Record breakers come together on Tellytrack
IN recent weeks all eyes have been on apprentice Lyle Hewitson as he chased the record of 284 wins by an apprentice set 11 years ago by Gavin Lerena. Hewitson equalled the record at Greyville on Sunday 4 March and eclipsed it two days later at the Vaal when he rode Shenanigans to victory in Race 8 at the Vaal last Tuesday.
All three will finally come together to com pare notes and have a chat about their achievements on Tellytrack at 8pm tonight.
It is around 45 years since Roberts held the record and today he remains a successful trainer. Hewitson still has another nine months as an apprentice and he will be looking to extend his record and try to make it uncatchable.
Lerena has a strong case as well because he can argue that the other two never had the weight issues he had which restricted the horses he could ride.
Lerena exceeded the total of 260 set by Michael Roberts on April 30, 2007 when he brought home His Lordship to win The Sledgehammer (Listed) at Scottsville.
Roberts was not even aware he held the record until Lerena started to chase it but as he points out, he was already South African champion jockey while still and apprentice and that has yet to be equalled.
One must remember that in those days racing took place just two days a week – Wednesdays and Saturday’s – and the meetings ran concurrently so you had no chance of being able to race more than two days a week.
Roberts went on to win the championship 11 times. His first win came in the 1972-73 season and he would have had a few more had he not chosen to ride in the UK.