On the South African racing front, few names resonate as strongly as that of jockey Richard Fourie whose years of experience and unparalleled talent have seen him achieve extraordinary feats and set new standards of excellence.
And having caught up to long-time leader Muzi Yeni atop the National Jockeys’ standings, there seems to be no stopping “Red-Hot Richard” in his bid for a maiden Champion Jockey’s title – and, perhaps, the R1-million bonus, too, that Hollywoodbets are giving away to the jockey who breaks Anthony Delpech’s record of 334 winners in a season.
Fourie confirmed at the beginning of the season he is “100% committed” to a title bid and while much was said about the “divorce” between himself and leading Cape Town trainer Justin Snaith, said it was an amicable agreement.
“I told him I would be traveling, so obviously I could not carry on being the (Snaith) stable’s first-choice rider because they need somebody full-time, someone to ride work in the mornings.”
His decision to freelance and ride at meetings all over the country has seemingly paid off and brought with it immediate success – to the tune of 67 winners at a strike-rate of almost 22%.
He added: “I am getting support from all over, a lot of people are happy to put me on (their horses).”
Those people include trainers St John Gray, Roy Magner, and Weiho Marwing, each of whom has booked Fourie to ride a potential winner at the eight-race meeting on Turffontein’s Inside track on Tuesday 31 October.
Marwing-trained Palace Revolt began his career in KwaZulu-Natal during Champions Season and has improved with each outing. After a quiet introduction, this son of Potala Palace finished third in consecutive starts over 1200m and 1400m on the turf before opening his account with a workmanlike victory over 1200m on the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville last month. That form has worked out well which may have prompted connections to aim their three-year-old colt at Joburg’s Spring-Summer programme.
Marwing’s charge makes his Highveld debut over 1200m from an awkward No 10 gate but is expected to be competitive, especially with Fourie engaged to ride, so it could pay to follow the progress of Palace Revolt in Race 7.
Fourie will have to work his magic from another wide draw in the preceding event aboard Leao Alado, although it is probably worth noting he finished second on Little Prince last time but has opted to ride the Roy Magner-trained son of Alado instead after a pleasing post-maiden outing two weeks ago.
On that occasion, Magner’s three-year-old colt started slowly and returned coughing but still managed to finish just 5.50 lengths off the winner, to whom he was conceding 1.5kg on his return from a three-month break.
Leao Alado will undoubtedly have come on since that comeback outing, so he should have more to offer with improved fitness on his side, and the booking of Fourie – despite a No 14 draw in the 15-horse handicap field – bodes well for his chances in Race 6 over 2000m.
St John Gray has runners in just two races on the day and has notably booked for Fourie to ride in both. His progressive three-year-old colt, Eiffel Tower, another son of Potala Palace, is one of the better bets on the card and is likely to add himself to Fourie’s ever-growing tally of winners this season in Race 3 over 1600m, while consistent Bezrin gelding After Hours is another with a winning chance in Race 8.
Clive Robinson
