Andrew Harrison
Those of you that have been in the game for any length of time will know that in the months after Champions Season, one always has to keep an eye on horses from Richmond-based trainer Doug Campbell.
He is not blessed with the big guns but makes do with what he’s got and he came up trumps with a treble at a hot and windy Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday.
The first winner was expected, the other two pleasant surprises, but in this sport a winner is a winner no matter what.
The cleverly named Vunderbar came up trumps in the card opener as Donovan Dillon got the best out of the gelding to beat the well fancied favourite Calvino.
Harper’s Dream was next up for Campbell as his filly out-duelled Nirvana Girl and Late Night Live, Harper’s Dream starting at 29-1 and paying R25 on the tote.
The big exotic bet bomb exploded in the fourth as Vitus Beiring got up under replacement rider Muzi Yeni. As Campbell explained, he was not keen to run the gelding on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly and with Scottsville in mothballs for its annual spring treatment for the next two months, he had no option but to run from his wide gate.
With no form to recommend him, 66-1 and R75 a win on the tote just about summed up his chances but Yeni was seen at his very best as he got his mount’s nose down when it counted to hold off Lord Of The Manor.
Keagan de Melo on the second placed runner, took a chance and objected against the winner, but it was more in hope.
Anton Marcus was back in lethal form as he booted home a treble.
With the ‘best’ going seemingly up the inside rail, Marcus somehow got his mount over from 16 draw in the second and My Lady put it all together for Ashleigh Fortune and KZN’s leading owner Mario Ferreira.
Yukta’s Dance for Gareth van Zyl and the blinkered Pearl Of Asia completed a satisfying afternoon’s work for Marcus.
To the uninitiated, riding racehorses looks like a fairly innocuous profession but in many cases, it is more dangerous than say F1 motor racing or Moto GP. Although those drivers and riders crash at high speed, F1 cars are so well designed that it takes a major crash for the drivers to be injured. Moto GP sees riders hitting the tarmac and the dirt regularly, mostly without serious consequence as their body armour is super strong.
A jockey has no more than a helmet and a body protector, both mainly to shield them from flying hooves in case of a fall.
Falls are thankfully few and far between, but some like Tristan Godden’s parting company with his mount in the second yesterday, look spectacular. His mount clipped the heels of the horse in front of him, catapulting Godden head-over-heels onto the turf, fortunately landing on his back and not on his head.
Other falls, like the one that ended the career of former champion jockey Anthony Delpech, appeared fairly innocuous. But Delpech landed on his feet and the force of his landing caused career-ending spinal damage.
Thankfully Godden escaped with a bruised arm and limped off the course with a sore knee.
