Anton Marcus – unsung hero of a world record feat?
The dual dead-heat by jockey Grant Van Niekerk for owner Braam Van Huyssteen at Durbanville last Saturday that was thought to be a potential Guinness Book Of Records qualifier, has received a crushing blow following some digging by the Sporting Post research team.
Reports to the Sporting Post this weekend suggested that the young Van Niekerk was only the second jockey ever to be involved in two dead-heats on the same day, and the first ever for the same owner.
The other recorded dual dead-heat was jockey Jose Calo, who achieved the feat on November 12 1997 at Beulah Park Ohio.
But Van Niekerk and Van Huyssteen may well have to find another means of gaining Guinness Book Of Records acclaim.
That reality emerged after we managed to ascertain that multiple SA champion jockey Anton Marcus rode two winning dead-heats for owner Markus Jooste at Turffontein on 16 October 2010.
And nobody even made a fuss of what was an extraordinary feat at the time.
Marcus rode Nova Zembla and Sports Coach, both trained by Charles Laird, to dead-heat victories in their respective races at hair-raising odds of 9 to 20 and 5 to 10!
Sorry Grant. Sorry Braam.
Congratulations to Marcus and Markus!
