GGGAMING PRESENTS - HEWITSON BLAZING A TRAIL

Lyle Hewitson has gone through the 150-winners mark for the season to continue his relentless march to a third South African jockeys’ championship, writes Gary Lemke for GGGaming.bet.


GGGAMING PRESENTS - HEWITSON BLAZING A TRAIL
by Gary Lemke, supplied by GGGaming.bet

Lyle Hewitson has gone through the 150-winners mark for the season to continue his relentless march to a third South African jockeys’ championship, writes Gary Lemke for GGGaming.bet.

The Kuda Insurance-sponsored rider has been at the top of his game in recent weeks and booted home three winners for the Sean Tarry stable at Turffontein last weekend, including the Listed Jacaranda Handicap and the Grade 3 Sycamore Sprint.
While the latter two wins came at a combined distance of seven lengths (a five-length win on Seehaam and two length win on Tropic Son), it was the short-head win aboard Pyromaniac in the opening race at Turffontein that was eye-catching.
Hewitson and Smanga Khumalo, riding Mitch Got His Wish, were involved in a thrilling battle over the last 250m with nothing separating the pair. But Hewitson got Pyromaniac’s nose down on the line where it mattered to win by a short head, with the third horse 19 lengths further back. The son of Silvano, bred by MainChance Farms and the Coolmore Partnership, is one for the notebook, but it was only Hewitson’s brilliance that got him into the winner’s box.
Going into Monday’s meeting on the Greyville polytrack Hewitson had recorded 151 wins for the season. He added to that tally in the last race on the card and followed up with a double at the same venue on Wednesday. That left him on 154 wins ahead of Thursday’s meeting at the Vaal, and Friday’s at Fairview.
He has a commanding lead at the head of the jockeys’ race – Greg Cheyne (106), Warren Kennedy (104) and Khumalo (100) are next best – and looks destined to pick up a third South African jockey’s championship.
In 2017/18 he was crowned champion for the first time with 184 winners and he followed up with his second title in 2018/19 when he had 219 winners.
However, possibly the statistic that says that Hewitson is riding better than ever comes in the percentage of wins he has had this 2020/21 season. He stands at 14.6 percent, which compares favourably to his previous two title-winning campaigns of 12.6 and 14.0 percent.
Also, his fitness and relentless pursuit of perfection has seen him ride all over the country and his dedication is shown by the fact that he has ridden nearly 400 more races than Kennedy this season and nearly 500 more than Cheyne. Hewitson has had over 1000 mounts, with Muzi Yeni (90 wins) the second most prolific with just over 800 rides.
Hewitson is also about to surpass 800 career winners in South Africa, where his career percentage stands at 12.92 – again showing that his current 14.6 winning rate for the season makes it his most successful since he became a jockey.
South Africa is renowned for being a conveyor belt when it comes to producing jockeys of world-class calibre. In last week’s column we focused on the emergence of the female jockey in the United Kingdom, in particular Holly Doyle and Rachael Blackmore. However, here the female riders are still few and far between, but Hewitson is consistently proving himself as being the next big thing to come out of the saddle, from an international perspective, when it comes to our jockeys.
This weekend the big news is the return of the brilliant filly Summer Pudding, who is a very short-priced favourite to win the R250 000 Colorado Stakes (Grade 2) over 2000m at Turffontein.
The four-year-old comes off a 77-day rest but the fact that trainer Paul Peter has thrown her straight into a 2000m feature suggests she is ready to take on and beat her small field of opponents. The Silvano filly’s main mission is the Vodacom Durban July, but her comeback on Saturday will be watched by enthusiasts, even if she is not worth actually backing at odds of 1/4.
She has only lost once in 10 races – at Kenilworth in the Paddock Stakes in January – but back on home turf and in this field it should be an armchair ride for Warren Kennedy.
The next Cape meeting is at Durbanville on Monday and final fields have been declared. There is no betting at the moment but my bet of the day is Santa Maria in race one. The Trippi filly caught my eye when second on debut at odds of 44-1 and I think she is the type of two-year-old who is going to get better with every run and in fact could turn out to be well above average

Would he be there without his stable support, probably not. I think the way riders are given rides has to be looked into by the NHA or some jockey association. It can't be right that only a handful of jockeys get all the best rides whilst the rest live in hope. what is the role of the jockey association exactly.

Yes he would!

And let`s be honest most of the rest are average at best...

And ps it`s he connections (Trainers and owners ) who decide who rides their horses

Bob Brogan wrote: Yes he would!

And let`s be honest most of the rest are average at best...

And ps it`s he connections (Trainers and owners ) who decide who rides their horses

"Horses make all of us look good" or does it not apply to jockeys? I'm sure a lot of other jockeys would have won on the same rides.

It's true the connections decides but surely somebody has to look after the rest of the jockeys. Just try and have a chat with those jockeys that ended up chucking it because they were not getting rides...

Marsellus Wallace wrote:

Bob Brogan wrote: Yes he would!

And let`s be honest most of the rest are average at best...

And ps it`s he connections (Trainers and owners ) who decide who rides their horses

"Horses make all of us look good" or does it not apply to jockeys? I'm sure a lot of other jockeys would have won on the same rides.

It's true the connections decides but surely somebody has to look after the rest of the jockeys. Just try and have a chat with those jockeys that ended up chucking it because they were not getting rides...

Unfortunately life is not fair - some work hard and just don't get the opportunities - exactly the same with jockeys and trainers - and for sure many other jocks would have won on the same rides - but just the fact that Hewitson has by far the most rides shows his work ethic - so just on that he certainly deserves all the success

What a load of crap Marsellus, Lyle puts in the work and produces the results. He rides to win everything, one of the very few jocks who puts this into practise. Why shouldn't he enjoy all the success and get the plumb rides? Life isn't a happy handout and success is earned with hard work and talent. Lyle will go from strength to strength and become one of SA's greats. Good on him he deserves it!

neigh wrote: What a load of crap Marsellus, Lyle puts in the work and produces the results. He rides to win everything, one of the very few jocks who puts this into practise. Why shouldn't he enjoy all the success and get the plumb rides? Life isn't a happy handout and success is earned with hard work and talent. Lyle will go from strength to strength and become one of SA's greats. Good on him he deserves it!

neigh I'm afraid you missed the entire point. I'm 100% sure Lyle will thank Tarry more than any other trainer when receives his award.

The question is why does he get the top rides....Tarry will always use him if he thinks he gives his horses every chance in a race...

Man! It`s the same with every champion all over the world!

Lyle was fast tracked because he was an exceptional talent, he was a brilliant Work Rider. Stuck out like a sore thumb.

When he joined the academy he was head and shoulders above the rest of the other riders and soon lost his claims.

The rest is history!

Piggot, Roberts, Strydom all stuck out like sore thumbs, the same as Lyle and earned the best rides... Just like Lyle

Pick every sport and you will find Lyle`s

The Best Cyclist is supported by the best teams (Skye)

The Best Drivers are supported by the best Constructors ( Mercedes, Ferrari)

The best Boxers have the best corner men and promoters..

The Best Footballers work their way up to the Premier League, La Liga and SPL

what confused me was the bulk of the article/heading is about LH but the picture is SP and WK.

Well spotted Sly 😎

Let him freelance then I will salute him, until then he owes his championship to Tarry just like Khumalo. We all know what happened overseas.