Top Qld jockeys split into two regions

Brisbane premiership leader Baylee Nothdurft to ride in the south west as Qld divides into regions.

Queensland’s top metropolitan jockeys will be divided into two divisions when regional racing starts in the state this week.

Racing Queensland has introduced five regions for race meetings in an effort to combat the spread of coronavirus in the industry.

Racing is continuing with no crowds and strict biosecurity restrictions are in place at race meetings and in stables.

Riders were asked to nominate a region in which they wished to compete and they will be restricted to those areas from Tuesday.

Jockeys who did not select a zone were allocated one in accordance with their residential address.

The regions are:

Metro North (Brisbane and Sunshine Coast);

Metro South West (Gold Coast, Ipswich and Toowoomba);

Darling Downs and SEQ Coast;

Central West and Central

North West and North.

In the metropolitan regions, jockeys are permitted to ride in Metro North or Metro South West but not both.

There are 57 jockeys nominated for the north and 46 riders for the south

Comeback jockey Michael Cahill has elected to ride in the Metro South West region and will be joined by leading hoops Ryan Maloney and Matt McGillivray.

The Metro North region is headlined by star apprentices Baylee Nothdurft and Stephanie Thornton and also features Robbie Fradd, James Orman and Brad Stewart.

Nothdurft leads Fradd by five in the metropolitan premiership with Thornton third.