Former professional jockey Louis Burke cemented his position at the top of the 2024/25 Hollywoodbets Workriders’ Series log when he went from start to finish to win the penultimate leg on the Justin Snaith-trained Dawn’s Early Light to open the Hollywoodbets Durbanville racemeeting on a sunny Saturday.
Louis Burke does it again! (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Burke has now won 3 of the 4 legs in the popular series that serves to acknowledge the vital contribution to the industry of workriders, and provides an excellent opportunity for qualifying riders to showcase their skills and talent on the raceday stage, while gaining genuine race-riding experience.
On Saturday the result was never in doubt as the nuggety chestnut Dawn’s Early Light, who recently changed hands for R105 000 on the BSA March Online Sale where Greg Bortz and Gina Goldsmith retained their original ownership with Nic Jonsson opting out, showed too much speed for his strung out opposition.
Louis Burke was glancing around in typical cucumber-cool Andrew Fortune style at the 250m as the Suzette Viljoen-bred colt struck gold to escape the maidens at his seventh start. He went off at 13-10 to beat first-timer Ocean Sky (25-2) under Aviwe Bikwe by 2 lengths in a time of 74,76 secs for the 1250m.
Candice Bass-Robinson’s Johnny Drama (33-1) earned a career first cheque at his sixth start under Bazile Nkunzi in third.
By Moutonshoek resident The United States (Galileo), the winner is out of the six-time winner Sea Bean (Philanthropist). He has previously run two places and took his stakes to R101 844.
Interestingly, Hopes And Dreams offer the winner’s Querari half-sister (#263) at the BSA National Yearling Sale on 10 and 11 April.
Dawn’s Early Light charges clear under a delighted Louis Burke as Ocean Sky (Aviwe Bikwe) and Johnny Drama (Bazile Nkunzi) chase in vain (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Louis Burke, who was credited recently by SA champion Richard Fourie as being one of the most hard-working workriders in the system, is a talented horseman and has quite a back story, having spent a post matric gap year doing voluntary work for the South African Riding for the Disabled Association.
In 2015 he enrolled at the SA Jockey Academy and was a ‘senior’ in terms of age.
It was in his second year, and at only his 20th ride, that Louis rode his first winner as a professional.
It was a humble beginning but the sixth race at the now closed Flamingo Park Racecourse on Monday 3 October 2016 is one he will always cherish as he scored on longshot Jozi Babe for trainer Sarel Von Willingh Smit.
While the workriders earn the standard riding commissions in these races, a grand prize of R25 000 is on offer in the Hollywoodbets Workriders’ Series, and will be shared amongst the top five riders on the final log.
Points are earned by individual positions in each of the four races and to keep all stakeholders updated, Cape Racing will publish a regular log.
The R25 000 prize pool will be allocated as follows:
- Winner earns R12 000
- Runner-up earns R6 000
- Third place earns R4 000
- Fourth place earns R2 000
- Fifth place earns R1 000
While Louis Burke looks tough to beat, the Hollywoodbets Workriders’ Series culminates in an exciting finale on 22 March 2025.
