Richard Fourie on Lanciafiamme gets the better of Craig Zackey on American Matador at Fairview on Friday. (Pauline Herman Photography)
This season’s jockeys’ championship is turning out to be a thriller and it has meant there is a sideshow to a lot of meetings as the trio involved, reigning champion Richard Fourie, current log leader Craig Zackey and twice national champion Gavin Lerena, battle it out.
One amazing statistic, for example, is that there have been 24 races at Fairview this calendar year and only five of them have not been won by either Fourie or Zackey.
In the eight race meeting of January 3 on the turf, Fourie had five wins and Zackey two; in the eight race meeting on January 7 on the poly, Fourie had four wins and Zackey two; in the eight race meeting on January 10 on the turf they both had trebles.
The two stalwart jockeys represent the powerful stables of Alan Greeff and Gavin Smith respectively and this has added to the intrigue of the perennial East Cape trainer’s championship battle between these two yards.
Alan took over from his father Stanley many years ago, while Gavin took over from his father Andy and before that it was Stanley and Andy who battled out the championship. It is apparently decades since a Greeff or Smith did not win the East Cape championship. In recent times Alan captured seven titles in a row from the 2012/2013 season to 2019/2020, Gavin then won the next three championships, before Alan was back on the throne last season and he leads Gavin by eight wins this season.
Fourie broke Greg Cheyne’s record of 116 wins in an East Cape season last term and went on to set a new mark of 119 wins.
This season Fourie is on 59 wins in the East Cape and Zackey is on 36.
Meanwhile Gavin Lerena is not being left out. He had a treble on Saturday at Turffontein Standside, while Fourie and Zackey only managed one win apiece in the Saturday meeting at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth. This saw Lerena creeping up to within three wins of Zackey.
However, Zackey was the only one of the trio to ride at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday and he scored a double. That took him to 114 wins for the season, five ahead of Lerena and seven ahead of Fourie.
At present Zackey is the only one in the country riding in all four centres, while Fourie is only riding in the East Cape and Cape Town, while Lerena rides on the Highveld and in select meetings in KZN and Cape Town. Thus, it would seem Zackey should be in the pound seats.
However, Hollywoodbets go 8/10 on Fourie for the championship and 23/10 for the other pair.
The reason is probably that the championship is in Fourie’s hands i.e. if he decided to start travelling to KZN he is likely to soon draw clear as he is in great demand there and he could also even travel to the Highveld. The title could depend on how much Fourie cherishes defending his title and of course the usual scenario of avoiding suspension and injury is another factor.
The respective strike rates of the three riders tell a story: Lerena’s strike rate is 26.72%, Fourie’s is 24.49% and Zackey’s is 18.21%.
Another championship that was full of intrigue last season was the KZN Trainers Championship, with a number of yards in contention before Gareth van Zyl’s late spate of winners took him past Alyson Wright.
This season it is former champion Garth Puller who is well clear with 30 wins at a strike rate of 16.39% with Mike Miller on 20 wins at 11.83% while Van Zyl and Peter Muscutt are on 19 wins and Wright and Michael Roberts are both on 18 wins and Andre Nel is on 17.
The KZN jockeys’ championship is intriguing this season with Rachel Venniker leading on 39 wins and Sean Veale on 35. Serino Moodley is on 25 together with Zackey. Lerena is on 24 and Tristan Godden is on 23.
