Lerena gets back in the saddle
FORMER national champion jockey Gavin Lerena has had a frustrating five months on the sidelines but pending an X-ray and a doctor’s examination yesterday he will have two rides at the Vaal today.
Lerena had a bad fall in the Derby Trial on Hakeem on March 31 and suffered concussion as well as a broken clavicle (collar bone) and broken scapular (shoulder blade).
There was then a “delayed union” of the clavicle, meaning the bones took a long time to knit.
Ultra sound treatment has helped speed up the process and Lerena has been workriding for about a month.
He said, “I had to take it easy and be careful which horses I rode to minimise the risk.
“The shoulder feels strong now and the biokineticist is happy.”
If he gets the go ahead Lerena’s first ride back will be in race one today, a Maiden for three-yearolds over 1 000m, on the Johan Janse van Vuurentrained Australian-bred Ultra Boost.
This gelding is by More Then Ready, who is the fifth highest stakes-winning sire in history behind only Danehill, Sadler’s Wells, Galileo and Danzig. Ultra Boost’s unraced dam by Encosta De Lago is a half-sister to the Group 1 VRC Australian Guineas winner Rock Classic (Fastnet Rock). Lerena has workridden this horse once and said, “I took him through the gates. He is a very nice horse. I think he will need further but he could be good enough to pull it off.” The horse to beat in the first, a Maiden for three-year-olds over 1 000m, is the well regarded Ashley Fortune-trained Big Blue Marble. Lerena rides the favourite in the third, a Maiden for threeyear-old fillies over 1 000m.
He said about the Johan Janse Van Vuurentrained Jackson filly Lady Jackson, who is out of the Grade 1 Allan Robertson-winner Geepee S, “She is quite small but she is a trier.”
She has earned a cheque in all four of her starts, two of them being on the Greyville poly over this trip, and will face some tough competition from the like of Variety Moon, Red Tara and three firsttimers, Blonde Vision, Paschal's Chrishele and Tehuano. Lerena has been keeping an eye out for a ride in the Grand Heritage, in which he is unbeaten having ridden the inaugural winner Irish Pride in 2016 and last year’s winner Forest Fox. He said, “I would like to ride Mardi Gras, but don’t think I am going to get the ride.” Mardi Gras is currently a 154 shot to give Janse van Vuuren a second win in the Grand Heritage. The race, to be run on 29 September this year at the Vaal, caters for 28 runners, the biggest field in South Africa's annual racing program.
Draw bias can play a part so those 15-4 odds looks a touch skinny, although this well-bred R3,2 million grey gelding by Oratorio is without doubt a horse to follow this season as he has class and looks to be coming into his own. Lerena’s goal for the season is to ride as many Grade 1 winners as possible.
He said he has been given support by many yards since returning to the training tracks, so he should have a good choice of horses once he is back in full swing. Lerena was the South African champion jockey in the 2014/2015 season in which he rode 221 winners at a strike rate of 20%.
He was in 11th position with 74 winners at a strike rate of 21,33% at the time of his fall last season.
He will have a mountain to climb if he is to chase the championship this season as Muzi Yeni has got off to a flying start and before yesterday’s Scottsville meeting was already on 24 winners, six clear of title-chasing Richard Fourie.
Lerena’s time off has been frustrating but it did allow him to spend quality time with his family and he concluded, “Their support has kept me going and kept me sane.”