James McDonald has been crowned the best jockey in the world.
After leading the Longines World’s Best Jockey rankings for much of the year, McDonald put a major gap on his rivals during the Melbourne spring carnival to ultimately win the award by 46 points over Ryan Moore with William Buick on third place.
Points are awarded to riders who finish in the top three placings in the highest rating group 1 races throughout the world with McDonald winning nine of those races on five different horses.
McDonald’s nine victories were aboard: Home Affairs (Black Caviar Lightning Stakes), Verry Elleegant (Chipping Norton Stakes), Anamoe (Rosehill Guineas, Winx Stakes, George Main Stakes, Might And Power Stakes, Cox Plate), Nature Strip (T J Smith Stakes, Cascadian (All Aged Stakes).
McDonald is the second Australian-based rider to be judged the world’s best following Hugh Bowman’s remarkable 2017.
The Longines Best Jockey’s Award has been awarded nine times, having being won initially by Ryan Moore in 2014, who also won in 2016 and 2021. Frankie Dettori has four wins in 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
