Richard Fourie was crowned champion
The Cape Racing Awards have come and gone for another season and while there was general sentiment that the deserving winners had been crowned, the local jockey title has raised a few eyebrows and debate. Grant Van Niekerk rode more winners in the Cape but Richard Fourie walked off with the local Champion Jockey title.
The application of the champion yardstick for jockey titles in all regions countrywide may need to be revisited.
At Cape racetracks, Van Niekerk enjoyed a win strike rate of 17% with his 83 winners against Fourie’s 65 winners off a 15% strike rate.
On the national log, Fourie finished runner-up to S’manga Khumalo with 143 winners and a strike rate of 16%.
Van Niekerk finished ninth with 102 winners and a strike rate of 14%.
And it was the national log placings that saw Fourie walk off with the Cape title.
The WPRRA Awards Committee issued a press release more than a month ago wherein they said that to avoid any confusion and debate, the following guidelines and parameters would be utilised in respect of the various categories of winners and will likewise continue to be utilized in the future:
Horses – any horse trained by a Western Cape domiciled trainer
Trainers – the leading Western Cape domiciled trainer as per the National Log in respect of Stakes
Jockeys – the leading Western Cape domiciled rider as per the National Log in respect of winners
So after a few uncertain years when different yardsticks were used and often bad blood spawned as accusations flew that rules were being manipulated for favourites, nobody can say that the parameters were not clearly defined relatively well in advance this year.
But there is also no national norm or uniform measurement method. For example in PE and Kimberley.
Grant Van Niekerk rode more winners in Cape
Take the Kimberley championship won by Central Provinces’ Muzi Yeni. He rode more winners there than anybody else. But if Cape based Van Niekerk had gone and beaten Yeni in Kimberley, then he would have won that championship. So why not the same principle in his hometown?
Cape based Gerrit Schlechter won the Kimberley (and PE) championship multiple times when he rode successfully for the late Peter Miller.
The Sporting Post spoke to a senior Cape jockey who said that he felt sorry for Van Niekerk and that the policy needed a review.
“When you are a young rider starting out like Grant is, titles count for a lot on your CV. This is particularly so when you look for an opportunity to ride abroad. That is what overseas jurisdictions look for. Unlike the old days, these days jockeys do tend to travel around more. But the bottom line is – if you have ridden more winners than anybody else in the Cape, then you are surely the Cape champion?” he asked.
The jockey also added that a rider who stayed ‘loyal’ to Cape Town and rode work regularly and aimed for the title there, could be outdone by a guy who spent less time there but rode for a bigger yard in other centres.
“Travelling has also become prohibitively expensive, so the days of flying around for 3 or 4 rides on an afternoon are over. A jockey needs a strong yard supporting him in an away centre to make it work. Based on the parameter that is being applied, we could have a guy riding just a handful of winners in the Cape, but still being the ‘champion’ because of his national log standing. That is ludicrous and not the intended definition of a champion title, surely? And what exactly are the requirements to be Cape based too? ”he asked.
The NHA logs which are updated weekly also do not indicate where the relevant jockeys are domiciled and one wonders if it is also possible to change during the season.
What would happen if, for instance, Muzi Yeni, decided to reregister himself in the final two weeks of the season as a Cape jockey?
Would that have brought him into the running for the Cape Championship? He finished only 1 win behind Fourie in the end.
Van Niekerk, who turned 23 on 30 June and became a Dad earlier this year, completed his apprenticeship in January 2012 and just six months later came within a heartbeat of landing South Africa’s most prestigious race, the Vodacom Durban July aboard Smanjemanje.
He is retained by the Mike Bass yard.
We tried on numerous occasions to contact him for a comment, but were unable to reach him.
