Six riders representing six countries – Japan, Ireland, Turkey, Singapore, South Africa, and Macau – competed against six Korean riders for a grand prize of US$20,000, with the runnerup receiving $10,000. Third place was good for $5,000. Points were allocated by finishing order, with 20 points awarded for a win, 10 points for second and 6, 4, 3, and 2 points each for each successive placement in decreasing order. One point was awarded for any place after sixth place.

The world team led Korea from the first day of the challenge, with Soo and Turkey's Ozcan Yildirim tied for the top with one win each. Jo In Kwen was the only rider of the home team in the top seven at the end of the day.

Soo, who was champion in Singapore in 2005 and has over 4,000 rides to his name, took the first leg of the event, a 1,400-meter on Saturday. Riding the 4-year-old, War Zone-sired filly Ganghanyeosin, Soo beat Jo on Daejangjeon to the wire by half a length. Yoshida, on the filly Prete Ingran, finished in eighth place nearly 7 lengths off the winner.

The second leg, the tenth race on Saturday, went to Yildirim on the aptly named 5-year-old gelding Victory, a Korea-bred sired by the Japan-bred Osumi Jet. Jo was second paired with Haneoldo, another 5-year-old gelding and son of Distilled. Yoshida had his best result of the challenge, a fourth-place 3 1/2 lengths off the winner aboard Bon Rising, a 5-year-old by Volponi.

Sunday the skies opened in a deluge, turning the track sloppy by the start of racing. The rain was torrential by the jockey challenge third leg, the sixth race of the day, and it turned out to be the only race won by a Korean rider. Moon scooped the 1,400-meter handicap on Blueband Zet, a 5-year-old son of Didyme. Koreans took the next two spots, Ham Wan Sik on Reverse Captain in second half a length behind the winner, and Cho Kyoung Ho on Time Zone in third place. Yoshida finished in seventh place aboard Paxko, a 4-year-old gelding by the Japan-bred Shinko Singular.

The final race offered no solace for Yoshida. He turned in another rather unlucky seventh aboard Yongsan Hwangnyong, a U.S.-bred 5-year-old by Milwaukee Brew. Soo, on the other hand, had better luck with his U.S.-foaled filly Sangnyu, who turned the tables on the favorite for a decisive 6-length win over Golden Socks, with Karis Teetan up. Riding into the rain-soaked winner's circle after clinching the final, the YTN Cup Stakes, the 37-year-old Soo shouted, "I love Korea!"

Yoshida, 28, was, naturally, a bit more low-key expressing his feelings for the event. "I wasn't able to get the best horses in the draw for mounts and the end results were disappointing," he said. "Still, it was my first time to ride overseas. I got a lot of good input from the foreign jockeys and I saw a new aspect of racing that makes riding even more fun. I'll try my best to use this experience to the utmost after returning to Japan," the Ibaraki Prefecture native said. Last year in Japan, Yoshida captured a personal best 80 wins. He currently has 52 firsts, 56 seconds and 50 thirds this year, which puts him in the No. 9 slot for all JRA jockeys.

Final scores for the other participating jockeys were (from third place): Ozcan Yildirim, 28: Jo In Kwen, 22; Karis Teetan, 20; Ham Wan Sik, 13; Cho Kyoung Ho, 11; Ben Curtis, 9; Manoel Nunes da Silva, 9; Park Tae Jong, 8; Hayato Yoshida, 7; Kim Hae Sun, 7.