Jockey of the Month – February 2023

Sean Veale

Keagan de Melo once again topped the list by number of winners in KZN last month, scoring 15 times at a healthy 33% strike rate. But Sean Veale had one of his better months, visiting the winner’s box on seven occasions at a 22% strike rate in spite of traipsing back and forth from Cape Town where he was in support of his boss, Dennis Drier. Dennis boasts a long string of loyal assistants and jockeys and Sean, who took over from Sean Cormack, will no doubt team up with Stuart Ferrie who takes over the stable reins on April 1.

Sean Veale is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for February.

Siphesihle Hlengwa

Keagan de Melo is well on his way to his first National Jockey Championship and inevitably leads the local log by number of winners each month. January was no different, his 12 winners, three more than his nearest rival, apprentice Siphesihle Hlengwa. Siphesihle, or ‘Spare’ to his mates had the benefit of a 2.5kg claim but he was full value for that claim his nine winners coming at an impressive 18% strike rate. 52% of his mounts were in the money and a R1 wager on each of his 48 mounts would have returned a healthy R33.40 profit. Polite and well spoken ‘Spare’ is a credit to himself and the South African Jockey Academy.

Siphesihle is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for January.

Cole Dicken

Serino Moodley was the ‘hot’ rider last month with eight wins and seven seconds with a 56% win/place strike rate. However, he has the backing of some of the top yards. In contrast Cole Dicken, just recently out of his time as an apprentice, has to scratch for rides. Pleasant, hardworking and going to scale at just 49kg he only got 14 mounts last month from various yards but managed three winners and two seconds for a 50% win/place strike rate.

Cole Dicken is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for December

SIPHESIHLE HLENGWA

Apprentice Siphesihle Hlengwa, ‘Spare’ to his mates, had a cracking month, winning seven races and in the process losing his 4kg claim as he passed 20 career winners. His wins came at a tidy 15% strike-rate, equal to that of log-leading rider Keagan de Melo who also had a good month locally with 11 winners. Siphesihle is largely being mentored by former top rider Garth Puller who was responsible for most of those wins and the likeable youngster is starting to repay with interest.

Siphesihle is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for November.

SIPHESIHLE HLENGWA

Apprentice Siphesihle Hlengwa, ‘Spare’ to his mates, had a cracking month, winning seven races and in the process losing his 4kg claim as he passed 20 career winners. His wins came at a tidy 15% strike-rate, equal to that of log-leading rider Keagan de Melo who also had a good month locally with 11 winners. Siphesihle is largely being mentored by former top rider Garth Puller who was responsible for most of those wins and the likeable youngster is starting to repay with interest.

Siphesihle is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for November.

MALESELA KERATILE KATJEDI

Malesela Keratile Katjedi Is the son of the late LJ Katjedi. Young Katjedi  has taken the racing industry by storm with his immaculate manners, willingness to learn and ever increasing riding ability. He conducts himself in a professional manner in his work place and speaks eloquently in his post-race interviews.

His statistics for the month of October are encouraging which bodes well for his future. Well done Keratile for being elected jockey of the month.

JABU JACOBS

Apprentice Jabu Jacobs is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for February.

Jabu’s four winners, three in a single afternoon at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, and his 50% win/place strike rate makes him one of the more sought-after apprentices. A polished rider, his 4kg claim makes him an added attraction for trainers. Jabu has ridden 12 career winners so far this season and last month a R1 win bet on all his rides will have yielded a tidy profit of R72.

Pleasant and hard-working, Jabu fully deserves the recognition.

SERINO MOODLEY

Gold Circle award for jockey of the month of January goes to Serino Moodley.

Serino is only recently out of his time as an apprentice and has made the most of his opportunities since becoming a fully fledged jockey. He booted home nine winners in January at a decent strike rate of just under 17%. For a R1 stake on each of his mounts you would be in profit by R26 as opposed to log leader Anton Marcus who would see you R8 in the red, given that he rides mostly short-priced horses.

Well done Serino.

ANTON MARCUS

With a win/place percentage of 73.91%, Anton Marcus has been the punter’s friend leading into to the festive season break and it is difficult to look past him for December’s Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month award. 15 winners from 46 rides at a strike rate of 32.6 % is outstanding in anyone’s books and that coupled with 12 seconds and four third placings says it all. He had strong opposition from Keagan de Melo, 11 winners, and National Log leader Warren Kennedy, eight winners, both with a winning strike rate over 50 percent.

Well done Anton on a fine month.

STUART RANDOLPH

The Gold Circle Jockey Award for the month has been awarded to Stuart Randolph

Humble and respectful but forceful when it comes to booting his mounts home, Stuart has established himself as one of the most respected senior riders in South Africa and can be proud of the fact that he is one of the less than 100 members of the very exclusive “July Club” – jockeys that have ridden a winner – Power King in 2015 – in Africa’s greatest race.

In a career spanning just over 30 years, Stuart found himself in an era that included some of the greatest jockeys this country has produced and top rides were hard to get. However, he had shown his talent and with firm support from trainer Tony Furness to whom he was apprenticed and who gave him the sound advice of “keep it clean and work hard”, he proved his ability to mix it with the best and quietly went about riding well over 1 000 winners whenever they had the ability to feature.

A quiet, gentlemanly nature has earned him the respect throughout the racing industry and he continues to produce the winners – six during the month with another 15 of his rides

finishing in the money.

Well done Stuart.