Gavin Lerena’s retainer by Mauritzfontein and Wilgerbosdrift Studs means the ride on Hawwaam will likely be available to another lucky jockey in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge on May 4 at Turffontein as he is probably going to have to ride Cascapedia.

Lerena has just come off a seven day suspension last week and faces two more suspensions, but depending on how his appeals go and his success rate over the next few weeks, he might still chase the National Jockey Championship title.

He said, “I have a lot of ground to make up but if I am in contention I will definitely go for it.”

He has ridden 126 winners to date at a strike rate of 26,20% and is 27 winners behind leader Muzi Yeni.

Lerena felt the interference caused by Hawwaam to Approach Control at the 200m mark in the Grade 1 SA Classic was “nothing serious”, so did not feel it necessary to attend the enquiry. Therefore, he was surprised to receive a seven day suspension. Hawwaam shifted in slightly when powering past Approach Control and jockey Craig Zackey appeared to stop riding for a stride. However, Lerena is hoping the enquiry is re-opened so he can state his case.

Lerena will be appealing against a ten day suspension he received for his ride on Cascapedia in the Grade 2 Hawaii Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein on March 2. The big mare finished a narrow second, but Lerena was charged with failing “to ensure that she did not cause interference to other runners shortly before the finish line.”

Lerena will be travelling to KZN to ride in the big SA Champions Season races and will monitor the National Jockey Championship log before deciding whether to give it a full go in the last two months.

He was full of praise for the Silvano colt Hawwaam and confirmed he was one of the best he had ever ridden.

He said, “He makes it up so quickly, it feels as if he is not even touching the ground. If he can just learn to relax like he did in the SA Classic nothing will beat him.”

He is not sure yet whether Hawwaam will be running in the big one, the Vodacom Durban July, and said if he was not going to line up he would like to be on Rainbow Bridge.

Lerena has won the SA Championship once, in the 2014/2015 season, and he turned an intriguing tussle that year with S’Manga Khumalo into a one horse race when riding a record 42 winners in the month of June. So if he does decide to chase the title the frontrunners will have reason to feel a bit nervous. 

The current WSB odds for the title race are: Hewitson13/10; Yeni16/10; Marcus7/2; Lerena15/4; Fourie 150/1; Kennedy175/1; Munger330/1; Cheyne350/1.

By David Thiselton

Muzi Yeni’s hard work has paid dividends and he extended his lead in the National Jockeys Championships last week but he said his biggest challenge going into the final three months would be landing quality rides.

In an intriguing struggle Yeni is currently on 153 winners, reigning champion Lyle Hewitson is on 149, four-time champion Anton Marcus is on 146 and once champion Gavin Lerena is on 126.  

Yeni said, “The Championship is going to boil down to support and I am struggling to get quality rides. I am not getting the first two choices of ride I am phoning for, even in Kimberley, and am having to settle for third best.”

Yeni has recently added stand alone Cape Town meetings to his schedule so is now riding in all five centres and is literally race-riding seven days a week.

Hewitson rides in three centres, Gauteng, KZN and Port Elizabeth, but has the support of two powerful yards, Sean Tarry in Gauteng and KZN and Yvette Bremner in PE.

Anton Marcus is retained by Ridgemont Stud, whose horses chiefly run in Cape Town, and he otherwise freelances. He is highly sought after and has first choice of ride in many races in KZN. He is riding to a phenomenal strike rate of 29,98% strike rate as opposed to Yeni’s 11.93% and Hewitson’s 14,86%.

Lerena is riding to a 26,20% strike rate and could become a contender if deciding to chase the title.

On top of Yeni’s busy race-riding schedule he is also known, alongside Hewitson, as probably the hardest working jockey at track in the mornings.

He work rides on all the mornings when not travelling.

Yeni books his own rides except for Durban and Cape Town which are covered by his agent Ray Curling. 

He enjoys good support from Robbie Sage in Gauteng, Gavin Smith in PE and Corrie Lensley in Kimberley.

He admitted his schedule impacts heavily on the quality of his family life.

However, winning the championship could open new doors and help him realise his dream of riding in places like Hong Kong and Singapore.

He feels he is riding well at the moment but added, “There is always room for improvement.”

Yeni has not booked a Vodacom Durban July ride yet but is riding the Weiho Marwing-trained Samurai Warrior in the Grade 2 KRA Guineas on SA Champions Season opening night, Friday May 3.

Samurai Warrior gets automatic entry into the July as the winner of the SA Derby.

Yeni will continue to chase the championship and gave himself a shout of hanging on to his lead. 

He concluded, “If I get beaten I know I will have given it my best effort.”

By David Thiselton

Anton Marcus, who took over on One World when stable jockey M.J. Byleveld was out injured, keeps the ride on the Vaughan Marshall star in the Winter Guineas at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Marcus has won three out of four on the Captain Al colt, including the valuable CTS 1600, and Saturday’s Grade 3 looks at his mercy as his mount is rated 8kg better than next-highest Herodotus who receives only 2kg – as does Vardy who was beaten nearly four lengths in the R5 million Met-day race.

Twist Of Fate, who was a length and a half second in that mile and would have been a kilo better, runs instead in the KZN Guineas on Friday week. Joey Ramsden, confirming this yesterday, pointed out that his colt was drawn particularly wide (15 out of 16) in the Kenilworth race. In the Greyville Grade 2 he is drawn one.

One World is now as short as 11-20 with World Sports Betting which makes Vardy second favourite at 5-1 and goes 7-1 Herodotus, 8-1 Majestic Mozart, 12-1 Russet Air, 14-1 Fabian, 16-1 Clouded Hill. The field of seven is the smallest the Winter Guineas has seen for at least 18 years.

Marcus, who has won three of the last seven runnings, rides in seven of the eight races on Saturday and four of his mounts are for his Ridgemont retainer. Other notable visitors include dual champion S’Manga Khumalo (three rides including Herodotus) and Randall Simons whose six mounts are all for Candice Bass-Robinson.

By Michael Clower

Mary Moon has drifted from 7-2 to 9-2 and at this price she appeals for the Tellytrack.com Maiden at Kenilworth tomorrow.

The Glen Kotzen filly has made the frame in the last two of her four starts and, although she has two lengths to find with Silvery Heights and stable companion Je Ne Sais Quoi on the most recent of them, there are grounds for thinking she can do it. Not least of these is that Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides her for the first time.

But there is more – “She has run well at Durbanville but she will be suited by the longer run-in at Kenilworth,” points out her trainer who is also expecting a good run from Je Ne Sais Quoi. It is surprising to see this one joint favourite (at 33-10) considering she has been as expensive to follow as a millionairess in a diamond emporium. Furthermore she flopped here three weeks ago.

“She broke through the pens that day and sometimes when that happens all the adrenalin goes and they run flat,” explains Kotzen who scratched six of his runners at Durbanville last Saturday, giving rise to fears (among punters at least) that there could be a bug going through the stable. “It is viral related,” Kotzen confirms. “But it is mainly the two-year-olds who are affected and the best thing is to rest them.”

Joint favourite Silvery Heights is half a kilo top-rated, has been beaten little more than a length in total on her last two starts and seems sure to get into the shake-up again. Indeed the race looks to be between the top three.

Outoftheordinary made a big improvement when reverting to 1 200m on his last start two months ago and is rated 3.5kg clear of those who have been given a mark (the top five) in the Play Soccer 6 Maiden. His chance is obvious, he has been backed from 4-1 to 5-2 and is a confident selection. The Brett Crawford Jackson newcomer Khopesh opened 3-1 favourite with World Sports Betting but has drifted out to 4-1while The Last Supper now heads the market at 18-10.

Destin (7-2) is weighted to confirm last time’s Durbanville placings with 22-10 favourite Crome Yellow in the Tabonline Handicap, particularly as he had to overcome a bad draw that day. However Crome Yellow was unlucky not to win – he finished like the proverbial train, making up six lengths in the final furlong – and should make amends here.

The opening two-year-old maiden is a tricky-looking affair but maybe Savvy will improve enough to get the better of form horse Lasata.

By Michael Clower

The weather gods appear to have it in for Scottsville. In recent weeks it’s either been blistering hot or pouring with rain as was the case on Sunday.

A soft track doesn’t suit all, but there are horses that revel in the mud and don’t often get a chance in these conditions in KZN. That said, the Scottsville outside track was a little more than soft and after two races around the turn, a jockey protest and a track inspection in pouring rain the Listed The Sledgehammer was called off and postponed until this coming Sunday.

The underfoot conditions had no obvious affect on the two at the top of the weights in the Highland Night Cup as Silver Rose and favourite Strathdon took up the cudgels shortly after the start and finished in that order.

Once in front, Silver Rose settled for Gareth Wright and the race was run on his terms. Strathdon tried gallantly to get to grips in the home straight but Silver Rose kept finding to win comfortably.

Byron Foster, assistant to Andre Nel in KZN, expressed reservations about Silver Rose staying further than 2400m but the gelding did it rather easily under testing conditions so he may well be a factor come the big staying races in Champions Season.

Justin Snaith, on the other hand, has indicated that some of his runners are short of one run after the Cape summer, Strathdon and Pinkerton, third in the second when starting favourite, prime examples. But Listed The Scarlet Lady winner Miyabi Gold handled the heavy going comfortably and put up her hand for inclusion in the final field for the Vodacom Durban July.

She plugged away in the mud to win comfortably but the runner that caught the eye was Sabina’s Dynasty. Having her first outing for Brett Crawford, she was closing fast from well off the pace and it will not come as a surprise to see her name added to the list of July hopefuls at second entries alongside stable companion Charles.

Dennis Drier is responsible for two of South Africa’s promising locally-bred stallions, Master Of My Fate and now Captain Of All. Master Of My Fate already has a sophomore crop performing well but Captain Of All is still among the freshman ranks.

Captain Of All, winner of the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint as a two-year-old, signed off his career with victories in the Gr1 Gold Horse Sprint and the Gr1 Mercury Sprint, all for Drier. KZN’s current champion trainer has stayed faithful to both Master Of My Fate and Captain Of All.

Cartel Captain gave notice that he could be in line to emulate his sire in the Tsogo Sun Sprint as he scored comfortably in the card opener. He was up against quality field of maidens and his experience over the often tricky Scottsville 1200m will count in his favour.

Robbie and Shannon Hill enjoyed their finest hour with Cascapedia winning the Gr1 Empress Club Stakes a fortnight back and look to have two nice juveniles in Into The Future and Fools Gold, first and second in the All To Come Juvenile Plate. Both came off smart barrier trials and look to have some scope.

One that does have scope for breaking his duck sooner rather than later is third-placed Pinkerton. A seven-furlong maiden will be at his mercy when next he steps out.

By Andrew Harrison