Turf Talk Newsletter – 25 November, 2025

Former jockey Johnny Geroudis is a member of 4Racing’s media team (JC Photos)

Dave Mollett

In a bigger promotion for the Betway Summer Cup than ever before, 4Racing has cast its advertising net far and wide to include the broadcasting networks CNN, Sky and the BBC.

Many people in South Africa tune into these big name networks because of their top-class reporting.

A popular daily show on CNN is hosted by the award-winning presenter, Christiane Amanpour.

But – shock of shocks – in the last three weeks her slot has been followed by 4Racing’s presenting duo of Vikki Lerena and former jockey, Johnny Geroudis.

They are seen at Turffontein racecourse promoting their “Turftrack” show and Saturday’s Betway Summer Cup.

As a presenter for 15 years I feel I’m in a position to comment on this part of the sport and – to be honest – I was sceptical that Mrs Lerena, wife of champion jockey Gavin Lerena, and much-liked former top jockey, Johnny Geroudis, were up to the task.

Happily, they have proved that opinion wrong because – as they have covered more and more meetings – they have become more self-assured and confident in their interviews. Yes, perhaps they need to ask more in-depth questions (“Do you feel you rode a bad race”) but both know the sport well.

Then – perhaps if you’ve been watching Sophie Ridge on her “Breakfast” show on Sky, there is an advert break and up pops top commentator, Nico Kritsiotis. He is pictured behind the mic at Turffontein and says he’s “really looking forward to calling my eighth Betway Summer Cup.”

Nico commented: “Yes, it was a surprise when a friend called me to say he’d seen me on Sky, but one has to applaud 4Racing for targeting a wider audience.”

Also seen at the Turffontein track with the Joburg skyline behind him is well-known presenter, Neil Andrews, also promoting the Cup.

Now he didn’t seem flavour of the month for a while but is back in favour because he is to sports presenting what Martin Locke was for many years – the ultimate professional.

So – now the scene has been set – what is going to win Saturday’s R6 million race?

At last Wednesday’s draw at a Sandton bar (wonderful snacks!), I was lucky enough to have a long chat with Gareth Van Zyl who saddles the second favourite, King Pelles, in Saturday’s race. The KZN raider is one of my favourites as he made me money at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Durban July day.

First impressions are always important and mine with Gareth is this – here is a young man with both passion and intellect for his profession and it’s no surprise he’s popular with owners, particularly in his home province.

Of King Pelles’ draw of 11, the 39 year-old commented: “Not ideal but it’s OK and – in S’manga Khumalo – I’ve got the right pilot for the big occasion.”

“We intend trucking King Pelles’ up on Saturday morning – we have determined this is the best course of action to counter the altitude.”

Gareth is lucky in one regard in that he can call on his father, Gavin, for advice.

His dad was a top jockey and trainer – he rode just shy of 2000 winners and – as a trainer – saddled 800 winners which included 45 stakes races and eight Gr 1’s. He rated The Apache as one of his best, a dual Gr 1 winner bred by the much-missed, Robin Scott.

The Van Zyl horse which springs to mind is Slumdogmillonaire whom Piere Strydom rode to victory in the Gr 1 Horse Chestnut Stakes and Marthinus Mienie won the SA Classic on the son of Strike Smartly.

I’m not sure if he was involved in the naming of the horse (after a 2008 British drama film), but the late Jimmy Lithgow – an outstanding journo and presenter – was Slumdogmillionaire’s biggest supporter.

The Equator is firm favourite for the Betway Summer Cup but most of us have missed the price on the son of Galileo.

If the Tony Peter inmate takes top honours, it will be a huge feather in the cap of the horse’s owners, Nigel Riley and Willem Ackerman. It’s not every day you are able to acquire an Aidan O’Brien inmate, even one of the lesser lights.

I don’t miss a York Ebor meeting so will have been there when the Equator ran second in the 2024 Melrose Handicap. That race was run over 2800m which begs the question whether Saturday’s trip of 2000m will be too sharp.

Nevertheless, Nigel Riley must be licking his lips at the prospect of standing The Equator at his Heversham Park Stud and – with Gavin Lerena in the irons – one can assume the import will be the selection of his presenting wife, Vikki.

Popular owner, Gerald Sadleir was at the Betway Summer Cup draw and had to wait for the last ball out of the bowl to find out his filly, Olivia’s Way, had drawn gate nine.

He was worried about Grant Van Niekerk putting up overweight but – then 48 hours later – Turf Talk revealed that Andrew Fortune had been booked to ride.

At Kenilworth on Saturday, 58 year-old Andrew partnered the prolific winning mare, Double Grand Slam, to the ninth win of her career.

While Atticus Finch is sure to make a bold bid to follow up his 2024 win, one horse I won’t be leaving out of my quartet bet is Frank Robinson’s raider, Madison Valley. Yes, his charge is drawn in the nearby Rand Stadium, but he’s got red-hot Craig Zackey in the saddle. He’s been booting home the winners as regularly as Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland, has been scoring goals.

African Pride looks worth a bet in the fifth race but – in the final analysis – a happy festive season for the Mollett household rests on King Pelles. Hopefully Gareth Van Zyl can follow in his father’s footsteps with a successful raid on Gauteng.

Good friends but fierce rivals, Richard Fourie (left) and Craig Zackey (right), fight out the finish of this year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July (Chase Liebenberg Photography) 

Richard Fourie does not agree with Hollywoodbets’ betting for the national jockeys champoipnship in which they have him as 9/10 favourite and Craig Zackey 11/10.

Zackey is 17 wins clear of Fourie at present with nearly a third of the season finished.

He said, “I think they’ve got it all wrong, I think Craig Zackey should be 4/10. He’s working phenomenally well. He’s riding well. He’s travelling every day. I’ve made it very clear, I’ll go up and ride the feature race days, but I enjoy working in Cape Town and riding for Ridgemont.”

He added, “My aim is to ride as many winners as I can on the days that I ride. I’m concentrating on winning big races and working with my team.”

However, he did conclude by saying he might increase his travelling if he was within striking distance in the last couple of months of the season.

He said, “If I’m within reach of it, I’ll give it a full go.”

The Candice Bass-trained four-year-old filly Rahhabba gave both Serino Moodley and Vercingetorix respective trebles on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly on Wednesday. She runs in the familiar colours of Ian Longmore, who owns this Syrilla Stud-bred filly in partnership with LCA Bouwer (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Serino Moodley has been in devastating form recently and has had ten wins at a strike rate of 50% in KZN this month, while he has ridden 16 wins overall in November at a strike rate of 22.54%.

Today on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly he recorded another hattrick to take his tally for the season to 59 wins at a strike rate of 15.57%, with only Craig Zackey (92 wins at 17.62%) and Richard Fourie (75 wins at 26.13%) ahead of him.

Andrew Harrison of Race Coast wrote the below report on the meeting:

Andrew Harrison (Race Coast)

The switch from turf to poly favoured some, not others but Rollo The Viking was in his element on the synthetic surface as apprentice Dezahn Louw powered home on Nathan Kotzen’s charge to land the Middle Stakes over 1400m that headed the card at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday..

It was not all plain sailing for the winner as Sean Veale aboard Isivivane hung him out to dry, keeping the apprentice three wide for much of the race. But Louw is one of the more promising apprentices and currently full value for his 4kg claim. Wide into the straight he kept Rollo The Viking on a straight and clear course for the line and the gelding responded readily, putting the race to bed a good furlong out with Queue Wing finishing best of the rest.

The Middle Stakes for fillies and mares cut up to six runners with the scratching of Forward Motion so pace, or lack of it, was always going to be an issue. After cruising the first couple of furlongs, S’Manga Khumalo tried keeping the opposition honest and making an early move on Hierkommiebokke. All the while Serino Moodley kept watch from behind on Ice Rain who was hunting the seventh win of her career for Andre Nel. Hierkommiebokke did not go on with her effort as Moodley sent Ice Rain for home and she gradually reeled in the pacemakers to win going away with the grey Perilla making late headway for second but never a serious threat.

Sword Speed looked to be the ‘right’ horse in the first and was well supported in the market. It turned out to be close call for backers of the favourite as rank outsider Desert Dog made him work for victory with Red Cardinal and Day Two also in close attendance.

Taste The Rainbow set a solid pace allowing Athandiwe Mgudlwa to settle his mount in off the front runners. Green on the turn, Mgudlwa was scrubbing along to hold position while Rachel Venniker made an early move on the well supported Red Cardinal.

Desert Dog, up with the pace throughout refused to throw in the towel and Sword Speed had to work hard to peg his rival back. Still learning the ropes, Alyson Wright commented post-race that turf and more ground would be more to her charges liking.

James Lihaba cut his teeth riding in ‘bush’ races in the Free State and had a jump on his year’s apprentice intake and was one of the first to ride out his claim. He has since moved to the Highveld where Weiho Marwing is one of his biggest supporters. Lihaba was up against a host of fellow apprentices in the Apprentice Class 5 Handicap, all still claiming but he had Yogas Govender’s Sail To The Moon in a handy position from the jump. For a few strides the lightly weighted Professor Lupin looked to have his measure it was Grand Appeal the flashed up late to snatch second.

All the money was for Glen Kotzen’s charge Circumbendibus in the fifth and it was money on the mark as Serino Moodley took no prisoners for his second winner of the afternoon. It was very much straight forward as Circumbendibus came out in front and stayed there, winning by many lengths, the chasing pack in a scrum behind him.

It was a duel in the market that externed to the track as Rahhabba and Grand Occasion  came together over the subway. Grand Occasion was all the rage in the betting, backed in to favourite with Rahhabba her ante-post rival, drifting like and untethered barge. For many strides the race was there for the taking but Grand Occasion finally buckled under pressure leaving Rahhabba to pull clear and win rather comfortably in the end. It was Moodley’s third winner of the afternoon and a win for Terry Fripp who is at the helm of the Candice Bass Summerveld operation.

A change of riding tactics proved to be the key to French Trip’s victory in the Class 4 Handicap. Duncan Howells admitted that the gelding was not the easiest to catch right on the day but he obviously enjoyed the way he was ridden yesterday. Up with the pace for most of his recent starts, regular rider Kabelo Matsunyane dropped his mount out as Magma Magic tore off to the front. He was a spent force halfway up the straight with the pack closing but none quicker than French Trip. He scythed through his field to win going away with Gotta Go Eddie and Red Mountain fighting for the shallow end of the purse.

There have not many aspirant female jockeys that have made the grade locally. Lisa Prestwood springs to mind and Nadine Rapson more than held her own before Rachel Venniker put her hand up. Most others were front-running merchants who mostly did not ride out their claims.

Savanna Valjalo is in a different mold. Starting at the academy relatively late she displays a more mature attitude and tactical nous to her riding and it is starting to pay dividends. Still claiming 4kg, she has had good success on the Highveld and yesterday showed off her potential as she rode the perfect waiting race on Kom Naidoo’s mare Roy’s Grace. Instructed to look for cover, she was some way back early as academy colleagues Louw and Lihaba set a maniacal pace but when asking Roy’s Grace for an effort, the mare having her 18^th start, rocketed home to win as she liked.

Luke Ferraris is one ahead of Hugh Bowman in the race for a berth in the International Jockeys Challenge and there is just Wednesday’s Happy Valley meeting to go to decide who gets in (Picture: HKJC)  

By Declan Schuster (HKJC)

Two spots remain on the sought-after LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) roster before the final line-up is confirmed following Wednesday night’s (26 November) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley.

Vincent Ho (11 wins) leads Jerry Chau (10) in the race for a prized berth available to the leading homegrown rider. Both Ho and Chau have four mounts on Wednesday, while Luke Ferraris (15) holds a slender one-win advantage over Hugh Bowman (14) in the place designated to the next highest-ranked Hong Kong-based jockey.

If riders are locked on the same number of wins, selection for the LONGINES IJC spots will then be decided on a countback of second placings, then thirds if required.

Bowman has 19 seconds to Ferraris’ seven, so will just need to ride more winner than Ferraris at Wednesday’s meeting to land a spot in the IJC.

Ferraris revealed recently how seriously he is taking the bid for a berth.

“I’ve been chasing the IJC since I’ve been here but I’ve always just fallen short,” he said a couple of weeks ago. “Now that they’ve reduced it to two spots I’m in the same position again. I’m sitting second and I’ve got Bowman breathing down my neck.”

“I’ll do what I can to get in and hopefully it’s good enough, but I’ll be pretty disappointed if it’s not. We’ll give it our best.”

Bowman, who won the 2016 LONGINES IJC, said: “It’s fantastic. I think it leads the way as far as jockeys’ challenges go around the world; it’s always a great night to be a part of, and I’ve had the privilege of being involved many times now.

“Hopefully, I can add another one to the list. It will depend on results tomorrow night.”

Ferraris is booked for four rides, while Bowman has five, led by Hakka Radiance (129lb) in the Class 4 St Andrew’s Challenge Quaich Handicap (1800m). The British import is bidding for a fourth consecutive win for trainer Danny Shum.

“I’ve ridden him in a gallop between his last win and this start – he feels fantastic. He’s really in a great vein of form and hopefully he can continue his winning ways,” Bowman said. “He just looks really well and he’s enjoying his racing.”

Hakka Radiance surges to victory at the start of November.

The LONGINES IJC is the most lucrative jockey challenge in the world for the winning rider, who receives HK$600,000 if successful on Wednesday, 10 December at Happy Valley. Second place takes home HK$250,000, while third collects HK$150,000.

Zac Purton returns to the LONGINES IJC as last season’s leading rider. He will be joined by defending champion Mickael Barzalona, James McDonald, Christophe Lemaire, Joao Moreira, Umberto Rispoli, Hollie Doyle, Rachel King, William Buick and Ryan Moore (subject to fitness).

Ho, winner of the 2023 LONGINES IJC, said: “You treat every race the same, you want to win races and that’s it. Of course, just to do my best and if it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, I’m proud of myself after seven months off – I’m still competing with these guys.”

Renowned for Group 1 success with Golden Sixty, Loves Only You, Stronger and Southern Legend, Ho has 621 wins in Hong Kong. The highly respected rider returned from serious injury this season, and has ridden three winners from his past eight rides.

Ho’s four rides finish with first-up winner King Miles (131lb) for trainer Francis Lui in the Class 3 Culloden Bridge Handicap (1200m), from gate nine.

“He’s fine. He’s a nice horse and last time, surprisingly, he was really quick with the blinkers, of course, in his last two starts. He’s showing freshness and he’s feeling well. Hopefully, he can do better tomorrow,” Ho said.

Karis Teetan is seeking consecutive wins aboard Kyrus Dragon (135lb) for trainer David Hall in the Culloden Bridge Handicap. The chestnut galloper has won three times over tomorrow night’s course and distance.

“He won a nice race. I think, when he’s fresh he’s a better horse. It’s been a while since his last run, but you can see even his second-up runs are pretty good. He’s got a nice gate again (four),” Teetan said.

Wednesday’s (26 November) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley commences at 6.40pm with the Class 5 Forth Road Bridge Handicap (1200m).

Click here to read a comprehensive tipping guide to the meeting