With the majority of government schools set to open for the new academic year on 15 February, the calls of ‘Back To School’ for many South African learners has heralded a later start in 2021 as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hollywoodbets Brand Ambassador and treble SA Champion Anthony Delpech turns 52 today and spoke to the Sporting Post as he reflected back on his road to becoming SA Champion jockey.
Birthday boy – Anthony Delpech. (Pic- Candiese Lenferna)
It all started when the Seychelles-born ‘Bonj’ joined the SA jockey academy in 1982, training alongside the likes of Anton Marcus, Marthinus Mienie, Mark Khan and Frikkie Vermaak.
Anthony recalled his happy school days at the SA Jockey Academy.
“Maybe as youngster we don’t always realise it – but school is important because it is a tool to help prepare us for life. Not only can we learn the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, but we can learn about people, places and nature. School also provides exposure to activities, ideas and fields of knowledge that one might never encounter otherwise,” he says.
He shows us a photograph from his first year as an apprentice and recalls the mental rigours of being a jockey.
“It’s a mentally and physically demanding career that offers rewards aplenty for the dedicated professional,” he adds.
Anthony, who rode in Hong Kong for more than five years in the 2000’s, went through the trauma of his career ending suddenly when he damaged his spinal cord in a bad fall at Turffontein in April 2018. He has since found a new lease on professional life in racing as a valued member of the Hollywoodbets team.
Can you name the faces in the photo below?
Those happy smiling faces all had their hopes and dreams.
But the filter of a tough profession and the rigours of life meant that not all would become champions.
“Out of the eleven of us that started together there is only one of us left riding today and that is Anton Marcus. Five of us had to stop riding through injury. And the rest just never made it, sadly,” muses Anthony as he glances at the faded print.
The ‘sole still riding survivor’ of Anthony’s starting year, Anton Marcus recently rode his 108th Gr1 winner courtesy of the flying Ridgemont mare Run For Run in the Cape Flying Championship.
“Being a jockey wasn’t a life-long ambition. I only decided six months before I was accepted at the academy,” says former SA Champion and international Gr1 star Anton, aka ‘Superman’, who is riding at the top of his game. He has ridden 75 winners this term at an impressive strike-rate of 23%.
Anton Marcus – only jock still riding (Pic- Chase Liebenberg)
Mark Khan, who stands alongside Anton Marcus in the back row with chin on hand, was a five-time SA Champion and a very popular rider in the Cape in the 1990’s. Now Gauteng-based, he recently made a comeback in KZN but has been plagued by injury over the twilight years of his career.
The Pietersburg-born Marthinus ‘Spanner’ Mienie, who is on the far right of the back row of the pic, rode his first winner on the Commentary filly Misty Morn, and was a Gr1 winning rider who retired almost seven years ago.
Hollywoodbets is sponsoring the SA Jockey Academy with bursaries and their ‘Back To School’ CSI campaign, where they assisted disadvantaged schools with uniforms and school shoes, came to an end earlier this week.
As part of this campaign, each of their brand ambassadors were able to nominate a school of their choice.
Anthony selected Mzwamandla Khanyile Primary School in the township of KwaDabeka. He chose this institution because his house-keeper’s granddaughter attends the school.
School uniforms and shoes are being donated to the school as part of Hollywood’s Back To School campaign.
