Murray heads for Triple Tiara glory
AT THE the tender age of 21 Callan Murray has a great chance of pulling off the rare feat of a Triple Tiara in the company of the charismatic filly Taking the peace when the SA Oaks is run on May 5.
The young man’s racing career has been brief but glory-filled so far, and he talked about it after working the Mike de Kock string one morning this week.
Born on August 24, 1996, Callan was raised in Kensington, Johannesburg, where he still lives. He attended Reddam House in Grade 8 and 9 before fate intervened.
As is the case with a few other top riders not born into a racing family, his path into the racing game happened partly by chance.
“I was doing motocross competitively, and knew nothing about racing, or much about horses in general. But my father Rory was friendly with Dave Durant through their bowling club. He was chief Stipe in Joburg at the time, and said I should give being a jockey a try. Things sort of snowballed from there.”
He enrolled in the Durban Jockeys Academy in 2013 at 16, and made a promising professional debut on November 3 the same year. His victory was on Charles Laird-trained Tennessee Strategy.
He had scored an impressive 168 wins by the time his apprenticeship was up, and after returning to Joburg he enjoyed support from Alec Laird, Mike Azzie and Geoff Woodruff.
On May 6 2017 his career was kicked into the stratosphere though when he scored another three wins at the highest level. Things then moved swiftly, as on the Monday the Hong Kong Jockey Club invited him to come and ride there, and by Wednesday he was on his way over for a couple of months.
When he returned to SA, things didn’t go quite as well as expected for a while. Then Taking the peace came along.
“I was with Mathew (De Kock) when they bought her, and she always gave me a good feeling. I really didn’t expect her to win the Guineas, but she has really blossomed, and after the Classic last Saturday she has to have an excellent chance of completing the Triple Tiara,” he said,
He is equally positive about her owners, saying that “Murray Makepeace and Michael Shea are a real breath of fresh air.”