Billy Jacobson made the most of his opportunities in the “Levelling the Playing Fields Series” and heads the standings after Sunday’s second leg at Scottsville.

Jacobson, successful aboard the Chris Erasmus-trained Puchini in the first leg, was drawn to partner Mark Dixon’s runner, The Poet, and rode the perfect race to get his mount home ahead of Puchini in a thrilling finish.

Allocation of jockeys is done on a random draw basis and Jacobson knew what he was up against in Puchini. “He’s a horse that never gives in. I was a bit worried because I thought I’d gone to soon. I know Pucini would come back at me.” There was only a nose in it at the line.

Former commentator Eric Denman was complimentary of Jacobson’s ride and was on hand to lead in The Poet who races in the colours of his brother Trevor and his wife Robin. “Billy did his homework.  He worked out the race beforehand and knew exactly what he was up against. I thought he rode a great race.”

Morne Winaar was fortunate enough to re-draw the mount on Brave And Bold on which he finished second in the first leg. This time he went one better on Wendy Whitehead’s mare and made all to hold The King Of Random with first leg winner Royal Agree back in fourth. Jacobson and Winaar now lead the jockey standings.

A feature of the “Levelling the Playing Fields Series”, is that jockeys’ mounts are balloted and each trainer was invited to enter only one horse from their yard to compete in all three legs with the 14 highest point earners qualifying for the final at the end of June. While all horses entered for the series will compete again in the third round, the make-up of the fields for the two heats will change, as a fresh draw will take place to decide upon the two fields for the 1600m contests.

The third round takes place on Saturday, 27 May with the final being held over 1400 metres at Greyville on Sunday, 25 June.

Prize money for each race in rounds 1, 2 and 3 is R100 000 but the final will be contested for R200 000. In addition the Owner, Breeder and Trainer of the horse that accumulates most points, including the final, will each receive an additional R50 000 and the Jockey who accumulates the most points over the series will receive a bonus of R50 000.

Andrew Harrison

Picture: The Poet and Billy Jacobson (Nkosi Hlophe)