SA Champion jockey for the third time in his fledgeling career, Lyle Hewitson left it until the final day of the term to find a Gr1 victory, in the process producing one of the rides of the season.
Bound for his second stint in Japan in just over a week, Hewitson told the Sporting Post a matter of days earlier that Rain In Holland could be the horse to give him a Gr1 victory in the Thekwini Stakes at the Marshalls World Of Sport Festival Of Racing.
Lyle Hewitson gets Rain In Holland up on the outside to beat Kailene (Muzi Yeni) and Richard Fourie on Supreme Quest (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
But the 23 year old could not have imagined it would call on every ounce of his enormous talent and determination to pull it off – and then by the proverbial nose.
Shrewdly hemmed in by some astute race riding on the part of rival Muzi Yeni, Lyle didn’t panic on a clearly talented filly.
Yeni and Kailene stalked Rain In Holland all the way round the turn and then went past the pair down the outside.
Just as Hewitson was looking to switch around the leaden-legged Aisling, Yeni kept him tight and ended up drifting inwards.
Hewitson wasn’t letting his arch-rival escape with a Gr1 and he picked Rain In Holland up and rode for all he was worth – lunging forward and throwing the rains at the Sean Tarry filly to gain a dramatic last stride victory.
Rain In Holland (16-10) earned a heartstopping but genuinely deserved victory by a nose in a time of 99,57 secs to beat Kailene (5-1) and with Supreme Quest (4-1) a neck away in third.
Raced and bred by Drakenstein Stud, Rain In Holland has won five on the trot – having run second on debut.
A daughter of Duke Of Marmalade, she is out of the Aqlaam mare Imvula, who won once from two starts in the UK.
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