Despite the PE Stipendiary Stewards expressing reservations about a ride at Fairview on Friday, the trainer is satisfied and says the jockey did nothing wrong.
Trainer Jurgen van Heerden, now based at Kenton-On-Sea about 140km from Fairview, told the Sporting Post that Ryan Munger had been entirely professional when riding his filly, Sarajevo, in the third at Fairview on Friday.
Ryan Munger – backed by his trainer (Pic – JC Photos)
Van Heerden, who had to change his plans last year to settle in the Western Cape as his 82 year old Dad required assistance on the family’s cattle farm outside of Kenton-On-Sea, has built new stables and a leftt-handed track at his magnificent new base.
“The paddocks and the peaceful ambiance make this an ideal recovery environment for horses who have soured and even though we have to travel to Fairview, I’m looking forward to the challenges,” he said.
His debutante Sarajevo, who finished five lengths off Gift Of Peace in the third race, was the subject of the Stipes’ interest on Friday.
But Jurgen is adamant that Ryan Munger, who returned only seven weeks ago from a succesful stint in Singapore, did everything correctly.
“Rushing a horse impacts on their breathing and it’s best to make up ground gradually. It was a sweltering hot day – 34 degrees – and she had to travel over two hours. She is a big filly and I had been working her on a left-handed track. Fairview is right-handed. I’m not surprised that she ran a bit green then. I’m happy with my filly and my jockey,” he concluded.
The Stipes report states that when questioned regarding his riding of Sarajevo, Ryan Munger told the Stewards that from a wide draw, he had taken this filly across and behind runners at the start.
His instructions were to ensure that the filly was in a position to close its race off strongly. The Stewards reviewed his riding of the race in his company and alerted him to the concerns that they had with the filly being allowed to race some 3 lengths behind the second last runner and that even though she had raced greenly on the bend and had showed a tendency to hang outwards, Munger was advised that he should have made an effort to improve his position sooner than when he had done so – and in fact only commenced to ride the filly with the required vigour from the 400m. He was advised that it was evident that Sarajevo had made up ground rapidly under this vigorous ride and that the margin at the finish was under 1 length between him and the fourth-place getter.
Munger was advised that he is required to ride with sufficient vigour and determination to ensure that his mounts are competitive and that his riding should leave no room for query from the Stewards.
Sarajevo is one for the notebook!
