Lyle Hewitson has retained his national jockeys championship although nearest rival Muzi Yeni fought until the last.

Going into the last meeting of the season at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday Hewitson was on 216 winners, two clear of Yeni.

He went four clear with a double in the first and third races.

The first of these was aboard the well backed Garth Puller-trained favourite Wishful Girl Linn, who pulled clear of the Yeni-ridden second favourite Cersei.

The second of the winners was the Gary Alexander-trained Marula and Hewitson showed why he is a champion here, getting this horse to dig down deep in a thrilling tussle with the favourite Ninotto.

Yeni had tried gallantly in the second race on Minister Without to overhaul the favourite Wolfgang but had to settle for his second runner up finish in succession.

However, he kept his hopes alive by winning the fourth aboard the Duncan Howells-trained 7/1 shot Coldhardcash.

However, when both riders went winnerless in races five and six it was all over.

Fittingly Hewitson was wearing the colours of the season’s champion owner Chris van Niekerk when Gold Circle’s Graeme Hawkins officially congratulated him on winning the title. Van Niekerk’s colours are associated with Hewitson’s guv’nor Sean Tarry, who secured his fourth national trainers title on Saturday.

Hewitson ended on 219 winners for the season when winning the eighth race on the Dennis Bosch-trained Padre Pio.

Yeni finished on 215 and Anton Marcus was third on 189.

By David Thiselton

Yeni calls foul

Two strikes and you’re out! In a ruthless display of riding, Lyle Hewitson put the jockey championship to bed within the first three races at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday and the championship was done and dusted after the sixth with Yeni three behind and out of ammunition.

To seal it, Hewitson added one more to his tally as the Dennis Bosch-trained Padre Pio stretch his lead to four in the eighth.

However, an upset Yeni, who is already facing an inquiry into his conduct in the steward’s room last Saturday, claimed foul and made his views clear after winning on Coldhardcash.

Speaking post-race; “Yes, I was giving it my all. I just find it very much injustice in the whole system in the jockey’s championship. Lyle was served a two-week suspension in April and they prolonged it until the end of the season when he can take it and I thought that is was very unfair to me.

They call it the rainbow nation but there is no fairness. I was forced to stand down when I was 12 winners ahead while Lyle was riding so to call it a fair contest? Everyone is coming here to support the championship but then they must make it clear. How come he can ride?

Interviewer Sheldon Peters tried to defuse the situation but Yeni was adamant in his views although he would have been well advised to check the suspension rules before sounding off.

“I can’t talk anymore because obviously I’m not allowed the playing field to talk, but I’m saying this is all in the media why someone is in front and why someone is not so. Obviously if I am not allowed to voice my concerns. Why some people are allowed to ride and some people are not allowed to ride. If I was good enough to serve out my suspension why not be allowed to ride out the season.”

 In what must have been one of the most exhausting championship battles ever, Yeni fought all the way to the line. 1819 rides is no mean feat in itself and Hewitson’s 1554 had him chasing hard after starting 40 behind after a two-month injury break at the start of the season.

Hewitson, Hong Kong-bound in the next fortnight, is confident in his abilities which will stand him in good stead in one of the world’s toughest racing jurisdictions.

“Ten days ago (when he was six winners clear on the log) I did not have the best book of rides but I realised that I was riding well. But Muzi did a fantastic job coming back.”

Hewitson started the last day of the season two winners ahead of Yeni but had stretched that to four by the third race with wins on Wishful Girl Linn in the first for a former champion jockey Garth Puller, and Marula in the third for visiting trainer Gary Alexander.

 Yeni picked up a ride on Cersei for Kom Naidoo in the first but had to be content with a well-beaten second as Wishful Girl Linn skated home three lengths clear.

Yeni made a fist of it in the second as he gave his all aboard on the Tobie Spies runner Minister Without but favourite Wolfgang proved more than a match. Spies has been one of Yeni’s biggest supporters this season and a win would not have been out of turn.

Duncan Howells is another Yeni supporter and Hewitson’s lead was cut to three after Coldhardcash made all the running under Yeni to hold off Louis Goosen’s runner Bravo Zulu with the balance in another race. It was a fine training feat by Howells as Coldhardcash is not clean winded and races with a cornel collar.

It pays to follow in form stables and yards that tend to come to form at certain times of the year. Richmond-based Doug Campbell is always one to keep an eye on once Champions Season has run its course. With few runners that can compete with Champion Season raiders, Campbell keeps his powder dry for this time of the year and although Jamaica Bay did have two races during the season, she was primed for the fifth yesterday as she and Craig Zackey out-gunned Such A Rush and luckless apprentice Xola Jacobs.

Lowan Denysschen had a hard taskmaster in his father Paul who was a supreme horseman and although winner’s have been hard to come by this term, Denysschen came within an ace of a double yesterday. Such A Rush had to bend her knee to a faster finishing Jamaica Bay but Thru’ The Trees did the business for the stable as Mark Khan got him going to get the better of pacemaker Roy’s Pony in the sixth.

Hewitson ended the season on 219 winners, Yeni on 215 and Anton Marcus third on 189.

By Andrew Harrison

Grant van Niekerk is going to have a good day on his return to Kenilworth on Saturday if the early-price bookmakers have got it right.

Last year’s Sun Met-winning jockey numbers five favourites among his seven rides – Tambora and Sleeping Single for Justin Snaith, Doppio Oro and Machiavelli for Candice Bass-Robinson and Larentina for Eric Sands.

Luke Ferraris also has a strong hand with some strongly fancied mounts for Snaith including odds-on shot Winter Is Over and favourites Love Happens and Alsflamingbeauty.

By Michael Clower

The strength of this past racing season can be seen in that there were no fewer than six multiple Grade 1 winners as opposed to just three the previous season.

The highest rated horse in the country Do It Again won three Grade 1’s and so did Hawwaam and all of Rainbow Bridge, Soqrat, Celtic Sea and Kasimir won two apiece.

In the previous season Equus Horse Of The Year Oh Susanna won three Grade 1s and Legal Eagle and Snowdance won two each.

The highest earning horse of this past season was Hawwaam whose Grade 1 wins included the R2 million SA Classic, the R4 million Premier’s Champions Challenge and the R2 million Daily News 2000.

He won six out of seven starts and earned R5,628,125.

He had to be scratched before the start of both the Grade 1 SA Derby and Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July.

The latter scratching was particularly disappointing as the eagerly anticipated three-cornered clash between Do It Again, Rainbow Bridge and Hawwaam became a duel between the latter pair.

Hawwaam ends the season as possibly the world’s most unexposed three-time Grade 1-winner as all of his wins at the highest level have been achieved with consummate ease, although none of them were against vintage opposition. Nobody knows yet how good this Silvano colt is.

However, the July’s loss might become the Sun Met’s gain as the trio could clash there next January.

Do It Again earned R5,102,500 and Rainbow Bridge earned R4,895,000.

Do It Again became the first horse since El Picha in 1999/2000 to win back to back Julys and he will attempt to become the first to win three-in-a-row next year.

He beat Rainbow Bridge by 0,40 lengths giving him half-a-kilogram and the latter then came out and produced one of the performances of the season by winning the Grade 1 WSB Champions Cup over 1800m, despite the race not panning out well for him. He was one wide without cover throughout and did race a bit strongly. Yet he was still able to fetch the three-time Grade 1-winner Soqrat in the straight and win a tad cosily. 

So, it was not surprising to see Do It Again appearing alongside Hawwaam in joint 16th place in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings, which was taken from races around the world from January 1st this year until July 7th.    

The season also showed that the dream industry is still very much an appropriate term for horseracing.

Twist Of Fate cost just R20,000 and earned R2,777,500 this season alone.

Most of the season’s heroes will be staying in training, so the Cape Summer Of Champions season is going to be a humdinger.

By David Thiselton

Numerous offers have been made for the impressive Dean Kannemeyer-trained African Warrior but the D K Kannemeyer Racing Syndicate, which consist of local and overseas members, is “having such fun” with him they have turned them down.

The best of Kannemeyer’s current Summerveld contingent will be travelling down to Cape Town next week and will then be given their African Horse Sickness vaccinations because if given them in KZN they have to wait 40 days before departing.     

African Warrior was one of the most impressive winners on eLan Gold Cup day under a fine ride by Keagan de Melo.

The Vercingetorix gelding is a handful in the preliminaries but is the pole opposite during a race and relaxes beautifully in the running.

De Melo’s aim was to simply find cover from the widest draw of all, knowing the athletic bay has a devastating turn of foot.

He dropped him out and managed to slot him in behind a line of horses who were running two wide.

De Melo, with a double handful, remained patient until the 300m mark before unleashing him. 

The response was instantaneous and after sweeping past the pack he joined the leader Spring Break at the 50m mark and saw her off to win by 0,30 lengths.

Appropriately he paraded in front of the grandstand to the sounds of Johnny Clegg’s hit Impi.

African Warrior was coming off a win in the KZN Yearling Sale Million.

He was purchased for a bargain R100,000 at that BSA Sale and has already earned R1,032,375.

Kannemeyer had a quiet season by his standards but it ended with a bang as his Querari colt Liberty Hall finished second in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes over 1600m.

This colt runs in the colours of popular Cape partners Mike Fullard and James Drew and DG Abery, RL Gabler and CL Gabler are also owners.

Kannemeyer has an enviable record in the Cape Classics but has no set plans for these two young horses yet.

Liberty Hall has already proved he stays a mile. 

African Warrior has plenty of natural speed but being by Vercingetorix out of a Jet Master mare who won over 1600m he should stay classic distances, especially as he relaxes so well in the running. 

By David Thiselton