Gavin Lerena rode a treble at the Vaal today, two of them for Tony Peter, and Piere Strydom had an individual double, but Muzi Yeni stole the show with one of the rides of the season on the St. John Gray-trained Argo Alley.
In the process he made it five wins from five rides on the five-year-old Argonaut gelding.
What was just as remarkable was that was Gray’s 14th win of the season and every one of the 14 has been ridden by Yeni, although Yeni has ridden 40 of Gray’s 81 runners this season.
Yeni rode Argo Alley twice as a juvenile for two wins over 1160m and 1400m respectively, the latter by five lengths in a scintillating time at the Vaal.
However, it was one-and-a-half years before he was reunited with the chestnut, winning the WSB Consolation Heritage over 1475m by a length off a 91 merit rating in December 2023.
Nearly ten months lapsed before the pair were reunited again, although he had only had one other start since the Consolation Heritage.
On September 28 last month Muzi was all out to win by 0,25 lengths over 1600m at Turffontein Inside on Argo Alley in a Middle Stakes event.
Today, he was the best weigthted male in a Middle Stakes event over 1400m. However, his chances looked forlorn despite 5/1 odds, not because he was 2kg under sufferance off his 93 merit rating with the best weighted female, but because he was draw in barrier two in a big field on a day when high draws were palpably favourable.
However, Muzi enterprisingly decided to stick to the inside railm where he plouged a lone path separated by the width of the racecourse from the rest of the field, who all drifted over to the outside rail.
The ploy worked and he came home a comfortable 2,50 length winner to maintain that remarkable perfect statistic with both Argo Alley and Gray.
Yeni is now on 51 wins for the season and has done it at a strike rate of 16.29%.
He is on top of the national log, 12 wins clear of second-placed Gavin Lerena.
Gray is on 14 wins at 17.28%.
Lerena is now on 39 wins for the season at a strike rate of 26%.
Strydom is on 19 wins at 27.94%.
Tony Peter is on 15 wins at 12.93%.
