Turffontein fall puts jockey out of action

Fifty-year-old jockey Gunter Wrogemann, who has ridden 104 winners in the current South African racing season — the best of his career — will be replaced on all his mounts at the Vaal on Tuesday following a fall at Turffontein on Sunday.

Wrogemann, who bagged the grade 1 Daily News at Greyville on Saturday with a peach of a ride on the Highveld raider Surcharge, is reported to be in a stable condition at a Johannesburg clinic. He suffered a broken arm, broken jaw and several other broken bones in his face.

He will be hoping to recover in time for Surcharge’s spring campaign. The colt’s trainer, Stuart Pettigrew, who won the 2005 Summer Cup with Tyson, has indicated that he will be preparing his runner for the 2019 Sun Met at Kenilworth with the likelihood of bypassing Johannesburg’s biggest race.

Interestingly, regular top 10 riders Anthony Delpech, Piere Strydom, Anton Marcus and Gavin Lerena — all former champions — also find themselves on the injury bench following falls in recent weeks.

While our injured jockeys are looking on, the unpredictable sport of racing smiled kindly on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid at Epsom on Saturday.

The single biggest investor in racing worldwide, the sheikh

had to wait 41 years to win the greatest English horse race and it came courtesy of his 16-1 chance, Masar.

“This is what it is all about, winning big races across the world. It is something very special,” said the somewhat enigmatic ruler of Dubai.

The sheikh’s brother, Sheikh Hamdan, races many of his horses with trainer Mike de Kock in Johannesburg and his three-year-old Yaamen (race 1) looks the best bet at the Vaal.

Ruling champion trainer Sean Tarry could be on the mark with Collateral Beauty in race 2 while his runners Silvez (race 7) and Wondrous Climber (race 8) are most likely to complete the day’s last double.