Alexis Badel

That Alexis Badel would become a jockey was almost predestined. Not only he hail from racing royalty – his mother was the first woman trainer in France and his father was a successful jockey – but he was born with the ideal build. “I was physically made for horses,” he says. “I’m the perfect size, in height and weight.”

Born in France, Badel’s first official race was on his 16th birthday in 2005; just one and a half years later he turned pro. After a successful career in his home country, Badel made his Sha Tin debut in 2016. Since then, he’s become one of Hong Kong’s most in-demand jockeys and has ridden for esteemed trainers such as David Hayes and John Size.

As with any athlete, Badel’s daily routine is strict: he rides each morning and then studies theory and technique. During the season he competes each week at Sha Tin and Happy Valley. Recently, he’s focused on improving his mental strength through different sports and activities.

The highlight of his career came in March this year when he won the BMW Derby on Voyage Bubble, despite just recovering from injury and riding a horse he’d only been on once before. His secret? “Horse racing is different from any other sport,” he says. “We partner with an animal, so all our actions must be in step with them. I’m not only a jockey; I also have strong intuition and can read a horse’s mind pretty well.”

Badel says it’s all thanks to the experience and knowledge his mother passed on to him, whom he credits as his greatest inspiration: “She had to be strong to start out in a male-dominated industry at 25; she’s now 70 and still training horses.” If her career is anything to go by, at 32 he’s just getting started.