Phumelela Gaming & Leisure and Tabcorp, together with their international subsidiary Premier Gateway International (PGI), will be presenting one of horse racing’s most anticipated challenges of the decade on 25 September.
Lyle Hewitson – race to get fit!
Three Jockeys each from the UK, Australia, Asia and South Africa will do battle in the showdown in Singapore where the bragging rights as the best jockeys in the world will be at stake.
And talking about stakes, the PGI Jockeys Challenge will offer punters the opportunity to win big as a Mega Pick 6 pool is anticipated on the day.
According to International Executive Director of Phumelela, John Stuart, Phumelela has been in a very successful relationship with the Singapore Turf Club (STC) for over a decade. The PGI Jockeys Challenge, hosted by the STC, will entrench this relationship and promote betting across international boundaries.
John Stuart – Singapore offers opportunity
“We will be looking to put on a very big Pick 6 pool to ignite the race day,” Stuart told Tellytrack in a recent interview.
“Singapore offers magnificent opportunities and we would love South Africans to get seriously involved in Singapore racing.”
The rules of the PGI Jockeys Challenge are simple: Points will be awarded to each jockey depending on where they finish in each of the 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.
Hayley Turner – rides for UK
The UK will be represented by Jockeys Hayley Turner (England), Rob Havlin (Scotland) and PJ McDonald (Ireland).
Hugh Bowman, Corey Brown and Kerrin McEvoy will represent the land Down Under.
Exciting news is that the Asian team could well be led by Joao Moreira, who has had a tremendous spell in Hong Kong and is currently riding in Japan. His teammates will probably be the top two jockeys from the host track.
Magic Joao Moreira
South Africa will be represented by the top three Jockeys as at the end of July – depending on their availability to ride in Singapore on the day.
The current standings dictate that Lyle Hewitson, Muzi Yeni and Greg Cheyne will represent South Africa.
Hewitson, still an apprentice, is all set to be crowned the country’s Champion Jockey next week having ridden 185 winners this season. He will be the first apprentice to capture the title since Michael Roberts.
Aldo Domeyer – three winners today at Vaal (Pic – Chase Photogrraphy)
Yeni, with 146 winners, and Greg Cheyne with 130 could well complete the SA line-up. But with a week’s racing still to go, Aldo Domeyer with 127 winners will undoubtedly launch an assault on the third spot.
Hewitson did have a nasty fall on Friday, coming off his mount, Press Release, on the way to the start of Race 1 at Fairview. Early indications are that he will be fit for the PGI Jockeys Challenge.
