Grant van Niekerk salutes as Justin Snaith leads Silver Darling in (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Gr1-winning jockey Grant van Niekerk was called in after winning the Woolavington 2000 on Silver Darling at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday to explain certain comments made in the post-race interview.
The top-class Cape rider is enjoying a terrific season with a 20% win strike-rate, but may have naively just overstepped the mark with an injudicious choice of words, when he referred to his having ‘looked after’ certain of his earlier rides.
Van Niekerk rode Hoedspruit (11-10) into third in the fourth race, a Pinnacle Stakes, and One Way Traffic (5-1) – also third – in the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup. Both rides were for Justin Snaith.
The Stipes’ reports following both races raised no concerns about the way both horses were ridden.
But Van Niekerk’s polite transparency and enthusiasm in the adrenaline charged moments of his Gr1 success landed him with his proverbial boot in his mouth.
The official report states that Van Niekerk appeared before the Board after winning the Gr1 Woolavington and was questioned regarding his post-race interview with reference to his rides in Race 4 and Race 5.
Watch the interview here
He explained that his feedback could have been misconstrued.
Van Niekerk was advised to be more mindful of the comments made by him during media interviews going forward.
