Top jockeys for Singapore’s International Challenge
STRONG MIX: MOREIRA HEADS UP TEAM ASIA, HAYLEY TURNER IN UK SQUAD
Hewitson, Yeni and Domeyer will represent team SA on 25 September.
The Premier Gateway International Jockeys Challenge hosted by the Singapore Turf Club will see some of the best jockeys in the world in action. Set to take place at Kranji in Singapore on 25 September, some heavyweights have already confirmed their participation, including the legendary Joao Moreira, who will be leading Team Asia’s charge.
Moreira, who hails from Brazil, moved from Singapore to Hong Kong in 2013. In his five seasons at Sha Tin, he managed to win nearly every major race and was a landslide winner of three jockeys’ championships. The other members of Team Asia are Vlad Duric and Troy See Han Poh.
Team UK boast the services of Hayley Turner, Robert Havlin and PJ McDonald.
Turner was a member of the women’s team who won the Shergar Cup at Ascot recently where she was also awarded the Silver Saddle for top jockey. The Shergar Cup is an annual horseracing event held at Ascot.
Moreira won two of the six races at the Shergar Cup, but it wasn’t enough to beat Hayley, who has participated in the event even more times than Frankie Dettori.
Hugh Bowman, Corey Brown and Kerrin McEvoy make up Team Australia.
Bowman is widely regarded as one of Australia’s best big race jockeys and is the lucky rider who gets to sit on the back of champion mare Winx. He won the Sydney Jockeys’ Premiership in 2016/17.
Last season Bowman rode 120 winners.
Organised by Phumelela Gaming & Leisure and Tabcorp, together with their international subsidiary Premier Gateway International (PGI), and hosted by the Singapore Turf Club, the PGI Jockeys Challenge will give recently crowned South African Champion Jockey Lyle Hewitson an incredible opportunity to measure himself against these international legends.
Hewitson won the SA Championship with 185 winners in the 2017/18 season.
His teammates will be Muzi Yeni – who steered 149 winners last season – and Aldo Domeyer with 137 winners.
The rules of the Singapore Jockey Challenge are simple: Points will be awarded to each Jockey depending on where they finish in each of the four selected races. Points will be aggregated per team, and the team with the most points will be declared the winner.
The jockey who accrues the most individual points, will win the individual competition.
At the time of declaration, a draw will take place to decide which jockeys will be riding which horses.
Points will be aggregated per team as follows:
First 30; Second 15; Third 12; Fourth 10; Fifth 8; Sixth 7; Seventh 6; Eighth 5; Ninth 4; 10th 3.
Should a jockey not have a ride, he or she will be allotted seven points.