Racing: Hunt for fastest jockey on 2 feet

Every week they compete with each other to be the fastest on four feet.

But tomorrow at Trentham there will be a jockey who will have claims to being the fastest on two feet with a 100m sprint down the home straight.

The foot race, with $1000 on the line, is part of a promotion which opens the Wellington Racing Club's three-day Cup meeting. The second and third days are next Monday and the following Saturday when the Wellington Cup is run.

Jockeys and apprentices will line up in the race wearing the colours of Wellington Cup sponsor Dulux.

Simon Cooper from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing said a similar type of event was popular in Hong Kong where it signalled the start of a new season of racing.

"The jockeys are fiercely competitive and this sort of fun event could well become an annual feature of the Wellington Cup," Cooper said.

New Zealand Jockeys' Association president Dave Taylor said he would be trying to find runners to represent the different areas of New Zealand that matched the place names given to the Wellington Cup colours.

- NZPA