Queensland Favoured To Win Jockeys Series

Home state Queensland is favoured to win the inaugural State of Origin jockeys' series to be held over the next month.

Riders from Queensland, NSW, Victoria and New Zealand will compete in two races each day at the Doomben and Gold Coast meetings starting from Saturday.

Their rides over the four weeks will be selected at random and points will be awarded for each placing.

The distinctive sets of colours to be worn by the jockeys in the Origin series were unveiled at a function at Doomben on Monday.

UBET are sponsoring the series and also released a market with Queensland at $3.50, New Zealand and Victoria $3.75 and NSW $4.20.

UBET's Gerard Daffy said he expected Queenslanders would follow the usual pattern and back their home state.

"As soon as you mention Maroon in any sport the Queensland punters go into a frenzy," Daffy said.

Jim Byrne and Glen Boss will represent Queensland, while Craig Williams, Dwayne Dunn and Darren Gauci (Victoria), Tye Angland (NSW), and Opie Bosson and Danielle Johnson (New Zealand) are confirmed for the series.

There will be only one representative per team per race with Boss, Angland, Williams and Johnson riding on the first day.

During the following three weeks various combinations of the riders will represent their state or country in the series.

Byrne said he was sure home ground advantage would be a major player in the series and also the desire to win.

"Glen bleeds maroon and so do I," Byrne said.