Ride Of The Month: JP Van Der Merwe

The final Gr 1 race of the Cape Summer Season came and went and it was good to see Richard Fourie doing justice to it in the saddle. Sure, on paper and at the weights the WSB Cape Town Met winner Eight On Eighteen looked impossible to oppose in the SplashOut Cape Derby. 

He started at 56/100 in the betting and won by 1.5 lengths. That doesn’t tell the full story though as the favourite looked to be going up and down with 300m remaining, but all of a sudden the horses in front of him started to come back and he kept on riding Eight On Eighteen, having to get the maximum out of his mount to get him past Sail The Seas.

That was one of two Fourie’s nominations of mine for the month. 

The other was his win on Legal Counsel, who had to fight hard to see off La Pulga on the 26th. He probably didn’t want to be in front on the favourite in this 1800m race but that’s how things unfolded. Halfway down the straight he was challenged by a wall of horses and La Pulga looked as though would go past. But Richard worked really hard on Legal Counsel and managed to keep him going when it seemed as though he would get pipped. It was a fine ride.

In fact, that would be the second best ride of the month for me. Honourable mentions go to JP van der Merwe for getting the 67-100 favourite Please Be True up by a short head on the 11th – the three-year-old was sweating up behind the gates, dropped out and looked beaten – and Sean Veale on Holding Thumbs on the 15th, when he went to the front, slowed up and kicked at the top of the straight.

But nothing beat the market set by JP van der Merwe on the first of the month. 

Callmegetrix is a filly that normally drops out a bit and comes from off the pace. But in this race there wasn’t pace and he took her to the front, carrying 60km over the 1600m. Interestingly, he sat on her for a long time in the straight. Richard Fourie actually got past on Goodnessgraciousme but JP then pulled the stick and got Callmegetrix up on the line. It was a top ride.

MJ’s past rides of the month:

June: Oswald Noach – Little Miss Pink

July: Craig Zackey – Green Isle

August: Corne Orffer – Master Redoute

September: Oswald Noach – Princess Of Bayeux

October: Richard Fourie – King Viserys

November: Gavin Lerena – World Of Pleasure

December: Chad Little – Azzurri

January: Gavin Lerena – Rascova