Power allies – Dean Kannemeyer and Karl Neisius after Capetown Noir’s Byerley Turk win
Retired nine-times Cape champion jockey Karl Neisius spent the best part of 40 illustrious years in the saddle trying to win the Met. He had a few close calls but never filled the golden gap on his distinguished CV.
He turns 60 today.
There were a good few times that Neisius rode in the Met on his birthday but the racing gods were never that generous with a double celebration and he will attend the Cape’s big race on Saturday for the second time since his retirement as a spectator.
He rode the final of over 3200 career winners in September 2015 before hanging up his boots on medical advice after inflammation and osteoporosis in his kept him out of the saddle.
Neisius, 58, told Michael Clower at the time: “The doctors told me that if I carry on my back is going to deteriorate more and they have medically boarded me, saying I am unable to do my job.”
He has not taken the plunge into the training ranks but is a regular visitor to the Milnerton Training Centre.
Born in Wales, he moved to South Africa with his riding school-instructor mother and step-father when he was seven.
He was apprenticed to Ralph Rixon and rode his first winner on Glad Rag Doll at Kenilworth in March 1973.
Karl on Flaming Rock after the 1991 Gr1 Schweppes Challenge
He rode his 3 000th winner on the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Cape Royal 39 years later at the same venue.
Some 55 of his 3 200-plus winners have been in Grade 1s, most notably the 1991 Durban July on Flaming Rock.
Looking back over his career he told Michael Clower: “All my Gr1 wins were special and the Queen’s Plates were huge. Dynasty was probably the most amazing horse I rode and probably the one with the most potential.”
Dynasty is the sire of Sun Met runners It’s My Turn and Bela-Bela.
