Anthony Delpech and Anton Marcus
Prestige, ego or a career booster? It definitely is not the money! What else could really be motivating established successful sportsmen like Anthony Delpech and Anton Marcus to be sacrificing their families and comfortable lifestyles for cramped aircraft seats and the personal injury risks and boredom that go with racing in our backwaters? Whatever the motivator, the media and public interest in the duel for top honours has reached a climax and Super Saturday is shaping up to something really exciting.
The fact that there is little or no incentive for a jockey to chase the championship is an issue that has been debated at length in various forums and, like most things, little happens. Thank heavens for our sponsors! The last day of the 2010/11 season falls on a lazy Sunday at Turffontein and it is probably not going to be the kind of meeting that will provide an ideal platform for any pomp and ceremony. The Super Saturday meeting at Greyville could rather be the stage for the season decider and one hopes that the racing operators put on something special – as they did for Anton Marcus last year.
With the third placed Muzi Yeni sidelined through injury, the title chase has come down to Superman versus Bonge. The Steinhoff sponsored 40 year old Anton Marcus is looking for his fourth national championship. The Avontuur sponsored 42 year old Anthony Delpech is aiming for a third national title. With the rationalization of the Charles Laird operation, Marcus freelances, while Delpech has achieved great success, topped gloriously by a second consecutive July winner, while riding for the champion Mike De Kock. As we go to print on Tuesday, Delpech leads by one solitary win. A reflection of the underlying competitiveness of the fight is that we hear that Anton Marcus has taken the bait and will be riding in the Eastern Cape this Friday for Justin Snaith as he counters the edge achieved by Delpech, who rode four winners there last Friday. Besides the fact that the likes of Piere Strydom and Greg Cheyne will be back in town, the Phumelela boys must be licking their lips in anticipation, wth jam packed fields and public interest at an almost international meeting guaranteed.
It is impossible to speculate or price up on who will win the title chase. The cat and mouse psychological games between the two camps is alive and well on the racing forums. Sometimes even bordering on the nasty – but hell, that is the way racing people do things. Delpech had a bad day at Scottsville on Sunday and said he was ‘tired’ and he missed the chance of riding work for his ‘boss’, as he was travelling a lot. Was that genuine dissolution or a ruse to induce a little laxity in Marcus, who always appears so unfazed, relaxed and almost nonchalant? Marcus also cleverly never seems to know the sums when he is interviewed in the post-race formalities. Preferring to feign a casual exterior and sort of ,‘whatever!’
Win, lose or draw, the public and industry awareness around the championship race has been a bonus for sponsors, like Avontuur. The magnificent establishment at the foot of the Helderberg Mountains near Somerset West, is famously known as the home of fine wines and fast horses and General Manager Pippa Mickleburgh has shown her shrewd business acumen and foresight with two great jockey signings in Delpech and MJ Byleveld. Pippa is on record as saying that the two compliment each other extremely well, with MJ a vocal ambassador of note for the brand. Delpech was only signed up in January but has provided huge exposure and publicity with his designer breeches screaming out of every big race winning photograph imaginable. Excuse the pun, but that must cheese off the competition and one hopes that more prospective sponsors will jump on the bandwagon in the new season.
The champion jockey title has always been a sought after trophy, but not always as closely fought as this year’s affair. Felix Coetzee is the longest standing former champion jockey still riding today and he lifted the title for the first time an unbelievable twenty six years ago. That was in the 1984/5 season, and he clinched it again in the 1987/8 and 1989/90. Current trainer Michael Roberts still holds the most national titles – an extraordinary eleven times, and a feat that, dare we say, is unlikely to be equalled by any of the current generation. He is followed by Jeff Lloyd and Piere Strydom, who both won it five times. Lloyd won it the first time in the 1985/6 season , while Strydom first won his in the 1990/1 season. The retired Mark Khan won it four times. Anton Marcus is next on three titles, while Delpech is snapping at his heels, in more ways than one, on two titles.
Neither Anton Marcus nor Anthony Delpech were champion apprentice during their younger years. In fact the trend over the past twenty or so years indicates that the youngsters who get off to a flying start do not necessarily become champion jockeys. Not to say that the past three season’s champion apprentices cannot go on to great things as they are still young and establishing themselves. We know how very talented Aldo Domeyer (2009/10), Derreck David(2008/9) and Brandon Lerena(2007/8) are. Looking a little further back, the picture is less convincing though. Gavin Lerena won it for three years in a row from 2004/5 to 2006/7. He is a promising youngster whose lack of experience, or was it BMT, appear to lay at the root of all the Vodacom Durban July excuse trauma? It is a game of short memories when it suits, and you are only as good as your last winning ride. He still has to prove that he has the make-up to become a Strydom or Dougie Whyte in time.
The champion apprentice roll further back is less impressive and is probably more an indictment of the lack of effectiveness of the graduate support system than a measure of the true ability of the individuals involved. One has to go all the way back to the 1988 to 1990 seasons to find a youngster who went on to achieve champion jockey status. That was a guy by the name of Weichong Marwing who was champion apprentice those two seasons running. He was the last champion apprentice to go on and become champion jockey, which he achieved in the 1996/97 season. The apprentice champion honour role in the past two decades reflects names like Kevin Derere, Chad Little, Wayne Agrella, Denicious Smith,Warren Kennedy, Ryan Roberts, the deceased Bennie Norton, Piet Botha, Paul Devlin, Mike De Beer, the late Andre Du Preez, Rene Bonham and Bruce Gaynham. Many of them are still riding and the other names bring back some serious memories. Most of them have had their moments in the sun. Bruce Gaynham runs a successful business on the KZN North Coast and has nothing to do with racing. Bonham got out of the game too, while Mike De Beer has been a success in the training arena, currently an assistant to Dean Kannemeyer. Ryan Roberts was just too tall and weight problems curbed his ambitions. Piet Botha’s name has disappeared from our racecards in the past six months.
All told, it is a glamorous and rewarding but unforgiving career. Hero or zero and only one name will be remembered this season. Which Ant will it be?
