MJ Byleveld will resume at Kenilworth on Saturday little more than seven weeks after his horror fall on the Greyville polytrack.
He said yesterday: “They had to operate and put a plate in my broken thumb but I am now 100% again. I am just taking the one ride (Red Eight in the Tabonline Maiden) to begin with.”
MJ Byleveld
Byleveld, riding Fonteyn for Yogas Govender in a 2 000m fillies maiden on 19 July, was involved in a three horse pile-up. When Honeymoon Cove clipped heels 700m out, she fell like a stone and Byleveld’s mount galloped straight into her, firing her rider into the ground with the force of a pile-driver – “and, believe me, the poly is not soft,” said the jockey.
Anton Marcus flies in for six good rides: Rommel, Eastern Front, Ice Queen and True Words for Joey Ramsden, Leadman (Brett Crawford) and Querari’s Secret (Vaughan Marshall).
Fake News, formerly President Trump, makes his long-awaited debut for Justin Snaith in the first, a 1 200m maiden. Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides but apparently the stable is not expecting fireworks.
However Snaith Racing is expecting a lot from Winter Series winner African Night Sky and reports that the four-year-old will have his first race of the season in the Matchem Stakes at Durbanville on 7 October. The L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and Sun Met are the targets.
Racecourse general manager Dean Diedricks yesterday confirmed that the Durbanville seven meeting campaign will go ahead as planned, starting on 23 September. There were rumours floating around at Kenilworth last Saturday that there had been second thoughts. Not so, said Diedricks.
Bookmaker Bertie Dobbie and his brother Melvyn, due to cease on-course operations after last Wednesday’s meeting, have been granted a reprieve and were happy to accept an invitation to carry on for a limited period.
By Michael Clower
