Thriller! Julius Mariba wins on Roll With Pulse
South African apprentice Julius Mariba rode a winner in New Zealand last Saturday, which helped him earn joint-second place in an Asian Young Guns Challenge Series.
Eight international and two New Zealand jockeys took part in the series of three races at the Waikato Racing Club’s Te Rapa racecourse in Hamilton. A further South African flavour was added to the day as former Tellytrack CEO Ken Rutherford recently took up an appointment as General Manager of Waikato Racing Club, while former Zimbabwean champion jockey Mark du Plessis rode a double at the meeting and Jason Jago also rode a winner.
Mariba has increasingly caught the eye as a rider who is going places and the win was the 57th of his career. He needs just three winners to lose his 1.5kg apprentice claim.
Mariba’s winner came in a 1400m race aboard 12-1 shot Roll With Pulse. Other countries represented in the Young Guns Challenge were Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Korea, Macau and Australia.
The point-scoring system was 25 for a win, 15 for second and 10 for third, then seven, five, three and two for the next four places and one for eighth, ninth or 10th. Singapore’s Harry Kasim made won the series, courtesy of a win, a fourth and a third for 42 points – 10 ahead of Mariba and Rory Hutchings of New Zealand.
