Dominant. Markus Jooste has built up a powerful string in a relatively short space of time.
Two record-breaking personal trifectas on consecutive days this past weekend, and doubles in Cape Town and Zimbabwe, put the spotlight once again on the Markus Jooste Racing empire and its influence and impact on our horseracing.
With records somewhat sketchy on specific owner statistics, it is difficult to determine whether the trifecta double was a record.
Whatever the case, it is certainly a rather unique achievement – especially on consecutive days!
The Jooste silks were to the fore at Fairview last Friday when Tara Laing trained the first three runners past the post. Three different trainers repeated the Jooste feat twenty-four hours later at Clairwood in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Fairview fifth race, an MR 69 Handicap for fillies and mares, produced an exciting finish.
Cape jockey Andrew Nienaber piloted the Caesour filly Faustina to a 0,75 length win over Tudor Star, with Afloat flying up for third. The Jooste trifecta paid R1346-20.
The very next day, and this time for three different trainers, the green, yellow and black colours were again in the trifecta money at Clairwood, when the well backed odds-on shot Mainmast won the fourth race, a Maiden Plate over 1200m.
The daughter of Captain Al, trained by Charles Laird, went on to beat the Mike De Kock-trained Stowaway and the Sean Tarry-trained For Freluche. The trifecta paid just R31-40.
On the same afternoon down at Kenilworth in the Cape, Enchanting Cathy, trained by Mike Bass and owned in partnership by Markus Jooste, Bryn Ressel and Marsh Shirtliff, won the fourth race.
Joey Ramsden trained yet another Jooste winner when Freddy’s Sister scythed through her field late under Gavin Lerena to win the sixth race an hour later at Kenilworth.
Main Man! Mainmast (Anthony Delpech) draws clear to beat Stowaway. The third Jooste runner For Freluche is out of picture
Jooste’s influence has edged beyond our borders.
Lisa Harris trained a double at Borrowdale on the same afternoon when the former Charles Laird-trained Platinum Moon and the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Alula Borealis won. Both were ridden by Derreck David.
While giants of the owner ranks in the form of the famous silks of the Jaffee red, black and white and the Beck brown and white dominated South African horseracing for decades, we have never experienced dominance of the magnitude displayed by Markus Jooste.
He is on record as saying that one of the most important lessons he has learned from racing is that one does not go into the sport to make money.
That is sage advice coming from a man thought to have approximately 250 horses in training and with close to 1000 horses housed at Klawervlei Stud!
He is said to run his racing operation like he does his business:
“I make the chain of activity a complete cycle. At Steinhoff we grow the trees, cut the wood, make the furniture and sell the furniture. My racing business is modelled on the same lines.”
It seems to work.
