Lyle Hewitson burst to prominence soon after joining the apprentice ranks in March 2016 but few would have envisaged him being crowned national champion jockey in just his second full season as a professional rider.

He becomes the first since the great Michael Roberts to win the national jockeys championship while still an apprentice. Roberts achieved the feat in the 1972-73 season although he attained his full jockey’s license in June of 1973.

Therefore, at tonight’s Equus Awards, Hewitson will become the first to receive the national champion jockey trophy while still an apprentice since Gerald Turner did so in the 1960s. Hewitson is currently recovering from a knee injury but the good news is he will not require surgery and expects to be back in the saddle in about four weeks time.

He said yesterday, “There is quite a bit of bone bruising and there is a hairline fracture and a strained ligament, but it will heal by itself. I will make sure I am 100% before coming back.”

He is receiving physiotherapy as well as sitting in an oxygen chamber and receiving Tecar heat therapy in order to speed up the healing.

He expects to be able to ride in the Jockeys International in Singapore on September 25. He will be team South African together with Muzi Yeni and Aldo Domeyer and will be taking on Team Australia, Team UK and Team Asia.

Hewitson said the reality of being champion jockey had not really sunk in yet but admitted, “When going down to the start and hearing the commentator saying ‘Lyle Hewiston, the champion jockey elect’, it caused goose bumps. It is also great knowing there is still more to work on.”

Hewitson said he had never had the championships in mind at the beginning of the season but his goal had rather been to ride a Grade 1 winner. He had appeared booked for second place in the championship before the reigning champion and runaway leader Anthony Delpech’s horror season-ending fall at Turffontein in the SA Classic on April 7. Hewitson had at that stage ridden 105 winners and was 31 behind Delpech and was eight ahead of third-placed Muzi Yeni. He hit the front on May 13 when riding a double at Greyville and looked a certainty for the title as he was by now 28 clear of Yeni. However, there looked to be a chance he would become probably the first champion jockey in history to have never won a Grade 1, a tag he would not have wanted.

That all changed about a month later, also at Greyville, when bringing home the Brett Crawford-trained Undercover Agent in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge. His feeling was not one of relief but rather that “the floodgates can now open.” He duly scored a second Grade 1 winner on Vodacom Durban July day on Redberry Lane in the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes. He ranked this his ride of the season and recalled, “I had done well on her. She is such an honest filly and it was also for Sean Tarry who has done so much for me. I went in feeling it would be hard to beat Snowdance but Redberry Lane is a good frontrunner and I felt maybe if I stole a couple of lengths we had a chance. It didn’t unfold that way as she didn’t quite have the gatespeed of Snowdance and others and we ended up fifth in the running, so I had to go to Plan B. I just punched away in the straight and she dug down deep and got her head down. It was very satisfying that things did not go our way but we adapted and it worked out, a fantastic feeling.”

Doing it on July day made it all the more special as a lot of friends had been watching.

His ride on Undercover Agent was also memorable as this horse has a tendency to be strong in the running and despite the crawling early pace he managed to settle him after 150 metres. The big three-year-old colt consequently found enough extra to power all the way to the line.

Hewitson spoke about the vital skill of being able to settle a strong horse, “You have to trust the horse to come back to you without fighting the horse. It is all about feel and it is probably something which comes naturally, it becomes second nature.”

Hewitson said the cherry on the top of his season would have been to score a third Grade 1 on Return Flight. She had always been his ride but he was sidelined when she won the Thekwini on the last day of the season.

He named Return Flight, the ever-improving Chimichuri Run, Celtic Sea, Saturday’s impressive debut winner In The Dance, his favourite horse, Africa Rising, and Lord Silverio as some of the horses to follow from the Tarry yard this season.

Hewitson grinded away when second choice in the yard to S’Manga Khumalo and when the latter was off injured, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He felt when Khumalo came back they were both getting an equal share of the rides and it was down to which rider Tarry regarded as more suitable for a specific horse.

Hewitson rode 185 winners in the season winners at a strike rate of 12,59%. He rode 99 winners on the Highveld, 57 in Port Elizabeth, 24 in KZN, three in the Western Cape and two in Kimberley. He felt the season could have been even better if the Tarry yard had not hit a two month dry spell.

On his long term goals he said, “It will be tough defending the title as I will have lost a couple of months, but I aim to ride more Group 1s and if an offer to ride overseas comes that would be high on the agenda.”

By David Thiselton

The 2016 Met and Paddock Stakes winner Smart Call has been retired and will be covered by the Haydock Sprint Cup winner Kingman to Southern Hemisphere time.

Jessica Slack told the Racing Post: “We decided a while ago that we wanted to retire her to stud this year and breed her on Southern time so Sir Michael Stoute planned her campaign this year to fit in with that. She has been such a star and we are so proud of her.”

Considering the authoritative way she won the Met – beating Legal Eagle by three and a half lengths with Captain America another length away third – her overseas campaign was rather disappointing.

She won only once, in a Group 3 on the all-weather at Newcastle. To be fair, she was highly tried and widely travelled. Two of her first four races in Europe were in Group 1s and she visited Hong Kong, Ireland (twice) and France. She was also reported to have suffered lameness problems.

By Michael Clower

Cape champion Aldo Domeyer can bounce back with a first-race winner at Durbanville today after being sidelined for much of the last fortnight.

His mount Happy Girl is the highest rated in the 1 400m fillies maiden, she is drawn two and her form reads well. She beat all except the useful Valderrama over the trip at Kenilworth last time and appeals at 19-10.

Her 74 rating suggests that she can beat 15-10 favourite Secret Path who has gone close over shorter on her two most recent outings and has to concede only 3kg. The weight-for-age scale puts the difference between a four-year-old and a three-year-old over this 1 400m at 8kg but Secret Path is only rated 61.

World Sports Betting has the wide-drawn Double Rosie and Lucille (who ran well 13 days ago) next in the market at 15-2 but don’t ignore 12-1 shot Troux Au Biches. She represents the currently inspired combination of Justin Snaith and Richard Fourie. She might not have made much impression on debut but she did lose a front shoe that day.

Whatever their fortunes here, the champion trainer and his jockey should win the Tabonline Maiden (race three) with Black Indy. This one was fancied over 1 400m here ten days ago, raced second but proved unable to quicken and was beaten into third behind favourite More Magic.

Black Indy is officially the best horse in the race and it is significant that he steps up in trip. He was 2-1 favourite yesterday and could have most to fear from 10-1 chance Cedar Man even though the betting suggests that 33-10 shots Hello Many (Domeyer) and Metropolitan have stronger claims.

Nasty Harry is 33-10 joint favourite with Domeyer’s mount Orakal for the TAB Telebet Handicap (race two) and gets the vote because he ran so well in a good Pinnacle on his most recent appearance. He disappointed when last tried over this 1 400m but that was 11 months ago.

Orakal was beaten only half a length on his last start despite being hampered. An interesting runner is 15-2 shot Ancestry who takes a big drop in class after running in all three legs of the Winter Series. A change of course could be just what the doctor ordered.

Stable companion Sparkeling Fire appeals in the Betting World Maiden. Royal Kiss is the 2-1 favourite but the Joey Ramsden filly stands out on both form and ratings. She looks good value at 28-10.

By Michael Clower

This season’s KZN Racing awards, which will take place on August 24, will be competed for by horses who were based in KZN during the season. However, the exception is the Horse Of The Year award, which is open to all horses who raced in KZN.

The like of the Dean Kannemeyer-trained It’s My Turn and the Glen Kotzen-trained Temple Grafin will qualify as their only runs during the season were in KZN.

However, others like Do It Again, Undercover Agent, Captain America, Surcharge, Oh Susanna, Redberry Lane, Mighty High, Celtic Sea, Van Halen, Return Flight, Will Pays, Chimichuri Run etc will only qualify for the Horse Of The Year award as they all did most of their racing in other provinces.

A ride of the season will also be one of the awards and can be voted for by the general public.

The five rides chosen for voting were Anton Marcus aboard Fiorella in the Grade 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas, Lyle Hewitson aboard Redberry Lane in the Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes, Mark Khan aboard Mighty High in the Grade 1 Allan Robertson, Craig Zackey aboard Will Pays in the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint and Corne Orffer aboard Captain America in the Grade 1 Champions Cup.

The votes can be cast on Gold Circle’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

By David Thiselton

There were a handful of horses who caught the eye as ones to follow for the season at Turffontein on Saturday.

August is traditionally the quietest month of the racing season for top horses as they will usually be having a well deserved holiday after the SA Champions Season and it is also a good time to administer the compulsory African Horse Sickness vaccines.

However, the early signs are Sean Tarry has started this season the way he ended the last.

He and Robbie Sage scored a double.

Muzi Yeni rode a treble and his eight winners for the season by the end of the day’s play were one behind early national log leader Richard Fourie. Keagan de Melo and 2,5kg claimer Luke Ferraris both rode doubles to make it six and four for the season respectively.

Yeni’s second winner was aboard the well-bred Sage-trained Querari three-year-old Dewali. This R325,000 colt is out of the Mike de Kock-trained Kahal mare Festival Of Fire, who won the Grade 2 KRA Fillies Guineas as well as two Grade 3s over 1400m and 1450m respectively. In Saturday’s maiden for three-year-olds over 1160m Dewali’s odds of 11/10 were generous in retrospect as his three runs to date had all been in features and he had twice finished quite close to the classy Bold Eagle. He duly obliterated the field and won effortlessly by four lengths. He looks set to provide a lot of fun for deserving owner Colin Bird, who will be on a high as the Sage-trained Coral Fever gave him his first Grade 1 winner in 41 years of racing in last season’s lucrative Premier’s Champions Challenge.

In the next race over 1160m the well-bred Sean Tarry-trained In The Dance was easy to back at 10/3. This Gimmethegreenlight filly is a half-sister to the like of three-time Grade 1 winner Capetown Noir, Grade 3 winner Across The Ice and Graded performer Premier Dance. Cape Town Noir was known for his exceptional turn of foot and In The Dance showed she possessed this asset too. She was hampered at the start causing her to lose a couple of lengths. However she was soon travelling well on the outside. She was green when asked for her initial effort but quickened effortlessly when it counted and won easing up by 3,5 lengths under S’Manga Khumalo.

The runner up Rock A Roll Dancer is no slouch as she finished just 1,75 lengths behind Nafaayes over 1000m on debut and the latter followed up with another win over 1400m to remain unbeaten. In The Dance is owned and bred by Lammerskraal Stud. Her dam Akinfeet was named Broodmare Of The Year at the 2013 Equus Awards due to  Cape Town Noir’s feat of doing the Cape Guineas and Cape Derby double. Akinfeet is bred in the purple herself, being by SA Champion stallion Fort Wood out of the top class racehorse Dance Every Dance. The latter was by champion broodmare sire Northern Guest and she won the Grade 2 Golden Slipper and Grade 2 Cape Fillies Guineas. It is not surprising Lammerskraal Stud manager Sally Jourdan chose In The Dance as one of the fillies to keep for racing and breeding.

Tarry then teamed up with the 2,5kg claimer Luke Ferraris to win a Pinnacle event over 1160m with the five-year-old Visionaire gelding Africa Rising, although another one to definitely take out of the race is the runner up Mardi Gras. Africa Rising, who won the Byerley Turk over 1400m at Greyville last year, has always been well regarded by Tarry but has been a touch disappointing. However, he has now won his last two sprint starts and could be interesting if kept to the shorter distances considering the current relative weakness of the sprinting division around the country.

In his previous sprint win over 1200m Africa Rising came from well off the pace and mowed them down so it was encouraging that he won on Saturday after showing good gatespeed and initially being in the lead as this did not blunt his good turn of foot at the end. On the downside he is merit rated 103 and was well in at the weights, especially when taking Farraris’s 2,5kg claim into account. He only just held off the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained four-year-old Oratorio grey Mardi Gras. The latter, who would have been receiving 2kg more weight in a handicap, was having his first run after gelding and will come on considerably for the run as it was also his first appearance for more than three months. This Avontuur Stud-bred horse, formerly owned by Mayfair Speculators, is out of the Grade 1 Majorca Stakes winner Sarabande and is a half-brother to the like of stakes winners Chesalon and La Volta and also to the dam of his Graded-winning stablemate She’s A Giver. It is not surprising he fetched R3,2 million at the sales.

Ferraris’s other winner on the Var gelding Make Your Move was for his grandfather Ormond.

Luke had a good chance of scoring a double for Tarry as he was aboard the fancied Satin Slipper in the eighth. However, ultimately this horse was declared a non-runner after the handler impeded her start causing her to lose a couple of lengths. She ran on from last but faded late to finish sixth. Luckily for PA punters the favourite Abelie finished third and they can also thank their lucky stars Satin Slipper did not run on in to the fourth position as she would then not have been able to be declared a non-runner due to the laws of racing.

By David Thiselton