Rachel Venniker continues to lead the National Apprentice Championship by ten after the closing Kaidan Brewer had a blank at the Vaal yesterday and she is not only determined to hold on to the lead but also wished to set the record straight about a misleading quote published in Turf Talk.
She also wanted to point out there had been no downturn in her own form, despite the lack of recent winners.
She added she would also be attempting to keep a foot in the door of the powerful Justin Snaith yard with the hope of getting a ride in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
The aforementioned misleading quote implied she had left the door open for Kaidan by turning down an offer to ride in Gqeberha, which he then took up.
She pointed out she had been continually offered rides in Gqeberha.
However, she had always had to turn them down for two reasons.
Firstly, she is committed to ride work for the Michael Roberts yard and there would be a clash with the Fairview meetings schedule.
Secondly, there are no flights currently between Durban and Gqeberha.
A return flight to Gqeberha would require flying from Durban to Jo’burg, Jo’burg to Gqeberha, back to Jo’burg and then back to Durban.
Putting the record straight was done with no lack of deference to the ever improving Kaidan Brewer, who had nothing to do with the misleading quote and whose fine riding at present is contributing to a tussle that is going to be full of intrigue.
Rachel pointed out that on the occasion she did turn down an offer from East Cape trainer Montana Turner it was in fact Ryan Munger who had taken the rides and not Kaidan, which was the other misconception created by the quote.
The handicapper currently has the upperhand.
The out of province trainers have also arrived which makes it that much tougher for the KZN trainers to stay in the winner’s enclosure.
She has also had to sit out a couple of suspensions.
Asked whether she felt she could stay in front she replied, “Definitely”, and then revealed a plan to help the cause.
She said, “Allan Greeff has offered me rides and I have spoken to Mr Roberts so if the championship does get tight I will travel to Gqeberha. I also want to start travelling again to the Highveld as soon as the rains have ended. It is so frustrating (and costly) to fly all the way there only for the race meeting to be abandoned.”
“National Apprentice Champion” is a fine achievement and a valuable entry on any rider’s CV.
This is clearly not lost on either Venniker or Brewer, so the race for the title is certainly going to be one of the main points of interest for the rest of the season.
Rachel would officially become the first woman to ride in the July if she does manage to get a mount.
However, she quipped she had unofficially won the big race before, “I finished in front by about 20 minutes on the lead pony, Franscilla!”
The attractive white-coloured grey stays on the family property and was initially ridden out in front of the July field by her sister before she took over.
Some will remember the lead pony being galloped down the straight before the July one year, to rousing cheers from the crowd, after all the runners had gone to post.
No guessing who the rider was!
Rachel has in fact always been a speed freak.
She was the least anxious member of her family when her first pony used to run away with her.
She took part in many imaginary Julys when riding on her own in the paddock.
Heavy Metal’s win in 2013 was her earliest July memory.
She recalled, “Everybody went wild about that win.”
S’Manga Khumalo became the first black jockey to win the big race that year, so there is likely to be equally wild celebrations when a woman jockey first does it.
Rachel said successful overseas women jockeys like Hollie Doyle and Rachel Blackmore had been a tremendous source of inspiration as they had proved women to be the equal of men in this sport.
