Gavin Lerena, jubilant after another big win on One Stripe (Picture: Chase Liebenberg)
Gavin Lerena was set to have a dream come true on November 1 at Del Mar when riding One Stripe in the Gr 1 FanDuel Breeders Cup Mile, but in a selfless act which proves his high level of professionalism he has decided to pull out.
A ten day suspension added on to the end of two suspensions for 30 days and seven days respectively means his suspended period extends from September 12 to October 28 and he has not heard from the high court after making an urgent application about those penalties, so today he decided to inform the racing manager of Hollywood Racing, Anthony Delpech, that he would not be able to take the ride.
He said, “I am not match fit. I’m not in the zone and it would not be fair for me to take the ride. I have been workriding as much as possible, but there’s nothing like race fitness. That mental sharpness is so important for making the right decisions in a split second. If you haven’t ridden for a month or so, it wouldn’t be fair to go and ride on new track and not be mentally in the zone of making the best decisions. When you’re riding well and you’re riding winners everything happens naturally …you make the right split second decisions and it’s all natural.”
Gavin was actually offered the ride for One Stripe’s entire overseas campaign.
He revealed, “I was offered the ride for his international campaign, but with visa issues I would never have made it to Woodbine in time.”
Hall Of Fame jockey John Velazquez was criticised by some for his ride on One Stripe in the Gr 1 Woodbine Mile, but that was a knee jerk reaction as the replay showed he was left with nowhere to go due to the path taken by a slow horse who should not have been in the race.
Gavin, commenting on the ride, said, “I think he just found the bad horse and it impeded him a bit early in the race.”
Gavin’s suspension for the Gates whipping offense runs from September 12 to October 11.
He had lost an appeal on that case and then on September 15 lost an appeal about an incident when riding Buffalo Storm Cody on June 3 at Turffontein, so the seven days for that incident was added to his suspension, meaning it was now going to end on October 18.
The week after the Buffalo Storm Cody appeal failed he made an urgent application to the high court to have the penalties suspended, pending review proceedings being brought in the High Court.
However, he has not heard from the high court and apparently Grant van Niekerk, who made the same application about his penalties, has not heard from them either.
Meanwhile, a ten day suspension has been added on to Gavin’s existing two suspensions.
On July 21 there had been an inquiry into his ride on Seeking The Stars in a race at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth in February. He was given ten days and as he was on suspension at the beginning of this season he applied to have the ten days added on to the end of that suspension, meaning it would go from about August 19 to August 28. However, he was a couple of days too late to apply for those dates and it thus went to the review board.
The review board sat at the end of last week and added the ten days on to the end of the two other suspensions meaning the suspension now only ends on October 28.
Lerena said, “So that was the end of my hopes. The Breeders Cup is on my bucket list so it is a huge blow and a bitter pill to swallow.”
He said he was hoping he would still pick up the ride on One Stripe after the Breeders Cup.
Gavin has been keeping himself busy during suspension work riding as much as possible and spending quality time with his children, but he said not racing is tough for a jockey because it is not only racing sharpness and fitness which is lost, but also keeping the weight down and associations with good horses can potentially be lost or missed out on.
