Happy Dads, Glen Hatt and Andrew Fortune with baby Sean Fortune
JOCKEY Andrew Fortune, who makes a rare appearance at Turffontein today, probably looks at the Amy Winehouse story and thinks “there for the grace of God go I,”writes Dave Mollett.
A riding career that has seen more ups and downs than a malaria patient’s temperature chart, Fortune — unlike Winehouse — is very much alive and determined to match it once again with the top jockeys in the country.
He has had drug problems, endless run-ins with the racing authorities and numerous suspensions, but on the plus side he won the jockeys championship for the 2008-09 season and has also been awarded national colours for the annual international meeting held in Johannesburg and Cape Town every November.
Sporting Post columnist Lance Benson wrote: “What the racing authorities need to acknowledge and come to terms with is that the average racing fan, whether they like it or not, actually identifies with Fortune.
The Author. Top racing jounalist and broadcaster Dave Mollett
“Brilliance and talent alone are not enough to grab our wholesale attention and it is often the guys that we love to hate who grip our morbid fascination that are the real stars. Bring on the real people like Fortune and the public ratings (for horse racing) can only go in the right direction.”
Fortune’s best ride at Turffontein on Saturday may be Straw Market who does duty for Ormond Ferraris’s stable in the third race over 1,800m. The four year-old boasts four wins and 11 places from his 20 appearances and looks capable of giving weight to his six rivals.
Champion jockey Piere Strydom will fancy his chances of spoiling the party for Fortune on his mount Tiger Play. Trainer Brian Wiid has a high opinion of this four-year-old who has won two of his past three starts.
Antarctic Call is probably the best horse in trainer Chris Erasmus’ stable and the gelding — the mount of Raymond Danielson — will have his supporters. The four-year-old rarely runs a bad race and has been placed in each of his last three outings.
Any runner from Mike de Kock’s stable demands close examination and the trainer’s runner Kindle could be the right one for the swinger with Straw Market. The four-year-old is the most lightly raced horse in the field and has more scope than his rivals. Fortune has been booked for Love Struck in the sixth race in which the principal contenders could be War Horse, Dual Asset and Sean Tarry’s runner Baracah. The 1,450m trip should be ideal for War Horse who has not been seen in action since June.
Now in the yard of former Highveld trainer Charles Laird, Love Struck is a top sort on his day and it will be interesting to see whether the four-year-old attracts support in the market.
Whatever his fate on Kindle, jockey Robbie Fradd should not return home empty-handed as his second race mount Mink Trip should shed his maiden tag at the fourth attempt.
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