Muzi Yeni will have to defy the odds to cling on to his lead in the SA Jockeys Championships.

Yeni rode an impressive 22 winners in August, eight clear of the joint second-placed jockeys Richard Fourie, Ryan Munger and Anton Marcus.

However, on only one occasion this decade has the log leader in August held on to win the championships.

Muzi Yeni

That happened in the 2013/2014 season when S’Manga Khumalo rode 25 winners in August and went on to be crowned champion.

Last season Craig Zackey led in August on 16 winners and Lyle Hewitson, who had 12 winners in that first month, went on to be champion.

In 2016 Andrew Fortune led in the first month on 27 and eventual champion Anthony Delpech was eight behind on 13.

In 2015 Yeni led on 21 and eventual champion Khumalo was 15 behind on six winners at that stage.

In 2014 Piere Strydom led on 21 in August and eventual champion Gavin Lerena was on 14 winners.

In 2012 Khumalo led on 16 and was only one clear of the eventual champion Piere Strydom.

In 2011 Yeni led on 15 and eventual champion Anton Marcus was on 12 winners in that first month.

In 2010 Fortune led in August with 15 winners and eventual champion Anton Marcus was at that stage on eleven winners.

The bookmakers have not yet priced up on the Champion Jockey title race this season, but it looks wide open.

Richard Fourie would possibly be the favourite as he aims to ride over 200 winners and before yesterday’s Scottsville meeting was six behind the 24 winners of Yeni.

By David Thiselton

Former national champion jockey Gavin Lerena has had a frustrating five months on the sidelines but pending an X-ray and a doctor’s examination yesterday (Wednesday) he will have two rides at the Vaal today.

Lerena had a bad fall in the Derby Trial on Hakeem on March 31 and suffered concussion as well as a broken clavicle (collar bone) and broken scapular (shoulder blade).

There was then a “delayed union” of the clavicle, meaning the bones took a long time to knit.

Ultra sound treatment has helped speed up the process and Lerena has been workriding for about a month.

He said, “I had to take it easy and be careful which horses I rode to minimise the risk. The shoulder feels strong now and the biokineticist is happy.”

Gavin Lerena (Liesl King)

If he gets the go ahead Lerena’s first ride back will be in race one today, a Maiden for three-year-olds over 1000m, on the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Australian-bred Ultra Boost. This gelding is by More Then Ready, who is the fifth highest stakes-winning sire in history behind only Danehill, Sadler’s Wells, Galileo and Danzig. Ultra Boost’s unraced dam by Encosta De Lago is a half-sister to the Group 1 VRC Australian Guineas winner Rock Classic (Fastnet Rock).

Lerena has workridden this horse once and said, “I took him through the gates. He is a very nice horse. I think he will need further but he could be good enough to pull it off.”

The horse to beat in the first, a Maiden for three-year-olds over 1000m, is the well regarded Ashley Fortune-trained Big Blue Marble.

Lerena rides the favourite in the third, a Maiden for three-year-old fillies over 1000m. He said about the Johan Janse Van Vuuren-trained Jackson filly Lady Jackson, who is out of the Grade 1 Allan Robertson-winner Geepee S, “She is quite small but she is a trier.”

She has earned a cheque in all four of her starts, two of them being on the Greyville poly over this trip, and will face some tough competition from the like of  Variety Moon, Red Tara and three first-timers, Blonde Vision, Paschal’s Chrishele and Tehuano.

Lerena has been keeping an eye out for a ride in the Grand Heritage, in which he is unbeaten having ridden the inaugural winner Irish Pride in 2016 and last year’s winner Forest Fox.

He said, “I would like to ride Mardi Gras, but don’t think I am going to get the ride.”

Mardi Gras is currently a 15/4 shot to give Janse van Vuuren a second win in the Grand Heritage. The race, to be run on 29 September this year at the Vaal, caters for 28 runners, the biggest field in South Africa’s annual racing program. Draw bias can play a part so those 15/4 odds looks a touch skinny, although this well-bred R3,2 million grey gelding by Oratorio is without doubt a horse to follow this season as he has class and looks to be coming into his own.

Lerena’s goal for the season is to ride as many Grade 1 winners as possible. He said he has been given support by many yards since returning to the training tracks, so he should have a good choice of horses once he is back in full swing.

Lerena was the South African champion jockey in the 2014/2015 season in which he rode 221 winners at a strike rate of 20%.

He was in 11^th position with 74 winners at a strike rate of 21,33% at the time of his fall last season. He will have a mountain to climb if he is to chase the championship this season as Muzi Yeni has got off to a flying start and before yesterday’s Scottsville meeting was already on 24 winners, six clear of title-chasing Richard Fourie.

Lerena’s time off has been frustrating but it did allow him to spend quality time with his family and he concluded, “Their support has kept me going and kept me sane.”

By David Thiselton

Balladeer Peter Sarstedt once sang a popular hit about a ‘lovely’ that got a racehorse for Christmas but it was a wedding present that arrived at Scottsville yesterday. Given the vagaries of the sport, the Christmas present may just as easily have turned out to be a moderate maiden but Mary Slack’s wedding present to daughter Jessica and husband Steven Jell has turned into a swan.

There has not been an easier winner of a race in KZN since Run Rhino Run took his rider on a scenic trip of Greyville – and bolting home in a barrier trial yesterday – but yesterday’s performance by odds-on favourite Golden Chance was a far more impressive and had Sean Veale looking for the opposition some two furlongs out.

Golden Chance (Candiese Marnewick)

“I kept on looking back to see if it was a false start,” he said as he rolled home on the Dennis Drier-trained filly by an official seven lengths that could have been many more had Veale put the hammer down. “This was nothing but solid pace-work.”

Given her pedigree, Golden Chance has already paid her way.

In contrast, Rocket Fire is unlikely to make it to stud unless Duncan Howells is able to cool his temperament as the good-looking son of Rock Of Gibraltar, who started favourite for the second, boiled over in the paddock coming close to chopping one of his lead grooms in half.

He went to the start with a lead pony but he was head-in-the-air all the way home as he gave Craig Zackey a difficult ride and never looked like threatening.

But those punters who followed the money, were in the money. Perfect Peter found some solid market support and Gavin van Zyl’s runner landed the gamble in convincing fashion. Van Zyl is one trainer who uses barrier trials to his advantage and after making a useful debut late last year, Perfect Peter was given two trials in the interim. “He’s a smart horse. A beautiful, beautiful horse,” enthused Van Zyl after the gelding’s four-length romp.

Dave Hawkins and Pat Robinson have been staunch supporters of Richmond trainer Doug Campbell and both were on course to lead in Ohh La La after winning the third. Both go back to the early 1990’s as owners and this was Hawkins’s 100^th winner as an owner.

Scottsville is a track that finds out many a horse but there are others that excel on the track. Burra Boy is one such as the seven-year-old gelding racked up his fifth victory from 44 starts with 17 places in between. He plugged gamely up the inside rail under Brandon Lerena to deny Gauteng raider runner Defy Gravity by a rapidly diminishing short-head much to the chagrin of the visiting supporters who bellowed long and hard from the members balcony.

With modern photo-finish technology dead-heats are few and far between these days but not even a pixel separated Drageda and So Var in the fifth.

“We tried,” said head judge Wayne Simpson. “We blew up the picture until the pixel’s got blurred.”

Drageda looked dead-and-buried 400m out with commentator Craig Peters calling him under pressure, but he rallied hard and was a winner a stride after the line. Unlucky was Archilles who took a knock early in the race and was then chief sufferer as Antony Hotspur drifted across under pressure causing a concertina effect that certainly compromised Archilles’s chances.

By Andrew Harrison

The Vaal Classic track has an interesting eight race meeting tomorrow and the exotics look to be the way to play it.

In the first race over 1000m, a Maiden for three-year-olds, Big Blue Marble looks to be a Bipot banker. This Var gelding is a scopey sort with plenty of pace and after going close on debut he was declared a non-runner second time out when once again showing pace. The handler had impeded him at the start so he not surprisingly faded after losing a couple of lengths and then going to the front. With a better start this time he is going to be hard to catch. His stablemate Ocean City, a Var filly, lost ground at the start on debut before going to the front and fading so she can also improve. The most interesting of the first-timers is Ultra Boost, an Australian-bred gelding by the top sire More Than Ready out of an Encosta De Lago mare who is a half-sister to a Group 1 Australian Guineas winner. He provides a welcome back ride for former champion jockey Gavin Lerena.

Liverpool Lass (Candiese Marnewick)

The first leg of the PA is tricky, being a MR 90 Handicap over 1000m. Torre Del Oro disappointed last time over 1160m in a Pinnacle event but he had a slighter tougher task than he has here and was probably too handy too. He prefers being a little further off the pace and this consistent sort is the tip to win. Isphan was raised five points for his last win so is going to have it tough carrying 63kg but he can never be ignored over 1000m due to the pace he possesses. Big Mistake is interesting in his first run as a gelding as he had some good form in Cape Town, including finishing fifth in the R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run over 1400m. He should be staying on strongly over a trip too sharp in his first run after a five-and-a-half month layoff.

In the first leg of the Pick 6 over 1000m Variety Moon is the tip, but it is a not a confident choice. She is speedily-bred being by Var out of the useful Silvano sprinter Romantic Moon and she was green on debut when running a fair five length seventh to the fair sort Casual Wear over 1000m. Red Tara is quick and last time was cut down by the like of the promising Nafaayes, so without that sort of class appearing to be in this race she can possibly hold on this time. Blonde Vision makes most appeal of the first-timers being a R225,000 filly by Visionaire out of Grade 1 Allan Robertson winner Legally Blonde. She is a half-sister to Grade 2 Senor Santa Stakes runner up Pure Blonde. Lady Jackson can be included in the Pick 6 as she has some fair sprint form. First-timer Tehuano by Dynasty out of a Peintre Celebre mare is interesting, although horses from the Lucky Houdalakis yard usually come on from their first runs.

The fourth is an Assessment Plate over 1600m and looks to be a match race between the two youngsters, Saints Alive and Fariha, unless the best weighted horse Tammany Hall can bounce back to her early form in which she looked to be most promising. Brigtnumbersix is 4,5kg badly in with Tammany Hall but has ability and is still unexposed. Tundra Taita should be staying on and is another worth considering.

In the fifth race over 1800m Noceur has always looked to be one who would get better with age and should be coming into her own as a five-year-old this season. She is distance suited but against her is a wide draw. Tigerlace was beaten five lengths by Noceur last time but is 2kg better off and will appreciate the 200m further trip. She has a fair draw too and if things pan out for her she is capable of a strong finish. Fragrant Miss has come into her own and from pole position might be able to stay this trip. She struck as one who would need further early in her career and two runs ago won going away over 1600m. Big Myth is a progressive sort who can improve over this trip if not using up too much to get to the front. Serendipity can also be considered being just three points higher for her course and distance win and now better drawn.

Mighty Magic is the one to beat in race six dropping back to a trip of 1800m which will suit. However, Condor Gulch looks to be a progressive sort and he will be finishing strongly over this trip. Visigoth is a big horse who showed some class in Cape Town so in his third run after gelding must be considered. Hidden Agenda is well drawn over a suitable trip. Streetwear has good form but has a slight stamina question mark. The same can be said of Trip To Paradise.

The seventh, an uninspiring maiden over 1800m, should be fought out by Sea Like Glass, Pachanga and Rhyme Or Reason, although Generoso can do well if it pans out well for her and Matanuska.

In the last over 1800m Rockstar Child looks the one to beat with Festive Linngari and Proud Dynasty the main dangers. Those three can get punters through the exotics, although for wider Limestone Mass and Cinnabon can be considered.

By David Thiselton

Ryan Munger intends to continue with his have saddle-will travel approach to life – at least so far as his new job as first jockey to Glen Kotzen permits – when he moves to Cape Town at the end of the month.

“I will still do PE on Friday, Zim on Sunday when I get the chance, and Kimberley on Mondays,” he says. “I always have a full card there, riding for Stephanie Miller.”

Ryan Munger

Flamingo Park might as well be Outer Mongolia so far as most Cape Town jockeys are concerned. They have heard about the long bus trip to and from Johannesburg and quietly shuddered. “I now fly there and there is a flight from Cape Town to Kimberley so there shouldn’t be a problem,” says Munger, making light of the logistics. The fact that it leaves at 6.15am, necessitating arriving at the airport shortly after 5.00am, is greeted with a smiling “No problem – that won’t worry me. Anyway I would rather ride every day. I love what I do and, if I were to sit around, I’d get bored.

Surprisingly, he had never ridden at Kenilworth until May 26 this year. “It was the big day at Scottsville and I got offered rides by Mrs Bass-Robinson so I came for the day. She has supported me since.”

The association with Kotzen came two months later. “I rode Lanza for him, the horse won and a week later he said I must call him. It (the job offer) happened just like that.”

Now Munger is searching for somewhere to live – “I want to be in or around everything – I don’t want to be too far out – so I will probably stay in somewhere like Blouberg.”

Munger, 23 on Saturday week, is a nephew of Stuart Randolph and reckons to have ridden between 400 and 500 winners “including 60 in Zim.” Few people have been busier. He had over 1 200 rides in the season he finished his apprenticeship and more than 1 300 in the two subsequent seasons.

He rides at 52kg quite comfortably and without any form of diet. “Jeez, if I tell you what I eat people wouldn’t believe me.” So what does he eat? He grins: “Anything – and that includes takeaways.”

His biggest win so far was last year’s Caradoc Gold Cup on Ilitshe but he is confident his new association with Kotzen will bring him several at the highest level. But he wants even more. “The ambition is to win the July, naturally, and by next season to put myself into contention for the championship, or the top three at the very least.”

By Michael Clower