Luke Ferraris knew Invincible Ibis long before the Hong Kong Derby put the horse's name in lights, and on Sunday he gets a golden opportunity to climb back aboard.
Ferraris reunites with the Derby winner in the Group 3 Celebration Cup (1,400m) at Sha Tin, a race he won last year on My Wish. He picks up the ride with Hugh Bowman sidelined since the opening meeting of the season due to a hip ailment.
Ferraris rode Invincible Ibis in his first two starts as a three-year-old and his first run as a four-year-old, before the ride went to Zac Purton. He wasn’t the first young rider to lose a promising horse to the champion jockey, and he won't be the last. Purton reeled off a three-win streak before Bowman took over and steered the gelding to Derby glory.
"From the times when I was sitting on him and he was a small, weakish horse, he's been maturing," Ferraris said. "Now he seems to be furnishing and becoming the final product."
Only two Derby winners since 2010 have won this 1,400-meter race first-up the following season: Ambitious Dragon in 2011 and Golden Sixty in 2020.
Asked about Ambitious Dragon, Ferraris went straight to a family memory. "You saying Ambitious Dragon, the race that comes to mind is the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, when Liberator denied him the Triple Crown," he said. Liberator was trained by his father, David Ferraris.
The son of Vengeance Of Rain's trainer grew up in the apartment complex beside Sha Tin Racecourse, watching champions from the perimeter fence of the compound long before he rode against them, and that upbringing has given him a perspective few riders in Hong Kong can match.
"I've grown up watching great horses go around. Dad had Vengeance Of Rain. Viva Pataca was around that time. Ambitious Dragon, Beauty Generation. I don't really remember Silent Witness – I was a bit young for that," he said. "And then obviously now you've got Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising. So, yeah, it's been amazing to watch them growing up and then sort of be riding amongst them now."
The next few months will go a long way toward telling whether Invincible Ibis belongs in that company. With Bowman still weighing up what could be season-ending surgery, Ferraris could be along for the ride. Trainer Mark Newnham has three runs planned before December's international meeting, with the Hong Kong Mile the current target.
Ferraris believes the horse has done everything to suggest he can train on. "Obviously doing it at Group level is a different kettle of fish, but his run after the Derby in, I think it was the Champions Mile, was really good," he said. "He's sort of had hints of that My Wish kind of progression about him. His last run with James (McDonald) in the international race was really encouraging, considering he'd had a fairly long and tough prep.
"In my opinion, he can only improve getting stronger, so he's definitely an exciting prospect."
Longer term, he sees 2,000 meters as the horse's best trip.
"When I was riding him over 1,200, I couldn't wait for him to go 1,400 and then obviously he got the Derby trip. But he's always been a horse suggesting that he wants a mile-plus."
At 24, Ferraris is still the youngest jockey on the roster by some margin, apprentices included, but his CV reads like a veteran's. He was twice South Africa's champion apprentice, won the Triple Crown in his homeland on Malmoos and has 167 Hong Kong winners, including a career-best 47 in 2024-25.
What he hasn't done yet is win a Group 1 in his adopted hometown. He has started the season with two wins from 21 rides, after finishing eighth in last season's championship with 35 winners.
He partnered Invincible Ibis in his final gallop on Thursday, and Newnham liked what he saw.
"Really good," Newnham said. "He settled behind Polar Patch and joined in the last 200m and finished it off strongly. He pulled up well and had a nice blow and recovered quickly, so he's ready to run first-up."
