Luke Ferraris riding the My Wish wave all the way to a spot in the International Jockeys' Championship (IJC)

Luke Ferraris hopes his partnership with rising miler My Wish will help broaden his support from Hong Kong trainers as he pushes for a coveted berth in the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC).

Ferraris rides My Wish in the G2 BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile. He is sitting on 15 wins with a 13% strike rate – the second-best in the room behind runaway leader Zac Purton. Yet the 23-year-old admits that even with those results, opportunities remain inconsistent.

“The last two meetings have been a bit of a worry because I wasn’t able to get many rides,” Ferraris said. “It’s frustrating, because the stats are pretty good. Hopefully a couple more trainers cotton on.”

He has broadened his base this term — Pierre Ng Pang-chi (four wins), Douglas Whyte (four) and David Hayes (three) have all supplied as many victories as Ferraris’ biggest supporter, the championship-leading Mark Newnham (three). Last season 12 of his 47 winners, enough to finish fifth, came from Newnham alone.

Now Ferraris finds himself in a tight race with Hugh Bowman (13 wins) for the final non-local IJC spot before the field is confirmed after the Happy Valley meeting on November 26. Purton, as runaway leader, has already secured the first position and Ferraris knows how fine the margins can be. 

“It’s been really frustrating,” he said. “Each of the last three seasons I’ve just missed out by a win or running second. And this year they’ve changed the criteria – it used to be the top three jockeys plus one local, now it’s only the top two plus one local. There’s one less spot.”

His partnership with My Wish, favourite for Sunday’s G2 BOCHK Private Wealth Hong Kong Mile, arrives at exactly the right moment. The five-year-old’s rise has tracked Ferraris’ own steady improvement, and trainer Mark Newnham credits the horse’s development to incremental accumulation, not any kind of overhaul.

“He’s improved in a lot of little areas… it all adds up,” Newnham said.

Ferraris, the youngest rider on the roster at 23 but now a young veteran in his fifth season in Hong Kong, says the same of himself.

“It takes a while to get your weight right here,” he said. “The lifestyle, the way winter hits you is tough to adjust to,” he said. “It’s a pretty fair balancing act. Weight management is better now. Lots of little improvements. Experience. Understanding the place.”

As the IJC cut-off looms, every ride matters – and My Wish gives Ferraris the platform he’s been waiting for.