| James McDonald |
| Age: 33 |
| Background: Regarded as one of the world’s best jockeys, James McDonald – popularly known as ‘J-Mac’ – made a big impression in Hong Kong on his International Jockeys’ Championship debut when still a teenager back in 2011, finishing runner-up to Frankie Dettori. He returned the following May and partnered Xtension to victory in the 2012 Champions Mile at Sha Tin. Champion Apprentice in his homeland, he went on to claim the Championship there twice, firstly in 2008/09 and latterly with a New Zealand record tally of 207 for the 2010/11 season. In 2012 he won a first New Zealand Derby. He clinched his first Sydney Championship in 2014. In 2021, he won the Melbourne Cup – Australia’s most famous race – aboard Verry Elleegant, Darley Sprint Classic with Nature Strip, Coolmore Stud Stakes atop Home Affairs and Mackinnon Stakes with Zaaki. He scored a famous victory aboard Nature Strip in the 2022 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and was crowned the World’s Best Jockey that same year. McDonald has built a famed association with Hong Kong’s global champion Romantic Warrior, winning the Hong Kong Cup (2022-2024) three times, QEII Cup (2023 & 2024) twice and 2023 W.S. Cox Plate in Australia before the duo landed the 2024 Yasuda Kinen in Japan. The pair then famously campaigned to the Middle East, where they came agonisingly close to Saudi Cup glory in 2025 when defeated by Japan’s Forever Young. In 2025, another of his partnerships linked with Hong Kong saw the rider and Voyage Bubble complete the Triple Crown last season – becoming only the second in history to do so after legend River Verdon (1993/94). He has won over 100 Group 1 races globally, including the past four runnings of the W.S. Cox Plate with Anamoe (2022), Romantic Warrior (2023) and Via Sistina (2024 & 2025). |
| Achievements Include: Sydney Champion Jockey (2013/14, 2015/16, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 & 2024/25); New Zealand Champion Jockey (2008/09 & 2010/11). World’s Best Jockey Award winner (2022 & 2024). |
| Notable Wins Include: Hong Kong Cup (2022 & 2023 Romantic Warrior), Hong Kong Mile (2024 Voyage Bubble), Champions & Chater Cup (2025 Voyage Bubble), Champions Mile (2012 Xtension), QEII Cup (2023 & 2024 Romantic Warrior), Hong Kong Gold Cup (2024 Romantic Warrior, 2025 Voyage Bubble), Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (2023 Lucky Sweynesse), Stewards’ Cup (2024 & 2025 Voyage Bubble), Yasuda Kinen (2024 Romantic Warrior), Jebel Hatta (2025 Romantic Warrior), Melbourne Cup (2021 Verry Elleegant), Golden Slipper (2014 Mossfun), W.S. Cox Plate (2022 Anamoe, 2023 Romantic Warrior, 2024 & 2025 Via Sistina), King’s Stand Stakes (2022 Nature Strip), Caulfield Guineas (2014 Shooting To Win, 2018 The Autumn Sun, 2022 Golden Mile), Golden Rose (2015 Exosphere, 2016 Astern, 2024 Broadsiding), Victoria Derby (2023 Riff Rocket), Australian Derby (2013 It’s A Dundeel, 2024 Riff Rocket), New Zealand Derby (2012 Silent Achiever), VRC Oaks (2023 Zardozi), TJ Smith Stakes (2020, 2021, 2022 Nature Strip), Coolmore Stud Stakes (2021 Home Affairs, 2022 In Secret), Australian Oaks (2014 Rising Romance, 2019 Verry Elleegant), Rosehill Guineas (2013 It’s A Dundeel, 2022 Anamoe, 2025 Broadsiding), Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2014 It’s A Dundeel, 2025 Via Sistina), The Galaxy (2012 Temple Of Boom, 2019 Nature Strip), Tancred Stakes (2015 Hartnell, 2019 Avilius, 2020 Verry Elleegant), Thousand Guineas (2022 Madame Pommery, 2023 Joliestar), Epsom Handicap (2016 Hauraki), New Zealand Oaks (2009 Jungle Rocket), Ranvet Stakes (2015 Contributer, 2021 Verry Elleegant, 2024 & 2025 Via Sistina), Doomben 10,000 (2025 Sunshine In Paris). |
| Hong Kong Career Wins (as of 6 November, 2025): 62 |
| 25/26 Season Up to Race Meeting of 09/11/2025 | |||||
| Nationality | : NZ | No. of Wins | : 0 | Total Rides | : 0 |
| Stakes won | : - | No. of 2nds | : 0 | Win % | : 0.00% |
| No. of Wins in past 10 race days | : 0 | No. of 3rds | : 0 | ||
| No. of 4ths | : 0 | ||||