THE teams for the Racing Association’s fifth International Jockeys Challenge, which will take place over two legs at Turffontein on Friday night November 16 and at Greyville on Sunday November 18, have almost been finalised.

Four international riders and four South African riders have already confirmed their participation in the challenge, which this year will be sponsored by Avis Coach Charter, and all are previous participants in the competition.

The Protea team so far comprises the first four on last season’s national jockeys’ log, Anton Marcus, Gavin Lerena, Anthony Delpech and Piere Strydom.

The confirmed international riders are British stars Richard Hughes, Jamie Spencer, Jimmy Fortune and Tom Queally.
Marcus, who captained the Proteas last year, was pleased that KZN race fans were getting their turn to enjoy the excitement of the Challenge and hoped the seedings would not be as “lopsided” as he felt they were last year. “I’m glad none of the panel of experts that did the seedings last year are my agent!” he joked.

Last year, in an attempt to balance the chances of the two teams, the runners in all of the Challenge races were seeded beforehand by a panel of racing experts. The subsequent draw awarded one team with the mounts seeded 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 and the other team with the mounts seeded 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12.

Delpech was also pleased the Challenge was coming to his home town of Durban and expected a big crowd to attend. He reckoned the seeding of the horses should be made public in order to add to the intrigue. He said, “Maybe each jockey could go up and choose his own horse. Then there can be no complaints about the seedings.”

Delpech added that he had been very disappointed with the quality of horses that raced in the Cape Town leg last year and hoped there would not be a repeat this year, especially considering it was an international event.

He concluded, “It is the end of the season for the overseas riders and they will be out for a bit of fun, but as long as we look after each other and enjoy it, that’s the main thing.”

According to Phumelela’s Racing Executive Patrick Davis, the challenge had to be postponed for a week because of an unforeseen change in the availability of the European jockeys engaged for the test.

The Victory Moon Stakes will move to November 16 as well, reverting to its previous slot two weeks before the Sansui Summer Cup.

The Vaal meeting scheduled for Saturday November 17 will now be held on November 10, ensuring a Highveld race meeting that weekend, while the Clairwood meeting scheduled for November 18 will also be shifted back a week and be held at Scottsville.

The launch of the event will take place in the Durban region at Fairmont Zimbali on October 17 and the media together with trainers, jockeys and sponsors will be invited. Fairmont Zimbali and Egypt Air are also sponsors of the event.

The International team won last year’s Challenge, which was sponsored by The Citizen, for the first time in four attempts. They comprised of the captain Richard Hughes (Ireland) together with Jamie Spencer (England), Olivier Peslier (France), Andrasch Starke (Germany), Jimmy Fortune (England), Tom Queally (Ireland) and emergency reserve Karis Teetan (Mauritius).
The Proteas team last year consisted of the captain Anton Marcus as well as Weichong Marwing, Anthony Delpech, Piere Strydom, Felix Coetzee, Muzi Yeni and reserve Sherman Brown.

Each leg of the Challenge is comprised of four races, all of which are handicaps.

Traditionally the points scoring system is 30 for a win, 15 for second, 12 for third, ten for fourth, eight for fifth and then seven, six, five, four, three, two and one for the remaining places.

If a jockey doesn’t have a ride due to a card scratching, he is awarded seven points.

The points of each leg are added together to obtain the overall winner and there is also an award for the top rider of each leg and for the top rider overall.

Last year, Hughes was the top rider in the first leg and the top rider overall, while Fortune and Spenceÿ¿Nœared the award in the second leg.