ANTHONY DELPECH
Anthony Delpech is Gold Circle’s Jockey of the Month for February.
After being side-lined through injury, Anthony has come back hungry and finished well clear of his rivals in races won, 16 to be exact and eight clear of his nearest rival. He had the highest winning strike rate of 34%, also well clear of the rest of his weighing room colleagues.
Well done Anthony.
SEAN CORMACK
Stuart Randolph headed the local jockey table for the month with 12 winners and is riding at the top of his game but one cannot ignore the performance of Sean Cormack which commanded absolute dedication and a massive effort.
During the month he flitted back and forth between Durban and Cape Town, riding many winners at Kenilworth for his main boss Dennis Drier and for Justin Snaith but also booted home nine winners in KwaZulu-Natal with a winning strike rate of 27.27%.
In addition, 17 of his 33 local rides for the month finished in the placings giving him an incredible win/place success rate of 78.79% which was an outstanding performance.
Well done Sean.
STUART RANDOLPH
Stuart has been riding for a long time as a steady, workmanlike jockey and, given the chances, he has usually brought home the bacon.
With riders like Anton Marcus, Kevin Shea and Anthony Delpech out of action due to injury, Stuart was given plenty of chances and made the most of them with eight winners and a further 20 places from his 52 rides.
His success in the month was a sterling effort worthy of the monthly award.
Well done Stuart.
ALEC FORBES
Not a man to seek the limelight but a dedicated and hard-working horseman, Alec is one of the “quiet men” of racing and goes about his business without flourish and fanfare but giving all the horses he rides the best chance he can.
Those talents have been recognised by a number of trainers that have used them regularly and in the month under review Alec had 46 rides from which he scored eight wins and a further 17 places which was second only to Anthony Delpech who had a very good month with 11 winners and 22 placings from 48 rides.
Well done Alec.
The Gold Circle Jockey Award for the month of October has been bestowed on Donovan Dillon
With smaller fields the order of the day on the polytrack, the availability of rides for the younger jockeys is limited but apprentice Donovan Dillon has been in demand and during the month secured 66 rides from which he scored eight wins and finished in the placings 21 times.
Donovan has shown himself to be a very competent and talented young rider and his dedication to his profession is worthy of this month’s award.
Well done Donovan.
As expected, as the Mike de Kock stable rider, Anthony Delpech had another good month with 10 winners and Anton Marcus made the most of his 22 rides to bag six. However, steady performances by Stuart Randolph brought him seven winners was deemed worthy of acknowledgement.
Hard-working and reliable and giving his mounts every chance, Stuart managed to get another 18 of his rides into the placings giving him the highest win-place rider percentage of 56.82% for the month.
Well done Stuart.
There has never been any doubt that Kevin has been one of the country’s finest riders and his success in races overseas is evidence of his ability to compete and beat some of the best in the world.
“Shezi”, as he is affectionately called, has always been one of the characters in racing but when he throws his leg over a thoroughbred it all becomes very serious and professional and in tight finishes, one of the toughest around.
After years of overseas campaigns with Mike de Kock he has settled back in South Africa and is riding winners on a regular basis.
During the month he rode seven winners and steered another 11 of his mounts into the placings from 28 rides giving him a 25% win strike rate with 64% of his rides finishing in the first four – an excellent performance.
Well done Kevin.
As expected, Anton Marcus continued to notch up the winners and he scored another 10 during the month keeping his followers in the money.
But a young man who is making the most of every ride he is given is Keagan and from his 54 rides in the month he managed nine wins and 16 places and punters that followed him with a R1 win bet on each of his mounts would have ended the month with a profit of R8.50.
It was an outstanding achievement.
Well done Keagan.
KEAGAN DE MELO
It was a hectic month for all in racing and Anton Marcus continued to dominate with impeccable skill and consistency to drive 16 of his 38 rides straight into the winner’s enclosure with 14 of his other mounts finishing in the placings.
However, the busiest of the riders in the month was Keagan who threw a leg over 52 runners and made the most of the opportunities to get 10 of them across the line first and nine others into the first four with his supporters profiting by R32.30 at the end of the month if they had wagered R1 win bet on all of his rides.
It was an outstanding effort of hard work and dedication and well worth the monthly award.
Well done Keagan.
As expected, Anton Marcus, Sean Cormack and Anthony Delpech enjoyed a successful month with 36 winners between them but young Brandon made the most of the opportunities he was given and those that followed him would have had a profitable month.
He managed five winners and 18 places from his 45 rides and a R1 win bet on all his horses would have given punters a R30.50 profit on their investment.
This likeable young rider has plenty of talent and is destined for greater things.
Well done Brandon.
