As a prelude to the International Races the International Jockeys' Champs are held at Happy Valley on the preceding Wednesday.

There are 5 locally based jockeys and 7 from overseas each year.  There are two Class 4 races and two Class 3 with the winner of each race getting 12 points, second 6 points and 4 points for third.

The locals are represented by Zac Purton, Joao Moreira, Vincent Ho, Alex Badel and Lyle Hewitson.  The raiding team consists of Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle from the UK/Ireland and Mikael Barzalona from France, Damien Lane and James McDonald from Aus/NZ and Yuga Kawada from Japan.

The horses have been selected to be as close as possible in ratings and therefore it is factors like the draw that can influence the chances.  As these are horses we don't normally cover, we will just give the market leaders at this stage.

Race 4 is Class 4 over 1000m. Awesome Treasure is on 5.1 for Tom Marquand, gate 6; Fabulous Eight 6.0 for Badel, gate 7; Telecome Rocket 7.4 for Moreira, gate 2 and also on 7.4 Circuit Seven for Purton, gate 4.

Race 5 is over 1650m Class 4.  There is a strong favourite here in Ai One which is Ryan Moore's mount and they have gate 1 and they are on 3.6.  Next best Whisky Neat for Mikael Barzalona and they have gate 4.  Dr Winning is on 7.5 for Damian Lane but they have to sort out gate 10.  Glorious Lover is on 9.0 for Purton and they have gate 3.