In-form Van Rensburg is in the pound seats
WHEN you suddenly get the callup to ride horses for the champion trainer, you know you are on the way up in the racing game.
That is the happy position jockey Marco van Rensburg finds himself in right now and he is clearly determined to grab the opportunity with both hands.
Last season he was 16th in the national log with 72 winners, but he could hit the century mark if he continues to get rides for the country’s top stable.
With his father in the UK preparing Soft Falling Rain for Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, Mathew de Kock called up Van Rensburg to partner unbeaten filly Copiapo in the fifth race at Turffontein on Tuesday.
The daughter of Captain Al, who cost R800,000 as a yearling, kept her 100% record with a game victory over trainer Charles Laird’s filly Pej.
Van Rensburg was full of praise for the three-year-old. “When she moved up I thought she’d win by five lengths, but she just tried to stay with Robbie Fradd’s mount,” he said. “She has a lot of gate speed and, with more experience, she may go 1,400m to a mile (1,610m).”
Punters will be wanting Van Rensburg to continue his good form at the Vaal today where his fourth race mount, Ajuba, looks a solid bet in the first leg of the jackpot. A son of former Durban July winner Classic Flag, Ajuba handles the sand surface well and has been placed second in two of her last three outings.
Her nine rivals have all had a number of chances to win a race and the pick of the opposition may be trainer Chris Erasmus’s fouryear-old The Bucket Boy.
Although Van Rensburg’s seventh race mount, Melli Mou, let her supporters down at Turffontein, the mare boasts some consistent form on sand and warrants inclusion in all exotic bets. But she faces a tough opponent in Mr Alfonso, who takes a drop in class and will have blinkers on.
The booking of Piere Strydom for Twilight Elva — the pair won over this course and distance in July — suggests trainer Stanley Ferreira is expecting a bold showing from his six-year-old.
Strydom is the regular pilot of another mare, Negev, who takes on six rivals in the second race, the first leg of the place accumulator. But he cannot do the weight on this occasion so the ride has been entrusted to Chase Maujean.
With Break Of Dawn absent, Strydom’s mount Magic Smoke comes into the reckoning along with the top-weight, Formation. But Negev looks weighted to score the third win of her career.
Trainer Brian Wiid will be hoping his winning trend continues when he saddles Flaming Forge in the final race on the card.
Unfortunately, the gelding has a shocking draw which is likely to result in support coming for two better-placed rivals, Magic Of Rome and Estancia.
King Scott is another runner on the verge of another win, but he is in the same boat as Flaming Forge with a wide barrier.
Trainer Scott Kenny is back on the racecourse following a heart operation, and victory for Olympic Spring in the fifth race would further aid his recovery.