Warren Kennedy Possibly Emmigrating

www.sportingpost.co.za/2021/04/sa-champ-...ng-for-familys-sake/

Reigning national champion jockey Warren Kennedy is living in limbo at present as he awaits feedback from various overseas racing jurisdictions who have displayed an interest in him.


After winning the national title last season, Kennedy is under pressure to repeat the feat this term with the rampant Lyle Hewitson currently 59 winners ahead of him.

Kennedy told Gold Circle’s David Thisleton that he would definitely still be in South Africa for the Vodacom Durban July, and he was confident of Summer Pudding’s ability to handle the tight Hollywoodbets Greyville track.


Warren Kennedy – likely to leave SA (Pic-Candiese Lenferna)

Summer Pudding has won eleven out of 12, including three Gr1’s among nine Graded victories.

However, the darling of the South African turf still has her detractors, who point to ten of her wins being at Turffontein and to the form of her Paddock Stakes failure being collaterally similar to her Gra1 Woolavington 2000 victory.

However, Kennedy said there was no doubt whatsoever that the Paul Peter-trained Silvano filly had not been herself in the Paddock Stakes.

He elaborated, “I could feel as far out as 800m that she was not herself. I had the perfect position behind Queen Supreme but by the 500m mark horses were going past us and she felt dead underneath me, yet she only finished five lengths back. And then she later scoped full of mucous which proved there was something wrong.”

Kennedy said about her ability to handle Hollywoodbets Greyville:

“I think she will be fine as she has lost that flat spot she used to have. You must remember that when she ran in the Woolavington she was coming off a stop-start Triple Tiara campaign. The Oaks date kept on changing and she had to be kept on the boil for a long time without a definite race date to work with. Then the Woolavington was just three weeks after the Oaks so we decided to go for that but she was under par. I was at her the whole race, so she was flat and she still won which shows how good she is.”


Turffontein titan! Summer Pudding has an exemplary record on her home track (Pic – JC Photos)

At Turffontein Summer Pudding has reigned supreme, and although most of her wins have not been by wide margins she has always looked to have a bit in hand.

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Kennedy was reluctant to name Summer Pudding as the best he had ever ridden, having also ridden the likes of Rainbow Bridge, but he declared: “I would say she is the consistently best I have ridden.”

He has a lot of good rides to look forward to in the SA Champions Season and the ones that immediately came to his mind were MK’S Pride, whom he said would be good anywhere from 1200m to 1600m, the Gareth van Zyl-trained pair of Vernichey and She’s A Keeper, and AJ’S Captain from the yard of his wife Barbara, and her brother Wayne Badenhorst.

The Kennedy’s reasons for emigrating are to maximize their financial security in order to provide the best possible foundation for their children. Their second child is due at the end of this month.

Warren has sent his CV to Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia.

Hong Kong is the ultimate destination for any jockey in the world due to the high earnings potential, but the committee that assesses the applications only sit in May.

Ex-patriot South African jockey Donovan Mansour put Kennedy in touch with the right people in New Zealand. Mansour, a former champion jockey of Mauritius, had a career-ending injury while riding in New Zealand.

The advantage of emigrating to New Zealand is the possibility of attaining a critical work visa, which enables a jockey to not only ride in New Zealand, but also to travel over to Australia to ride.

However, emigrating straight to Australia generally requires a jockey to ride for one stable for a period of two years.

The Sporting Post spoke to Summer Pudding’s trainer Paul Peter on Monday. The top conditioner said he had no information about Kennedy’s plans.

The Peter stable job is one of the plum jockey positions in South Africa and there will be many ready to apply for the vacancy if Kennedy leaves.

www.goldcircle.co.za – additional reporting by SP Editorial staff

Top jock will be missed but fully understand his decision.

All the best.

If Ferraris leaves for HK and Strydom retires and Hewitson decides to try abroad again then Gauteng will have some intresting openings but at this point there does not seem to be any younger Jocks ready to stepup (Solomons still too young )

mr hawaii wrote: If Ferraris leaves for HK and Strydom retires and Hewitson decides to try abroad again then Gauteng will have some intresting openings but at this point there does not seem to be any younger Jocks ready to stepup (Solomons still too young )

Not sure what is happening with Murray - seems to not get that many opportunities

Frodo wrote:

mr hawaii wrote: If Ferraris leaves for HK and Strydom retires and Hewitson decides to try abroad again then Gauteng will have some intresting openings but at this point there does not seem to be any younger Jocks ready to stepup (Solomons still too young )

Not sure what is happening with Murray - seems to not get that many opportunities

he does not seem to be booking many rides outside of the De Kock setup(and is not doing particularly well in Cape Town) - Not sure who is doing his rides but when Chris Santos was his agent he was flying. (probably win the first leg of the Winter Series on Adios Amigos now to prove me wrong)

mr hawaii wrote:

Frodo wrote:

mr hawaii wrote: If Ferraris leaves for HK and Strydom retires and Hewitson decides to try abroad again then Gauteng will have some intresting openings but at this point there does not seem to be any younger Jocks ready to stepup (Solomons still too young )

Not sure what is happening with Murray - seems to not get that many opportunities

he does not seem to be booking many rides outside of the De Kock setup(and is not doing particularly well in Cape Town) - Not sure who is doing his rides but when Chris Santos was his agent he was flying. (probably win the first leg of the Winter Series on Adios Amigos now to prove me wrong)

Just saw in the Sporting Post that he will be riding for Brett Crawford in the Cape

The sad reality is that the following senior jockeys do not have much time left: I am sure that they in their 50's

- Marcus
- Randolph


Wow we are going to be left with the following who could be champion jockey's:

- Cheyne (consistent)
- Yeni (champion)
- Khumalo (champion)
- de Melo (champion)
- Fourie (only rides well for Snaith)
- van Niekerk (champion)
- Zackey (badly off form)
- Lerena (champion)


The following jocks have potential:

- Solomons
- Munger
- De Gouveia
- Habib
- Maujean
- Mxothwa
- Murray
- Mbhele
- Khathi R

Besides Solomons I cannot see any champions in the current crop of appies.

Muzi Yeni deserves to win a Championship.... Aldo would be a champ but for his weight while Grant could win if he traveled ... the younger set have to improve dramatically to feature especially with Flamingo gone where many had good stats as they got the better rides.

Dennis Schwarz a promising young rider, unfortunately not been the same since leaving the Alexander yard. Took the nasty fall that has sidelined him but I hope he can build up confidence again and bounce back strongly. Think he is above average and can ride for one of the big yards when given that opportunity.