Few casual racing fans truly appreciate the rigors of being a jockey which is a stressful and dangerous profession. Horseplayers are quick to criticize a woeful ride without quite understanding the difficulties of race-riding. Jockeys are subjected to serious pressure throughout their careers, with some handling the demands of their job better than others
The Vasco/Khaya Stables day at the races is always well supported by indulgent fans having a good time, and the program was strengthened this year with five feature races. Golden Ducat prevailed after a duel with Sachdev to win the G1 Cape Derby and extend the extraordinary record of his dam, Halfway to Heaven
The postponed Guineas meeting shifted to midweek at Turffontein yielded some sterling performances. Ikigai (by Vercingetorix) has received glowing write ups here recently, and he duly did the business in the G2 Gauteng Guineas, earning a figure of 99++. He finished powerfully as well and, with a deserving sectional upgrade, can probably run as
With the floods in Gauteng, fans will have to wait till Wednesday night for the two postponed Guineas’ to be staged at Turffontein. The absence of any action on the Highveld left the menu a bit thin, with moderate fields in Cape Town and Durban. Still there were a couple of useful performances. Calvary
Captain Al’s son, One World (speed figure 108) staved off Rainbow Bridge to win the G1 SunMet in dramatic fashion at Kenilworth on Saturday. Pacemaker Head Honcho fell away badly leaving these two, who had raced handy, to fight it out. 300m from the wire it appeared as if Rainbow Bridge would go on to
Heavily punted, G G’s Dynasty managed a fine figure of 102 last time at Scottsville and duly doubled up in the Michael Roberts Handicap which was switched to the Greyville Poly after miserable weather up in KZN. Trained by Peter Muscutt, an integral part of the Interbet sponsored Crawford Racing Team, the bay made
Trainer, Candice Dawson and jockey, MJ Byleveld enjoyed four timers on Saturday in Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively. One of Dawson’s charges, D Árrivee (speed score 104) earned the highest figure @ Turffontein, motoring through from far off the pace with a 300m – finish sectional of 16.98 to beat off Tierra del Fuego
Vardy (speed score 106+) and Queen Supreme (s/s 100+) won the G1 Queen’s Plate and Paddock Stakes respectively at a sun-soaked Kenilworth. The closely-trimmed turf track was running quickly with both horses producing 600m-finish sectionals of 35.2 seconds. Vardy is trained by Interbet sponsored trainer, Adam Marcus, who is making a name for himself
Ikigai (speed score 101 +) was most impressive winning the G3 Tony Ruffel Stakes at Turffontein on Saturday. He raced handy then blasted clear to win by four lengths from Westlife (s/s 92). Alert handicappers who noted that he’d been running way above his official merit rating after good showings behind True to Life
Jockey MJ Byleveld performed a rare feat at Kenilworth when riding all four legs of the Jackpot. The SP four timer worked out at odds over 20 000/1, with the official Tote Jackpot dividend declared being R24 286.00! Afterwards, the modestly spoken MJ said, “Some jocks work smart, but in my case it’s hard work and