful Wongchoy (121lb) to land the first section of the Class 4 Sze Mei Handicap (1650m). Taken straight to the lead by Badel, Cheerful Wongchoy was cleverly rated by the 36-year-old to register his second course and distance victory.



Lovely Miles (133lb) delivered the first of Badel’s victories in the Class 5 Tseuk Luk Handicap (1650m).



Pope Cody’s win elevated the former Australian galloper to the top of the DBS x Manulife Million Challenge with 37 points, one clear of Danny Shum’s Leading Agility (123lb), who landed the Class 3 Sam Chuk Handicap (1200m) under Chau.



Chau’s success shunted him to 18 wins for the campaign and second place in the Hong Kong jockeys’ championship behind Zac Purton (30 wins). With only four meetings left until the final two places for the LONGINES IJC are decided, Chau holds a handy buffer over Vincent Ho (14), Andrea Atzeni (13) and Derek Leung (11).



2025 Hong Kong Derby (2000m) third place-getter Packing Angel (129lb) provided a reminder of his quality for Francis Lui with a strong win in the Class 2 Lung Cheung Handicap (1650m).



Claiming his second Class 2 victory, Packing Angel enjoyed a trouble-free run under Harry Bentley before forging clear to defeat Lucky Sam Gor (121lb) and Six Pack (134lb) as Caspar Fownes’ penchant for restoring horses to winning form after injury or sickness layoffs continued with Winning Machine (117lb), who won the first section of the Class 4 Tai Yau Handicap (1200m) under Ellis Wong.

Sidelined since the end of last season after bleeding from both nostrils and undergoing arthroscopic surgery to both knees, Winning Machine justified the patience of his owners and Fownes.



“We said 'Look we have two options - either to retire him or to give him a chance and do the knee surgery' which we did, and it's been another successful, great job by the (Hong Kong) Jockey Club vets to get him back,” Fownes said.



“We've all worked hard and it's been a nice result. It's always nice when you have problem horses come back and perform well. What helped us was gate one and a lovely ride by the young boy Ellis - he's doing extremely well.”



Fresh from a Sha Tin double on Sunday (8 November), 13-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer John Size combined with Andrea Atzeni to snare the Class 5 Ng Fong Handicap (1200m) with Noble Fans (129lb). Size now has seven wins for the campaign.



Michael Chang’s New Power continued his affinity with Happy Valley with a fifth course and distance win with success in the second section of the Class 4 Tai Yau Handicap (1200m) under Keith Yeung. Awkwardly drawn in barrier 10, the gelding sat three-wide for most of the race, but was still too strong.



“He's a very honest horse and always performs at the course and distance. Today was a little bit of a surprise - he was caught three wide all the way but still came home well,” Chang said.



Cody Mo’s Bucephalas (123lb) led throughout to win the second section of the Class 4 Sze Mei Handicap (1650m) under a clever Luke Ferraris ride.



“Good win. Thanks to Cody, because I asked him if we could bring this horse to Happy Valley. He has been running a lot of the time at Sha Tin and I thought the change would be as good as a holiday and freshen him up – and it did,” Ferraris said.



“He was bright and the spark was there tonight and it showed in the way he left the barriers and how he travelled. He’s a big horse and when he travels like that on the bridle, it allows me to go through the gears a lot easier and he can produce races like that, so well done to Cody and his team.”



Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Saturday (14 November) with Panasonic Cup Day.