Andrew Harrison
A national championship behind your name opens many doors when it comes to race riding in other jurisdictions. It is not a passport to fame or fortune but given the opportunity it widening one’s horizons is an invaluable lesson in the university of life.
Muzi Yeni was involved in an acrimonious race to the line three season’s back where he blew his chances, giving Lyle Hewitson his first championship and copping a lengthy suspension in a pique of frustration.
Down the lane, newly champion Hewitson suffered the tribulations of the cut throat Hong Kong circuit but also the subsequent highs of Japan.
Hewitson returned home a more accomplished rider and with the pick of some of this country’s top trainer’s strings he cemented a second national championship last season, a further rubber-stamp on his CV.
He was due a return to Japan later this month but the dreaded Covid appears to have put those plans on hold.
A second championship gave further credence to Hewitson’s abilities and it’s all on the line this season for Warren Kennedy.
Kennedy landed the Championship following Hewitson’s overseas stint and was also planning a tilt at an international career, but that is also on hold given the global Covid mess. Kennedy has ‘pinged’ the gate in the first month and boasts a substantial lead but with 11 months of the season to run nothing is guaranteed.
Yeni was successful in the first three races at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday, the first two for Kom Naidoo and another polished ride on Var Aglow for visiting Candice Dawson to land the first three on the card.
The amiable Naidoo has the largest string in Ashburton and is never shy to take on the big guns. The late scratching of the favourite Ancient Epic in the first will have made things a tad easier for Future Princess although the 20-length defeat at her previous start in a feature will have put many off, hence the generous starting odds.
Naidoo’s filly Aunty Lizzy had similar credentials after a fair showing in The Debutante on July day and the drop in class was all that she needed as she quickened away from her field to win as she liked.
Crimson Causeway looked to have a lot in her favour when taking on males in the fourth but all went awry at the start as blew the gate and then had to check. She finished a game third as Irontail ran her out of it while Different Face showed pace before being swamped as Herecomestherain, ridden to perfection by Keagan de Melo, quickened out of the pack to win comfortably.
Shane Humby is patient, his owners more patient than Job, but patience paid dividends as the seven-year-old gelding Double Gemini took them on from the jump and kept the opposition all gasping for air as Donovan Dillon kept him hard to his task in the seventh.
