THE Rider Cup takes place at Greyville on Saturday, 18 July, when Gold Circle stages an Inter-provincial Jockeys’ Challenge on Mercury Sprint (Gr 1) Raceday.
“This is something we have wanted to do for a while now. We love the idea of 12 of South Africa’s top jockeys doing battle over a four-race competition. The Cape, Gauteng and KZN will each be represented by four of their leading riders in what is intended to become an annual attraction,” said racing and marketing executive Graeme Hawkins.
He said Greyville needed names for each of the “franchises” and to add further public interest Greyville would run a competition through its Racing App to see what comes up.
“We clearly can’t use the rugby or cricket names and hopefully something really creative and catchy will come out of the competition. Mystery prizes await the fans whose names for each Province are ultimately chosen. Details of the competition will be announced in due course,” he said.
Teams will be chosen using the National Log as at the end of June 2015 as a guide and the Interprovincial Rider Cup is sure to provide a fitting backdrop for the all-important WFA Grade 1 Mercury Sprint.