Mercurial Cape talent Grant van Niekerk broke the ice in his birthday month with three winners on the anniversary of the first ever ride of his career, at what was an unseasonally warm Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Tuesday.
Grant van Niekerk gets Katsu up to beat Chollima (Rob Khathi, obscured) and Solar Power (Corne Orffer) in a tight finish to the seventh (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Van Niekerk, who had his first ride at Clairwood on 11 June 2008 on a horse called Combat Leader, was beaten just three parts of a length into second behind Yarnmaster that memorable day. Exactly two weeks later registered his maiden career winner on the same horse.
After a roller-coaster recent few months punctuated by suspensions – Van Niekerk only rode 3 winners between April and May – the lad from Bellville South turned on the charm in the way we know he can with a treble on Tuesday.
His first came on Kelp Forest who followed up on his last win last month when grabbing the spoils in the sixth race, a Class 4 Handicap over 1400m, for Adam Marcus.
He was back in the number 1 box for a quick double when bringing Katsu home for Lucinda Woodruff to win the seventh race, a Cape B Stakes over 1600m.
Adam Marcus enjoyed a double as Van Niekerk clocked up his third winner when Royal Lytham won the ninth race, a Class 5 Handicap (F&M) over 1200m.
Grant now has 63 winners on the board for the season. He is so much better than that. Maybe some travelling and hard work will do the trick.
Corne Orffer and Milnerton veteran Greg Ennion also enjoyed a terrific day with a well-taken treble.
- The next Cape racemeeting is on Tuesday 18 June.
