At just 28 years of age Durban-born jockey Mpumelelo Mjoka has already experienced the thrills and spills of the sport firsthand.
As a fourth-year apprentice of the South African Jockey Academy, ‘Mpume’ – as he is affectionately known – won the 2017 Longines Future Racing Stars in France at Chantilly before suffering a career-threatening injury while riding work at Randjesfontein in 2018.
He has made a quite remarkable recovery and confirmed as much by riding winners in Ireland last year. However, the winners have been hard to come by back on home soil – Mjoka has ridden just seven winners from 171 rides at a win strike-rate of just 4%, though he does boast a respectable 29% place ratio.
The nine-race card at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Sunday 3 March could, however, represent a watershed moment in the career of the well-travelled Mjoka whose six rides on the day include two mounts with strong winning chances.
One of those is courtesy of trainer Glen Kotzen, for whom Mjoka rides De Vlugge in Race 1 over 1200m. This two-year-old daughter of Elusive Fort finished a promising fourth on debut over the same course and distance, despite showing signs of her inexperience.
She ought to improve with the benefit of that outing so has a lively each-way chance in the opener against familiar foes Dark Winter and Dixieland Band who finished ahead of De Vlugge on that occasion.
Mjoka will need to react quickly once the gates open for Race 4 aboard Kotzen-trained Dawn Cloud who jumps from the No 15 gate over 1600m. This Lancaster Bomber gelding improved to finish a close-up third over 1800m in his last start and a repeat of that effort under just 54kg could see him exit the maiden ranks.
The likeable lightweight rider has picked up a plum ride in Race 5, from the father-daughter training partnership of Harold Crawford and Michelle Rix, aboard progressive Time For Love. She only began her career as a four-year-old at the start of this season but has quickly gone about making up for lost time.
She finished third on debut over 1250m and fourth over 1400m in her next outing before improving to finish second when stepped up to 1600m in her third appearance.
This daughter of Time Thief has built on that promise since with back-to-back victories over 1600m and over 1800m (the same course and distance over which Race 5 will be run) in her most recent outing.
Time For Love copped a six-point penalty from the handicapper for her last-start success but that could prove lenient as Mjoka’s ride won at a higher level last time and remains relatively unexposed. With just 53kg on her back and more scope for improvement than her nine rivals, best-weighted Time For Love is good value to complete her hat-trick and begin a new dawn for Mjoka in Cape Town.
Elsewhere on the card, supporters of the Grant van Niekerk and Justin Snaith combination could strike it rich by including the pair’s runners in a TAB Double in Race 6 and Race 7.
Master Of Paris is closely matched with last-start conqueror Kebonalesedi on the form of a recent meeting and could turn the tables on 0.5kg better terms in Race 6, while a good draw and drop in class off a reduced mark should result in a return to form for Among The Clouds in Race 7.
Clive Robinson
