A joyous moment as Alyson Wright and Athandiwe Mgudlwa enter the winner’s enclosure with Miss Paget after scoring the first five-timers of their respective careers. (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Summerveld trainer Alyson Wright and KZN jockey Athandiwe Mgudlwa both had the first five-timers of their careers on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly today (Wednesday).
What made it even more rewarding was they had combined in two of the races to help loyal owner Riskesh Sewgoolam to the first treble of his career.
Alyson trained all three of Rikesh’s winners, one of whom was ridden by Richard Fourie, while Athandiwe’s wins were all for Alyson except for one trained by Dennis Bosch.
Rikesh revealed that Athandiwe had told him before the meeting he rated the Wright-trained Professor Lupin (Gimmethegreenlight) as his best ride on the day and the Wright-trained Miss Paget (Master Of My Fate) in the last race as his second best.
Both of them duly scored.
In the first race over 1200m the improving Sewgoolam-owned 15/10 shot Professor Lupin never looked like losing after jumping well from draw two and tracking third favourite Turn Around, who came accross from the widest draw to take the lead. Mgudlwa brought Professor Lupin around the latter on the final turn to strike the front at the top of the straight and he went on well to beat Turn Around by a length.
In the third over 1000m Mgudlwa had draw two again on the Bosch-trained 11/2 shot Le Premiere (Visionaire) and after jumping well this three-year-old filly was dropped on to the rail as the number one drawn Pelargonium set the pace. Le Premiere cornered well and went down the inside and managed to get the better of Pelargonium in a prolonged tussle to win by 0,40 lengths.
In the fifth over 1000m on the five-year-old Wright-trained Sewgoolam-owned grey gelding by Var, Intrepid, Mgudlwa was once again drawn two and got the rail again, but had a few lengths to make up turning for home. The grey ran on well in the straight to win by 0,80 lengths at odds of 6/1.
In the sixth race over 1600m on the Wright-trained four-year-old Noble Tune filly Whatsupbuttercup, Mgudlwa was drawn two yet again, but after a tardy start he had to sit in last place. However, the filly finished strongly on the outside to win by a comfortable 1,60 lengths at 10/1 odds.
In the seventh race it was Fourie’s turn to win for Wright and Sewgoolam. Fourie was initially caught wide on the William Longsword four-year-old gelding Imaginable, but he soon managed to slot in to a one out and one back position. Fourie had to switch inside of the two leaders who went to the outside and the horse ran well down the centre to get up by 0,40 lengths at 33/10 odds.
Mgudlwa’s ride on Miss Paget was out of the top drawer. The best method to drop a widely drawn horse out on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly is by taking it up and then easing it back, until an option to slot in presents itself, because taking a hold from the off sees a horse battling to build up momentum. Mgudlwa did the right thing and approaching the straight used a one out horse to tow him in before swtitching to the outside. The three-year-old filly stayed on strongly and got up in the last couple of strides to win by half-a-length at 25/2 odds.
It was a memorable way to get the five-timer for both Mgudlwa and Wright and the parade ring erupted in to cheers and congratulations.
Athandiwe has ridden four in a day before and actually rode the jackpot once as an apprentice.
Kevin Wright, assistant and husband of Alyson, was not sure what the yard’s previous most in a day was, but knew it was their first five-timer.
He was asked whether he had felt they would have a good day and he replied, “You know, I really did. I honestly thought there were horses that would have been there or thereabouts and it was one of those days where you felt you could have one or two winners, but where you could also walk away with nothing. So, today just was a lucky day for us.”
Everything fell in to place and the yard roared back in to the lead in the KZN Trainers Championship (see third article of today’s newsletter).
Kevin said they very much aware of their championship challenge and said it was a title that would mean a lot.
He concluded, “We don’t have many runners coming up, so it was good to have some winners today.”
Athandiwe said, “It is amazing, this is really a special moment for me. To stand here after a successsful day like this, there is a lot to be appreciative about.”
He reserved a special thanks for the Wrights, who were one of the first yards to support him in his early days.
Alyson said the yard had sent out messages this morning saying they had chances but were not able to pinpoint which ones would prevail.
She concluded, “It’s just fantastic. It’s a team effort and a big thank you to Maglugs (Athandiwe), he puts in a lot of hard work and having that feedback and consistent rider in the morning is a huge help, well done to him and the whole team.”
