Former multiple SA champion jockey Lyle Hewitson made a memorable return to African soil from Hong Kong after an absence of 21 months at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Wednesday when he booted home a feature winner for his old boss Sean Tarry.
While it proved an afternoon of patience and place cheques up to a point, Lyle demonstrated his strength and judgement in the finish of the R150 000 Listed Off To Stud Stakes when he produced the 15-10 favourite with a powerful effort to grab the lion’s share of the end-of-season mile feature by a quarter length in a time of 97,14 secs.
Lyle Hewitson gets Emerald Princess home ahead of Lucky Miss (Sean Veale) and Queen Of Shadows (Kaiden Brewer) in the feature (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Local hope Lucky Miss (17-2) looked dangerous late but had to be content with second ahead of Queen Of Shadows (9-2).
Lyle tied the knot with his partner Hannah on Saturday and, like a true professional, kept his eye in at the low-key midweek racemeeting ahead of Sunday’s World Pool Gold Cup racemeeting.
Enjoy the replay here:
A winner of 6 races with 7 places from 20 starts, Emerald Princess took her stakes bank to R421 625.
Bred by Syrilla Stud, she is a daughter of champion sire Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready) out of the unraced Count Dubois mare, Princess Nicky.
