Ascot Racecourse staged a media event on Thursday at the Sydney Arms pub in Chelsea, London, ahead of the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot on Saturday, August 6.
Gavin Lerena
Three international jockeys were on hand to talk about their hopes for the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup – Canada’s Emma-Jayne Wilson, Gavin Lerena from South Africa and Kenichi Ikezoe from Japan.
The trio were joined by Hayley Turner, Britain’s most successful female jockey of all time, who is coming out of retirement to ride at the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup.
It is a first time visit to Britain for Gavin Lerena, described by the racing paper back home as ‘South Africa Horseracing’s Hottest Property’.
The 31-year-old is combining riding in Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot, the premier jockeys’ competition in the world, with a holiday together with his wife Vikki and two-year-old son Ashton.
Gavin and his family
Lerena said this afternoon: “I am excited and already enjoying being in England. We arrived yesterday morning and there is only an hour’s difference – South Africa is an hour ahead.
“We are here for 10 days – it is our off-season so there is not much going on at home. We are going to Newmarket for a few days and London for a couple of days.
“I was in Hong Kong for five months earlier this year and my wife and Ashton were with me. It is tough at times for Ashton who knows what is going on and asks for me.
“Hong Kong was a great experience, though I wasn’t lucky enough! I had five winners in five months and I am used to five or six winners a week. It was tough mentally. I was a Club jockey and all my winners were about 20/1. I think the second half of the season is the most difficult time to come in at.
Gavin and his famous Dad, Tex – himself a former top jockey
“The experience made me tougher – you have to be thick-skinned to take the good with the bad and there was more bad than good. You have to roll with the punches.
“I would do it again, but only from the beginning of the season. I was in Hong Kong and missed the biggest racing in Johannesburg – the Triple Crown – and the beginning and middle of the Durban season.
“I got back home on July 12 and have been riding to just keep ticking over for the Shergar Cup. Despite taking holidays, I still finished 11th in the championship, which runs from August 1 to July 31, with 93 winners after missing more than half the season.
“I won my first championship the year before (2014/2015) with 220 winners, after being touched off before on the last day in 2011/2012. It was very frustrating. I broke my leg during that season – I was ahead, then injured, then came back and hit the front with about a month to go and (Anton) Marcus caught me on the last day. It took a couple of months to get over it and a year to come out of my head.
“I would like to win another championship in South Africa and think I am in a position to do so again. At the same time, if I am given an opportunity overseas, I am going to grab it with both hands.
Sammy Jo Bell. Emma-Jayne Wilson and Hayley Turner – former Shergar Cup winners
“Unfortunately, South Africa is way down the food chain in terms of racing so we don’t really get recognised. It takes something like the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup to get on the international stage.
“We have got great jockeys in South Africa. England is obviously the hub of racing and, if I got an opportunity, I would pack my bags.
“I am very much looking forward to riding at Ascot on Saturday. It is like a dream come true. I walked the course yesterday and it is an amazing course. I am very fortunate to be riding there.
“Every course is different and we have a lot of fair tracks in South Africa but there is none like Ascot which looks very testing.
“We are lucky enough to see lots of British racing in South Africa but, at the end of the day, you have got to ride the horse – I want them to be happy and comfortable – and then the track.”
Gavin Lerena
He won the Longines International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley, Hong Kong, in December last year, despite never having ridden in the former British colony before. The jockey hopes to repeat the feat at Ascot.
Lerena said: “I went to the Hong Kong competition to enjoy myself and I was told if you have not ridden there before you are not going to win. It was nice to prove them wrong.
“I will just go out and enjoy myself among great riders on Saturday.”
