Alexis Badel has been on the Hong Kong racing rollercoaster long enough to know that not everything lasts forever. He knows more than most that for every high there can be a crushing low.
For every expat on the roster not named Zac Purton, the grind of Hong Kong is a relentless cycle of jubilation and rejection – and even Purton, before his current incarnation as undisputed, self-proclaimed king, had to take his lumps.
So when Badel was walking home, head held high, from an early season treble on Sunday, and he joked, “things can turn quickly” – despite four winners from the first three meetings – he was speaking from experience.
For now Badel can enjoy the good times that hopefully indicate sustained form will follow, and he credits the fast start to his successful short stint in Japan during the off-season.
Badel had 12 wins at nearly 17 per cent including three on the first weekend of his stay and a Listed success at Chukyo on 28-1 outsider Mario Road the following weekend.
But it wasn’t just the on-track results that helped Badel come back to Hong Kong with a fitness edge on some of his rivals. Spending time in Japan’s more tranquil surroundings with his young family left him rejuvenated.
“It’s had a positive impact on the mind as well as the body,” Badel said. “I had a great time in Japan and some success on the track.”
Since the departure of Antoine Hamelin, Alexis Badel is now the lone French jockey on the Hong Kong roster and follows a proud tradition – riders like Gerald Mosse, Olivier Doleuze, Eric Saint-Martin and Maxime Guyon all added a touch of much-needed flair to a roster dominated by riders from the southern hemisphere.
Badel’s ride on Class 5 horse My Flying Angel on Sunday was an example of how patience can pay off in the cut-and-thrust of Hong Kong’s race position-obsessed style. Rather than anxiously trying to ‘use’ a low barrier and fill the space in front of him, Badel allowed the horse – winless in 19 previous starts – to find his breath, rhythm and confidence before storming home for the breakthrough win.
“I had a good draw so I focused on the clean jump, but after that, I gambled on comfort,” Badel said. “Overall, today was a consequence of smooth rides and good horses in good form.”
Frankie Lor is on the board! 🫡
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) September 14, 2025
The trainer lands a first win this season as My Flying Angel and @AlexisBadel reel in race favourite Circuit Fiery in the opener at Sha Tin… @FCLOR_RACING #LoveRacing | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/V0RHQbw86i
At 35 and in his sixth full-time season, Badel is now a young veteran of the scene and is fast approaching 300 career winners – his treble took him to 278 – but this campaign looms as crucial in terms of reclaiming his place at the pointy end of the jockeys’ championship.
In 2020-21 Badel finished equal fifth in the standings with 58 wins in a season after which Hong Kong’s racing rollercoaster hit its most dizzying highs and plummeted to devastating lows. After a Group 1 win aboard Wellington in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize the following season, he fractured his collarbone in a brutal fall just three weeks before the G1 Hong Kong Sprint. Badel, arm in sling, was forced to watch Ryan Moore ride the horse to victory.
A few months later Badel was back on top of the world – producing an all-time great ride in the 2023 BMW Hong Kong Derby aboard Voyage Bubble – only to eventually lose that ride as well.
The masterful Derby performance on Voyage Bubble, where Badel went back from a wide gate and then looped the field in the middle stages, will be long remembered as one of the great rides in Hong Kong history.
But Badel isn’t one to dine on past success, nor is he into bold proclamations of targets for the future – he says he just wants to give every horse its best chance, whether it is in a Class 5 or Group 1, all the while riding the peaks and troughs of Hong Kong racing.
“I think you just go out there trying your best to give the possible results on the horses you’ve been given,” he says. “And if you achieve that, at the end of the season, you’re probably doing okay. I just focus on the execution.” ∎
