The inaugural winner of the Longines World's Best Jockey award, champion Briton Ryan Moore will head up the European winter influx with his first six-week club contract based at Sha Tin in January.

Moore will join Hong Kong's jockey colony on January 17 for a six-week term ending February 28 and will be joined by French-based Vincent Cheminaud and Gregory Benoist during the European winter.

It sets up a six-week battle between Moore and some of his main challengers as the world’s leading rider, in particular Joao Moreira and Zac Purton.

“There have been some big names in the past that have come to Hong Kong, and it is a time of year when European jockeys do come across, but Ryan was always someone most thought was unattainable which makes this special,” Jockey Club executive director of racing Bill Nader said yesterday. “He is certainly well-known here and we are sure he will be well-received. And it’s a great mix of jockeys – the world’s best jockey joined by an upcoming talent in Vincent Cheminaud and a top rider in the prime of his career in Gregory Benoist."

"There’s no doubt that the current season has seen the best line-up of jockeys we’ve ever had. During January and February, every meeting will be like the Longines International Jockeys’ Championship, with Ryan Moore taking on Joao Moreira, Zac Purton, Douglas Whyte and Brett Prebble. We aspire to be world class across the board, and the addition of Ryan certainly adds another element to our ranks.”

The 32-year-old Moore has won the British championship three times and has collected an impressive resume of victories worldwide, including the Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup double 12 months ago and the 2000 Guineas-1000 Guineas double at Newmarket earlier this year.

He is currently attached to global powerhouse Coolmore, but looks unlikely to retain his World's Best Jockey title after missing almost three months of the season due to a neck injury.

While this is Moore's first Hong Kong contract, he has ridden in Hong Kong on a fly-in, fly-out basis for nearly a decade, almost missing the ride on runner-up Got Fly in March’s Hong Kong Derby due to flight delays.

He has competed in the International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley eight times, winning in a three-way dead-heat in 2009 before taking the title outright in 2010, while he also won the 2010 Hong Kong Cup on Snow Fairy and the 2009 QE II Cup on Presvis.

To date, he has ridden nine wins from 75 rides at Sha Tin and Happy Valley. 

In years past, champion riders like Michael Kinane would frequently spend the off-season in Hong Kong, but Moore's temporary relocation to Sha Tin is the most significant European entry to the jockey roster since Kieren Fallon spent three winters in Hong Kong when he was champion British rider in the late 1990s.

Cheminaud is a fascinating story in himself, making the quantum leap from France's champion jumps jockey to a Hong Kong licence in less than 12 months.

He has become a firm favourite of Fabre and prominent owner Khalid Abdullah, having also won an American feature on Hong Kong Vase victor Flintshire in August.

Unlike Cheminaud, Benoist has been a late bloomer, the 32-year-old Belgian jockey becoming the number one rider for Sheikh Joaan al-Thani's Al Shaqab Racing in France earlier this year.

Benoist rode his first Group One winner two years ago on Al Shaqab's Ectot and has been among the top riders in the French championship in recent years.

Both Cheminaud and Benoist will begin their contracts with the Sha Tin meeting on November 14. Cheminaud will ride until January 17, while Benoist will stay until February 14.