Bernie’s Looking To A Big 2023/24 Season In SA!

One of South Africa’s leading heavyweight riders, Durban-born Bernard Fayd’herbe has decided to settle back into his Milnerton home and give the new South African racing season a serious ‘go’.

In the absence of Piere Strydom and Keagan de Melo, the enormously talented international Gr1-winning rider will be a welcome regular addition to the local jockey ranks.

“The racing vibe and happy spirit down here in the Cape is amazing. One can feel it on course, and even when riding work at Milnerton and Philippi. Also the atmosphere on Hollywoodbets Durban July day was terrific! I’d love to be a part of it again and given the uncertainty of Mauritius racing, where I do have a job, it makes sense to me to stay and ride here,” he told the Sporting Post.

With Keagan de Melo’s contract in Hong Kong, Piere Strydom’s possible – dare we say the ‘r’ word – retirement, and the fact that Winning Form kingpin Richard Fourie is going all out for the national title next term, there is certainly space for a top rider.

Discussions with the Snaith stable have informed us that in light of Fourie’s stated quest for national honours and the fact that he will be travelling far and wide, have meant that they have undergone a  reconsideration of their own jockey needs.

Grant van Niekerk looks likely to inherit a lot of the Snaith opportunities, with Bernard Fayd’herbe also on their list of preferred riders. Lest we forget that it is over 20 years ago that the champion yard’s matriarch Sue Snaith was instrumental in persuading Bernard to move to the fairest Cape.

“I have also been given some opportunities by Mr Vaughan Marshall, and he has a nice string of young horses. So I do have the support, and there are other trainers who have said that they will be needing my services,” he added.

It’s unbelievably a quarter of a century since Bernard rode his first winner at Hollywoodbets Scottsville at his very first ride on 28 April 1997. The horse was Dollar Deal trained by the late Michael Roberts.

It’s certainly been a busy and eventful 2023 for Bernard.

He took his career Gr1 tally to over 30 when Al Muthana shocked Hollywoodbets Kenilworth with a storming victory under a sensational ride over SA Horse Of The Year prospect Charles Dickens in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate, on a beautiful Cape summer day in January.

But then things hit the proverbial fan in Mauritius.

Bernard was handed a twelve month suspension and a Rs 100 000 (ZAR 44 000) fine on the Indian Ocean Island after he was deemed to have not given his mount every chance in the third race at the Champ de Mars on Saturday 13 May.

The subject of the sanction was the Dominic Zaki-trained Castle Of Glass, who had been beaten into second.

While ARF member jurisdictions, of which SA and Mauritius are two, do honour and reciprocate penalties meted out on jockeys, Bernard utilised the NHA’s relatively new rule 91.1.3, which allows a rider suspended by specified horseracing authorities abroad, including Mauritius, to appeal against the suspension within 90 days of the finalisation of an appeal hearing.

While a date is still to be set for the relevant hearing, Bernard was given the clearance to ride Snaith’s Pomp And Power in the Hollywoodbets Durban July , a race he was successful in on Pocket Power in 2008 and Marinaresco in 2017.

Bernard is confident that justice will prevail and with the assistance of the right legal counsel, his penalty will be overturned in Mauritius. But it did come back to bite him when the Macau Jockey Club declined him permission to ride eventual winner Master Hunter in the Gr1 Macau Derby which was run last weekend.

“Master Hunter won the Macau Derby. That was a bit of a knock, but it was the decision of their racing authority, so I have to respect that,” he lamented.

Bernard has three nice rides on World Pool Gold Cup day, which brings the curtain down on the season on 30 June.

“Captain Fontane runs in the Listed @Worldpool Twitter Handicap. He’s very decent, never runs a bad race and he comes in fit. He must have a chance. Seeking The Stars runs in a typically strong Gr1 Mercury Sprint field. He has his third run after a year break but hasn’t drawn well. We will see how it goes – he’s top class on his day. Rascallion has drawn midfield in a classy line-up in the HKJC Gr1 Champions Cup. His Hollywoodbets Durban July effort was off his best, but he is fit and his last victory – in the Gr2 Premier Trophy on King’s Plate day – was over 1800m. And we all know that Mr Vaughan Marshall knows how to win Gr1 races!” he concluded with a broad smile.

Bernard last won the HKJC Champions Cup in 2015 on Futura for Justin Snaith.

A win on Rascallion on Sunday 30 July would be a pleasing way to end the season on a high, and kick-start the new term.