It took him five meetings to find the winner’s enclosure, but Muzi Andile Yeni is back on track and he put his three month suspension blues behind him in style at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday with an armchair ride on the Weiho Marwing visitor Adorable Alley.
Obviously loaded with pent-up frustration, courtesy of celebrating his 33rd birthday while banned, and the worse for wear having to watch Tellytrack on the sidelines for three months, Muzi was quick on the chirp bandwagon – “I’m surprised they allowed me back here,” he smiled in an obvious reference to the very square metre of real estate where his championship chasing foot-in-the-mouth troubles started in the first place.
Full of smiles – the popular jockey is back (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
“At least the fans know I haven’t forgotten how to ride winners. Hopefully the owners and trainers remember too,” he laughed.
But it was clear that whether one labels him by his childhood nickname ‘MPL’, ‘Magic Muzi’, or even ‘The Mouth’, the Clermont-born multiple Northern Cape champion definitely has his loyal fan base and his return was greeted with enthusiasm by punters, who obviously appreciate the star quality spiced with attitude, and the talent of one of our shortest, yet hardest working riders.
Let’s face it – he is a natural lightweight, but it must be a quandary for some of his colleagues when Muzi can take a holiday for almost fifty percent of the season and still maintain a top ten position on the national log.
And despite the long break, he has also ridden more horses this term than any of the 100 odd registered riders, bar log-leader Warren Kennedy and Chase Maujean.
Adorable Alley was Muzi’s 65th winner of the term and he holds 9th position on the log with a 10% win strike-rate.
Watch the post-race interview here:
