Felix Coetzee paid a visit to the South African Jockey Academy (SAJA) a couple of weeks ago, the place where it all began for him (Picture: SAJA)
The legendary Silent Witness was the first of two Hong Kong horses to win the Gr 1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan and Lucky Sweynesse will be attempting to become the third on September 28 next month.
Click here to read about Lucky Sweynesse’s bid and then read on for a recount of the incredible day the brilliant sprinter Silent Witness won the Sprinters Stakes in Japan with South African legend Felix Coetzee aboard:
Felix Coetzee, a three-times South African Champion jockey, was left contemplating an ordinary looking future when lying in a hospital bed towards the end of his sixth season in Hong Kong in 1998.
His career over there had been inauspicious up until then and he had hardly expected the wheel of fortune to change while lying on his back recovering from surgery. But change it did.
The humble Coetzee was amazed when Tony Cruz, a six-time champion jockey who was enjoying early success in his training career, visited him in hospital and offered him a retainer.
With Coetzee’s help Cruz won his first Champion Trainer title in the 1999/2000 season and retained it in 2004/2005.
Coetzee was no longer retained by Cruz by the time he ended his stint in Hong Kong in 2008, having had 643 wins in 16 seasons.
However, no amount of winners will top the fame he achieved through his association with the legendary Cruz-trained horse, Silent Witness.
Silent Witness became world famous in 2005 when breaking Cigar’s record of 16 wins in 16 starts. Coetzee rode him in every one of his races.
Silent Witness was bought in Australia by a Bloodstock Agent on behalf of the flamboyant Hong Kong businessman, Archie Da Silva.
Coetzee recalls how they battled in the beginning to get the gelding to accept slow work as he wanted to get on with it and show everybody what he had.
Although he later became very lazy at home he was always an extremely perceptive animal. “He never missed a thing,” recalls Coetzee.
Silent Witness was the last to work out in the mornings for if seeing other horses on the track he would want to take them on and beat them.
“He always seemed to know what to do,” said Coetzee about the sprinter.
“He timed his jump to perfection and would outpace everything early and secure the rail,” he explained.
“He would then relax, prick his ears and idle along gazing at something in the distance. However, he never lost concentration and could sense any horse coming up behind him. He would then simply step up a gear and see them off.”
On one occasion the race-commentator had roared: “This is all too easy! Felix is going to have to give his stake to the Community Chest!”
The pair enjoyed an indescribable connection and something about the horse’s posture and his ear-positioning seemed to say to Coetzee “Don’t worry I’ve got it under control.”
Silent Witness got the magic number 17 when sent over 1 400m for the first time in the Silver Jubilee.
He then tasted defeat when sent over a mile, losing in the last stride to Bullish Luck, a two-time Champion miler and the 2006 Hong Kong Horse Of The Year.
Two runs later he went abroad for the Sprinters Stakes in Japan. The day before the race, during a slow canter, Silent Witness suddenly stumbled and dived nose-first into the dirt. Coetzee was flung off and still wears the proud scar where Silent Witness stood on his arm before bolting. However at the time it all seemed a bad dream.
The gelding hurtled around the track and was only stopped on his second-time around.
It was no wonder that Coetzee punched the air when Silent Witness won from a wide draw the next day. His family was on-course and this had made it a doubly special moment.
Silent Witness is at a retirement farm for champion horses in Melbourne now and there is no mistaking who is boss of his paddock.
Coetzee is today the Chief Riding Instructor at The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Apprentice Jockeys’ School.
