MAURITIUS: Pasquier takes top jockeys' prize

Stephane Pasquier finished two points ahead of his nearest rival

  PICTURE: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)  Stephane Pasquier takes top jockeys' prize By Racingpost.com staff 1:53PM 5 DEC 2010 Report: Mauritius, Saturday and Sunday

Champ de Mars: International Jockeys' Weekend

FRENCH rider Stephane Pasquier won the main title in Mauritius as the country staged its annual International Jockeys' Weekend.

Pasquier, who won the 1,000 Guineas and French equivalent on Special Duty this year, took the Top Stars Championship, accumulating two points more than Robert Burke, who scored 26 points. Frankie Dettori finished third with 21 points.

SOUTH AFRICA: Fallon scores in jockeys' challenge

Fallon: on the scoresheet in Cape Town jockeys' challenge 

  PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)  Fallon scores in Cape Town jockeys' challenge By michael clower 4:12PM 14 NOV 2010 Report: South Africa, Sunday

Kenilworth: International jockeys' challenge (Round 2)

A VICTORY for Kieren Fallon at Kenilworth in Cape Town on Sunday was not enough to prevent the home team from beating their international counterparts for the third year in succession in jockeys' challenge.

Having won only one race out of four at Turffontein in Johannesburg on Friday evening, the visitors staged a great fightback on Sunday when both Fallon and Italian champion Umberto Rispoli hit the mark to reduce the deficit.

However, the South Africans still emerged on top by a margin of 468 points to 395.

Fallon struck on 15-2 chance Posh Boy in the 1m 4f handicap, where Riaan Van Reenen's top-weight had to survive an objection from trainer Carl Burger, whose Grey Cossack was beaten only half a length and a head into  third.

Burger complained that  Fallon "had taken his horse on an outward course from the turn into the straight", but the interference was only slight and Fallon had his whip in the correct hand throughout.

Fallon said: "I probably got to the front too soon but my horse was tough and I was able to keep him going."

He was full of praise for the course, saying: "It's a very fair track and the grass is like a cushion. You are notgoing to get a better surface than this."

Rispoli sprang a 25-1 shock on the Mike Bass-trained Pisces Star in the 7f handicap, while Christophe Soumillon and Fly American were beaten only a head by Anton Marcus on Stan Elley's Mastery in the 6f handicap.

But Piere Strydom decided the issue by producing Dean Kannemeyer's 11-month absent Life Of Pi with a devastating late run to pip William Buick on Cask in the 1m handicap.

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Jockeys' title fight helps ATR to record daily audience

The battle between Paul Hanagan and Richard Hughes helped pull in a daily record audience of 565,487 viewers to At The Races

  PICTURE: Getty Images  Jockeys' title fight helps ATR to record audience By Howard Wright 4:51PM 10 NOV 2010 THE final-day battle for the jockeys' championship at Doncaster, Kauto Star's reappearance at Down Royal and the culmination of the Breeders' Cup contributed to At The Races notching a record daily audience reach on Saturday, according to figures released by the official research company BARB on Wednesday.

The number of viewers who tuned in at some stage to the channel's 11-hours of live broadcasting totalled 565,487.

The previous highest figure was recorded on Victor Chandler Chase day at Ascot in January 2008, followed by the 2005 Breeders' Cup, which took place over a single programme at Belmont Park.

Saturday afternoon's highest quarter-hour audience was 184,563, while exclusive Breeders' Cup coverage in the UK and Ireland, negotiated in conjunction with betting-shop service provider SIS, peaked at 113,000 from 6pm.

More than 100,000 tuned in for both the Breeders' Cup Turf and Classic, which ATR regarded as more than satisfactory, with a spokesman pointing out: "Saturday evening is generally a tough slot, against the likes of X Factor on terrestrial TV."

ATR recorded a peak audience of 130,000 for the Breeders' Cup on Friday, when the live programme began at 7.45pm. Friday's highest quarter-hour figure of 144,139 was registered from 7pm, during coverage of Wolverhampton's evening meeting with the Hanagan and Hughes both riding on the penultimate day of the season.

ATR chief executive Matthew Imi revealed that the channel is now regularly reaching two million viewers, up 500,000 from two years ago.

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