Women jockeys are increasingly making an impact around the world and, if sheer determination is anything to go by, Erin-Lee Watkinson may one day make her mark in what is still largely a male dominated profession.
The Andre Nel-trained Magnetic Dime opened one of the favourites for the Work Riders’ Maiden but punters, most of whom had never heard of her, allowed her mount to drift out to 107-20.
They won’t make that mistake again. This may have been only Miss Watkinson’s third ride but she sent her mount to the front 400m from home and coolly kept her going to score by three-parts of a length. Not bad for a qualified engineer!
The 24-year-old explained: “I made a deal with my parents – I wanted to become a jockey but they said ‘You must get a qualification first.’
“I have already spent a year at the Jockey Academy but then they changed the rules. However Andre is now applying for me to be apprenticed to him. If that doesn’t work out then I will go to New Zealand because the academy there has already offered me a place.”
Vardy, winner of last season’s L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and expected to be one of the favourites for South Africa’s premier mile race in January, will be out of action for several months after suffering an injury to his near-fore suspensory.
Trainer Adam Marcus, speaking at Kenilworth on Saturday, said: “It’s not career-ending but he has a small lesion in the suspensory branch on his near-fore. I’ve dealt with injuries like this before and they take a lot of TLC but I am hoping that we can get him back on the course.
“The lesion is something that can heal with time and we picked it up immediately. We will give him the time he deserves. He is a gelding, and lightly raced – and we still hope that we can bring him back to his best.
“But for the moment one step at a time. We will rescan in two months and then we will be able to see the speed at which the injury is healing.”
Marcus disclosed that this is not the first time the five-year-old has suffered a serious setback, saying: “He is prone to issues. As a young horse he had surgery to remove chips from his near-fore knee and his off-fore fetlock. He is a big horse and this time he may have simply put his foot wrong during training.”
Justin Snaith, out of luck at Turffontein, won three of the other seven races but he disclosed that he has been going through a fair bit of soul-searching about the races in which he should risk his three-year-olds. Like most trainers, he has to consider what the handicappers would do to the horses’ ratings – and future chances – should they run well.
He said: “The handicappers are being instructed to make the ratings high in order to keep Grade 1 status for out top races but I feel we should instead focus on our own racing.”
-Michael Clower
Image: Wayne Marks
