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Former French champion jockey Mickael Barzalona will head to Hong Kong to compete in the International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley on Wednesday 4 December after a dramatic end to the French season.
Barzalona was narrowly beaten in the domestic championship by fellow top jockey Maxime Guyon, who finished three wins ahead on 192 winners at the end of October.
However, the 33-year-old finished the season in a rich vein of form and is looking forward to carrying that momentum into Hong Kong.
"I rode 61 winners in the last two months of the race for the Cravache d'Or (French Champion Jockey title). I couldn't have given any more and I'm very happy with the way I finished off," explained Barzalona.
The Corsican landed some top prizes this season, including when expertly steering Tribalist to beat European Champion miler Charyn in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.
He added: "I've had a good year in terms of number of winners and riding good horses in the Group races, and perhaps I've just lacked a real top notcher apart from Tribalist. I was delighted he was able to get his Group 1 victory."
Heading to Hong Kong, the multiple Group 1-winning jockey hasn't been able to land the prestigious International Jockeys' Championship, but he did finish tied second with Hong Kong local Zac Purton in 2021.
On the prospect of competing in his sixth International Jockeys' Championship, Barzalona commented: "It's always very gratifying to be considered part of the elite circle of jockeys that receive an invite to the LONGINES IJC, which is the best challenge in the world and which any jockey would look forward to."
Following his appearance in the International Jockeys' Championship, Barzalona will remain in Hong Kong to partner the Andre Fabre-trained Marquisat in the Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m). The ride will have an added poignancy for Barzalona, who will don the famous blue silks of Godolphin for the final time in Group 1 company as their retained rider in France before he embarks on a new adventure of becoming the number one jockey for His Highness the Aga Khan in January next year.
Reflecting on the great association he had with Godolphin, he said: "Godolphin placed their faith in me at a very young age and it's not an easy thing to think that this will be my final Group 1 start as their retained jockey (in France)."
"I have a new challenge now but if by chance I was able to come out on top one last time for them, it would make me enormously happy. Either way, it's been a wonderful adventure over the course of 12 years."
Marquisat will arrive in Hong Kong on the back of finishing fifth in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Bayern at Munich in Germany, the same contest his stablemate Junko contested prior to his victory in the Longines Hong Kong Vase last season.
Barzalona is confident there is more to come from the four-year-old, who is a 7/1 chance to give his handler back-to-back triumphs in the Hong Kong Vase: "Marquisat has plenty of class and it's unfortunate we haven't quite seen the best of him yet. This year he ran a great comeback race after an absence when he was pipped by Junko at Chantilly – passing the post I thought we might have won – and then after another break, he ran very well on his next start behind Goliath at Longchamp.
"He got bumped coming out of the stalls in Germany, but we managed to get in a position to strike if he'd had the gas but, for what was his first trip abroad and on really heavy ground, he wasn't able to produce that turn of foot."