Gavin Lerena is punters’ friend with great strike rate
Mike Moon
Gavin Lerena is back from injury with a deafening bang. On Saturday at Turffontein he booted in another four winners – from just six rides – to push his victory percentage for the current season to a phenomenal 40%.
The stats since 1 August read: 30 rides, 12 winners. The winplace rate is 86.6%. As a punter, you simply can’t ignore the former champ.
Laid up with a broken shoulder for several months, Lerena had plenty of time to think about how to tackle his comeback – and the 2018-19 jockey championship campaign. When he eventually got the go-ahead to climb back into the saddle, he didn’t rush things. He chose rides carefully and his loyal yards teed him up with a few good things.
It’s worked a charm in getting Lerena back to the top of his game in quick time.
On Saturday, he kicked off in the opener, a Maiden Plate over 1200m, with Rocky Path for the St John Gray outfit. The three-yearold started as 4-1 favourite, at least partly due to the Lerena factor, and trotted up by 2.75 lengths.
Lerena then quietly pocketed a back-to-back double in Races 4 and 5 with Schippers for Geoff Woodruff and Prince Of Kahal for Roy Magner.
The first of these was a 5-10 shot and a popular Pick 6 banker in the 1200 Heritage 1200 Fillies and Mares Handicap. This fouryear-old daughter of Var never looked like disappointing and won by 1.40 lengths.
Prince Of Kahal gave Lerena a slightly more strenuous job in the companion-piece race, the Heritage 1200 Handicap, jumping as the 3-1 favourite and hanging on by 0.50 lengths after hitting the front at just the right moment.
Another Gray runner, Twelve Oaks, rounded off Lerena’s day in Race 7, an FM 72 Handicap over 1200m. Punters weren’t letting this one run free and backed her into 7-2 favourite – and she and her confident rider obliged by one length.