Byleveld thanks his lucky stars
M.J. BYLEVELD, the latest in a line of leading jockeys sidelined by serious injury, has already resigned himself to missing out on the chance to win the Cape Guineas for a third successive year - but he is just thanking his lucky stars that he is not paralysed.
“Towards the end of August I was getting what felt like electric shocks that ran from my shoulder right through to my fingers,” he relates.
The MRI scan showed such a serious picture that he was operated on the following morning. The disc between the C6 and C7 vertebrae was pushing into his spinal cord – hence the electric shocks – and the next fall could have driven the disc through the cord.
“That would have made me quadriplegic, leaving me without the use of my arms and legs. The doctors said it was hard to pinpoint where the injury emanated from. I thought it was when a horse stumbled with me riding work at Summerveld in the Durban season but the doctors said it could have been that fall on the poly at Greyville in July last year.”
On that occasion he was hammered into the hard surface at 50kph and, although the only obvious injury was a broken thumb, apparently there could have been other damage that was not detected at the time.
MRI scan
“They did an MRI scan but only on my brain – I was complaining about dizziness and a pain in my neck – and the specialist said the subsequent Summerveld fall could have affected the damage because I was sore and getting worse and worse.”
In three months’ time the specialist will study up to date x-rays and scans to assess whether further rest is necessary. Byleveld,37, is no stranger to injury and, while he acknowledges that he won’t suffer too much financially (“I know there are issues with some insurance companies not wanting jockeys but I am very well covered”), missing the likes of One World and Tap O’Noth hurts more than the injuries . “It’s not nice – a jockey’s life can be a hard one even though it’s a good one.”
How the other half live
When the likes of Byleveld, Greg Cheyne and Ryan Munger ride in PE they fly out that morning and get the plane back soon after the last race. It’s a luxury that Luyolo (Louis) Mxothwa can seldom afford. When he went there for last Friday’s Fairview meeting he took the 7.00pm bus from Cape Town on the Thursday evening and arrived in PE at 7.00am, dozing off intermittently through the night. He then rode work for local trainers before riding in six races and treating himself to a flight back so that he could ride work on Saturday before taking four mounts at Durbanville.
“Sometimes the flights on Friday are too expensive so I come back on Saturday morning, drive or take the bus again but getting back on Saturday affects my work schedule.”
Mxothwa,25, son of a groom at Fred Crabbia’s former stud, has made a flying start to the season. He is eighth on the national log with 15 winners and in PE he is second only to Cheyne. He was based there for much of his apprenticeship and had a lot of success for Justin Snaith but he moved to Cape Town just under a year ago.
“Glen Kotzen asked me to go him for the season and said he would help me with rides. I am still riding for him and I still go to his place to ride work but I am also riding work at Milnerton and Philippi when arrangements with Glen permit.”
He can comfortably do 54kg and has been taken on by Rob Champion who also acts for Corne Orffer and Donovan Dillon and is impressed by his latest protégé: “Louis is one of the most under-rated jockeys now riding. Just look at his strike rate – and this season he has taken PE by storm.”
Last Winter
This year’s Met runner-up Last Winter leaves Newmarket for Dubai this week and Dean Kannemeyer reckons the break has done him good.
“He has still only raced six times – he was very backward as a two-year-old which has proved to be a blessing in disguise – but he is now maturing nicely.”
The five-year-old will be Kannemeyer’s first Dubai runner but last year’s Durban July winner Marinaresco will be the latest in a year-onyear succession of them for Mike de Kock. “The horse has now been in Dubai for a month. He is happy out there and he is doing well,” says Marsh Shirtliff in whose colours the horse races.
“If he is ready he just might go to Hong Kong for the Longines International meeting in December but I doubt it. He is in Dubai for the Carnival.”