Grant Van Niekerk is enjoying a purple patch
With eleven winners to his credit over just three racemeetings last week, 23 year old Cape-based jockey Grant Van Niekerk is riding the crest of a wave and has just surpassed the 100 winner mark in a season for the first time in his career.
Currently breathing down senior jockey Sean Cormack’s neck in ninth position on the national log, Van Niekerk rode a smashing six winners at Kenilworth on Saturday, including the feature winner Act Of War for Joey Ramsden.
While he is retained by the Mike Bass yard, three of his winners were for their Milnerton neighbour, Joey Ramsden.
Van Niekerk is gifted with that knack where horses somehow run for him. He also has an uncanny ability to get his mounts into winning positions when it really counts. Which, as a combination, probably makes the essential difference between good and ordinary jockeys at the end of the day.
He showed terrific resolve and determination particularly in a driving finish aboard the rather ordinary looking maiden winner Lord Wellington in the second race.
He then produced the same genius in his win in the final race when he got Gallica Rose to pluck reserves of strength from nowhere to get the better of replacement rider Jason Smitsdorff on London Theatre.
Van Niekerk also rode a four-timer at Kenilworth last Tuesday, and one winner on the Fairview card on Friday.
Vastly matured this season, Van Niekerk, who turned 23 on 30 June and became a Dad recently, 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. Only the brilliance of Piere Strydom denied him on that memorable afternoon.
It has not always been a bed of roses for Van Niekerk though and the youngster has learnt the hard way . He has incurred suspensions for dangerous riding, dropping his hands and also a weight bag mix up at various times in a short career that has had its ups and downs.
In what may prove to be a turning point in his professional life, he secured the plum Mike Bass job at the beginning of this season and looks set for bigger things.
His medium term goal is the 500 winner mark.
Not bad for a guy who stumbled upon his chosen profession by chance while surfing the internet in a job search and who went on record subsequently admitting that he never enjoyed his time at the SA Jockey Academy and ’was always looking for ways to get out and go home’.
There is no substitute for natural talent!
