Glyn Schofield is the latest leading South African jockey to join Sydney`s riding ranks, making his debut at Randwick next Saturday.

Schofield, who has ridden successfully in eight countries and won nearly 1500 races, has already picked up at least four early rides, most notably speedy mare Alverta in the Listed $100,000 Razor Sharp Quality (1200m).

Alverta was bred and owned by Arrowfield Stud`s principal John Messara, who was instrumental in luring Schofield to Sydney.

Schofield joins another South African riding legend, Jeff Lloyd, to make the move to Sydney this month.

"I was looking for a better life for my family and a new challenge for me," Schofield said.

"Sydney is a wonderful city and the racing here is first-class. It`s always been an ambition of mine to ride here."

Schofield, his wife Tiffany, and their three children, Whitney (16), Chad (13) and Demi (10) only moved to Sydney last week.

A winner of 10 Group I races worldwide, Schofield has linked with leading jockey manager Bryan Haskins and comes here with his confidence sky-high after winning one of South Africa`s biggest races, the Group I Summer Cup, at Turffontein last month on the Australia-bred Strategic News.

The 40-year-old, who has also ridden successfully in Singapore, France, Korea and Mauritius, also made his mark in racing`s most competitive arena, Hong Kong.

Schofield proved himself against the world`s best jockeys during his three years in Hong Kong, winning the 2004 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on River Dancer and the 2005 HK International Sprint on Natural Blitz.

Schofield is no stranger to Australian racing, having competed for three months in Brisbane five years ago.

It was during his Brisbane stint that he won the Gold Coast Guineas on Gai Waterhouse`s former classy filly Miss Bussell.

Miss Bussell was raced by Messara who was so impressed with Schofield`s riding, he tried then to entice the jockey to move to Sydney permanently.

"Glyn won on Miss Bussell at the Gold Coast then ran third on her in the Queensland Derby," Messara recalled. "He only had two rides on the filly and I thought he rode her better than anyone.

"I tried to get him to move to Sydney back then but he went to Hong Kong instead."

Schofield then rang Messara out of the blue about 12 months ago and asked for his advice about a possible move to Sydney.

"John told me to come over as soon possible and I could ride for his son, (trainer) Paul Messara," the jockey added.

Schofield said he intends to ride trackwork at Randwick, Rosehill and Warwick Farm this week in an attempt to "get a feel" of Sydney racing.

Despite the departure of established stars like Darren Beadman and Glen Boss (Hong Kong), Corey Brown (Melbourne) and Danny Beasley (Singapore), the competitiveness of Sydney`s riding ranks is suddenly looking particularly strong.

Lloyd and Schofield are world-class and will make their presence felt here alongside former Melbourne jockeys Nash Rawiller and Blake Shinn, plus homegrown talent like Hugh Bowman, Larry Cassidy, Jay Ford, Tim Clark and emerging apprentices Tye Angland and Josh Parr.

They will soon be joined by grand slam-winning jockey Jim Cassidy who is returning from injury later this month, and the outstanding Danny Nikolic when he relocates from Melbourne early in the new year.

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