Jockey legend Felix Coetzee believes the time is perfect for Gavin Lerena to take on the Hong Kong Challenge and is looking forward to following his career.

Coetzee, who achieved hero status on the island nation partly through his association with the legendary racehorse Silent Witness, will be in Hong Kong himself for twelve days from tomorrow working with apprentices.

He said, “The competition in Hong Kong right now is as tough as it’s ever been, but Gavin goes there with so many positives, such as the Jockeys Championship and the International Jockeys Challenge victory, and at the age of 30 is in his prime and riding with such maturity. His arrival will also coincide I believe with the departure of Ryan Moore and Silvestre de Sousa (both due to return to the UK for the British flat season) and they have had such good support he could be settling in where they left off.”

Talking about the idiosyncrasies of Chinese culture, Coetzee said a jockey not viewed as lucky would be quickly shunned, but did not expect this to affect Lerena. On top of his own current confidence, trainers will be confident in him having seen him ride in the Challenge. Lerena would also have had his eyes open in the few days he was there so will not be subjected to a complete culture shock.

Meanwhile, Coetzee has been working with Cape Town rider Craig du Plooy and has mentored him on all aspects from tactical awareness to riding style. He has been deeply impressed with Du Plooy’s commitment, especially considering how hard it is to change habits and “muscle memory” as a forty-year-old. He has little doubt it will bring about a change of fortunes in a game which has the catch 22 situation of having the need to be rated before getting good rides and needing good rides to be rated.

Coetzee is also mentoring former champion jockey S’Manga Khumalo and is helping in his drive to win the closely contested Championships.

Coetzee, who is steeped in the methods of Monty Roberts, also “breaks-in” young horses for a number of Cape Town yards.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Sportingpost

The much-travelled Red Ray has just completed a month’s quarantine in South Africa and he has the Mercury Sprint at Greyville on July 16 as a possible target.

Racing manager Derek Brugman said yesterday: “He won’t come back down to Cape Town as he would have to stay for a fortnight in Beaufort West on the way. Instead he will stay in Johannesburg and we will send him to Mike de Kock’s place for them to look after him and we will send him to Durban when Joey Ramsden’s string arrives there.

“The Mercury Sprint could be a target but at this stage that is a long shot. He hasn’t raced for over a year and he suffered a hairline fracture of a front leg above the knee after his one run in Dubai.

“He recovered from that but we will need to do scans to check that the fracture has properly healed for us to start with him.”

Red Ray won the 2013 Cape Classic for Ramsden before going close in the Cape Guineas, Cape Flying Championship and Golden Horse Sprint. He was officially rated the best three-year-old in the country.

He joined De Kock and went via Mauritius to Dubai and Britain but ran only once when only seventh in a Group 2 seven furlong race at Meydan for which he started favourite.

Michael Clower

Picture: Red Ray (Liesl King)

Richard Fourie is to cut short his Hong Kong contract and return to South Africa. He looks set to resume his position as first jockey to Justin Snaith.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe, who took over the plum job at the beginning of the season, hinted at the changes after winning the first race at Kenilworth yesterday on the Snaith-trained Bishop’s Bounty. He quipped, tongue only partly in cheek: “I’ve got the boot.”

Snaith then elaborated, saying: “The agreement with Bernard was only up until Met day. He has commitments to another yard and his weight is also a problem. My operation is too big to have that [in a stable jockey] and Richard is coming back. But Bernard will ride the odd one from now on.”

Fayd’Herbe added: “There are no hard feelings – obviously you can’t have a stable jockey who can only do 58.5kg – and I will continue to be first jockey for the Ridgemont Stud.”

Fourie has enjoyed spectacular success for Snaith, including winning the 2014 Vodacom Durban July on Legislate, but things have not gone well for him in Hong Kong this season. He has only ridden six winners and is currently out of action with ligament and muscle problems in his back, the result of schooling a horse through the pens.

He recently flew home for treatment but is now back in Hong Kong. His application to be released from his contract is due to be heard today.

By Michael Clower

South African Champion Jockey Gavin Lerena leaves for Hong Kong on Sunday where he will free lance as a Jockey Club rider.

Lerena will be up against the like of Joao “Magic” Moreira, commonly regarded as the best jockey in the world.

However, he confirmed it was every sportsman’s ultimate dream to test themselves against the best and added, “He is probably the best jockey the world has ever seen and there will never be another like him, but I am mentally and physically prepared to take him on.”

Lerena has proved his mental toughness and it is well documented how his darkest moment, when reflecting upon a Championship which had somehow slipped through his grasp, took just three years to erase. His winning of the Championship last year included an astonishing streak of form when the pressure was at its highest, including  a record-breaking 42 winners in one month.

Lerena is grateful to Felix Coetzee, a veteran of 16 seasons in Hong Kong, for the “fantastic advice” he has provided ahead of his sojourn. He has also received pointers from Weichong Marwing and Anthony Delpech.

He is thus aware not only of aspects pertaining to his profession but also of Hong Kong life in general, including the important role luck plays in Chinese Culture and of the need to conduct oneself in a manner acceptable to the Culture.

He said, “Luck is everything over there but you can also make your own luck.”

Lerena confirmed the strictness of the Hong Kong stipendiaries placed added pressure on jockeys, especially as the two racecourses were relatively tight.

He has never been short of confidence and quipped, “It’s very different over there and hard to adjust, but it took me three races to win so I think I adjusted quite well!”

He was referring to the International Jockeys Challenge he took part in last December, where he won both the third and fourth legs to emerge as overall winner.

His South Africa Championship combined with his Jockeys Challenge victory no doubt helped him secure the contract with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Lerena has only had four rides at Happy Valley but has already grasped the ins and outs. He said, “Its much faster than South African racing and you’ve got to ride the race from the jump and find the right position and the right passage. If you make one wrong move, or just one hesitation, it will be the difference between winning or running fifth, you must have the best passage and a flowing passage. Sha Tin also has a short straight but is fairer.”

Lerena will be provided with an interpreter for the first few weeks, but will otherwise be left on his own to secure rides.

However, trainers are unlikely to be slow in offering him mounts, considering his two winning rides in the Challenge were brilliant, and on the night he downed eleven of the best jockeys from around the world, including Moreira, Ryan Moore, Douglas Whyte, Brett Prebble, Victor Espinoza, Hugh Bowman, Silvestre de Souza, Derek KC Leung, Keita Kosaki, Maxine Guyon and James McDonald.

Furthermore, South Africans have a reputation in Hong Kong which dwarves all other nations considering the dominance of the Championship by Basil Marcus (seven times champion), Robbie Fradd (one championship) and Douglas Whyte (thirteen championships) since Bartie Leisher laid the foundation by winning it in 1988. Coetzee, Delpech, Marwing, Glyn Schofield, Jeff Lloyd, Piere Strydom, Anton Marcus, Richard Fourie and Karis Teetan, a Mauritian who learnt his trade at the South African Jockeys Academy, have also all made a big impact on Hong Kong racing.

Lerena will be accompanied by wife Vicky and young son Ashton on the venture.

In Hong Kong the jockeys and trainers all live together in an apartment block near Sha Tin racecourse, another factor which adds pressure.

He said, “Living side by side with your competitors and the people you ride for is not going to be easy, but luckily we’re a quiet family.”

Ashton currently attends nursery school in Gauteng, but Gavin and Vicky will play it by ear before rushing him into a new educational institution.

Gavin concluded, “It’s a big step in life but I’m mentally and physically ready for it, although obviously we going to miss the family, we’re a very close family.”

By David Thiselton

With his turf rating of 111, four-year-old Ertijaal (AUS) will race under top weight of 60kg in Thursday evening’s Land Rover Discovery Sport Handicap over 1900m at Meydan.

This is a sand (dirt) contest, however, and the question that needs to be answered is whether the 2015 Gr1 Cape Derby winner will be similarly effective in his first run on the new surface in the hands of jockey Paul Hanagan.

Ertijaal’s pedigree suggests that he is likely to enjoy racing on sand. He is by Hard Spun, a terrific top-level performer who raced only on dirt and the Polytrack, winning seven of 13 starts from 1100m to 1800m, including the Gr1 King’s Bishop over 1400m on dirt at Saratoga.

Hard Spun’s places included a second in the 2007 Kentucky Derby (2000m) to Street Sense and he was runner-up to the star Curlin in both the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic (2000m) and the Pimlico Stakes (1900m).

Nothing is clear-cut however, and while the outcome of this race will determine the rest of Ertijaal’s Carnival campaign, Mike de Kock wasn’t too fazed on Tuesday, saying: “He will either go well on dirt or he won’t and if he doesn’t we’ll switch him back to turf. He’s fit and very well, it’s a competitive handicap, a real test but he is well drawn and I think he is massive runner even under his big weight.”

Judging by apparent stable confidence this could be “a good night at the office” – De Kock was bullish too about the chances of Sanshaawes (Christophe Soumillon) and Tellina (Wayne Smith), his contenders in the Gr3 Dubai Millennium Stakes over 2000m on turf.

“This doesn’t look like the best ever renewal of the race and we have two runners who are very fit and well. They should both get their share of the action here.”

Another runner considered to have a winning chance is Prayer For Relief (Soumillon), who was touched off by Le Bernardin on his seasonal debut in Gr2 mile on dirt; then beaten over seven lengths by the smart Frosted over 1900m on dirt.

“We’re bringing Prayer For Relief back to the mile, he seems to fade when he races beyond 1800m. He drops in class and we fancy he’ll be right there to contend this one.”

Seven-year-old Pylon is in the same race, making his own seasonal debut. The big sand galloper is short of his best and De Kock commented: “Pylon has suffered a few setbacks so this run after his long break will serve to bring him on, he will improve for it.”

Mastermind (Hanagan), is effective over 1400m on turf and will be yet another stable ace to be reckoned with in the Range Rover Trophy (Race 2).

“Mastermind gives of his best, he is doing well at home but he was penalised 8 pounds for his Gr2 placing last time so has a big weight to shoulder and there are several other hard knockers in the race. He has eachway prospects.”

Mikedekockracing.com

Picture: Ertijaal (Liesl King)