ISTANBUL (Turkey) – South Africa’s Piere Strydom took individual honours at an international jockeys’ challenge at Veliefendi Racecourse in Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday, scoring 30 points for the Guest Team.

He and four other international jockeys – Frankie Dettori, representing the UK; Javier Jose Castellano (USA); Yutaka Take (Japan), and Stephane Pasquier (France) – competed in a four-race test, the fifth of its kind to be held at Veliefendi. They rode against the top local riders and Strydom helped his team to score the 85 points that earned them the victory – even though they only won one race.

The Turkish team comprised Halis Karatas, Selim Kaya, Ahmet Celik, Gokhan Kocakaya and Ozcan Yildirim, who scored a collective 75 points. Karatas was the best local rider, scoring 27 points and finishing second in the individual standings. Pasquier was third on 20 points.

The win was worth €8,000 to Strydom and €8,000 was shared by the winning teammates.