So who is S.A.'s most famous TRAINER who was an ex JOCKEY ?

Yes who is he. Lets name a few and go back a few years.

Obvious choice - Muis Roberts, Basil Marcus, David Payne - Stuart Pettigrew of Tyson fame, Ivan Moore, Vicky Moore assistant to Loius, Reid Patterson,Colin Lee - would you believe it - same applies to late Charlie Bawden ( believe it or not ) Roy Magner - amateur ranks I think. LUCKY HOUDALAKIS, , Muscutt family, Russel Purchase & son, Gavin van zyl, David Rahilly, was Gary Alexander ever a jock - we know his father was.Glen / Garth Puller, Denis Bosch, Alison Wright's husband - name ?, Paul Gadsby,

Should JJ win in Dubai - CAN WE GIVE THIS TITLE TO LUCKY ?

Wow will that be a huge and momentus occassion for the Greek boy.

There can be only one answer to that question whether JJ wins or not. David Payne

Go with Lucky (tu)

At the same stage of his career David Payne had already won a July and a Gold Cup!
If you are going to judge it on 1 'freak' horse then Marcus/Jay Peg still sets the standard!
All the best to Lucky tonight....I don't think he cares about any of this.

Jay Peg may set the standard for the money that he earned, but only J J has returned to SA, won Gr 1 races (two from two starts), and then left again - and won an international Gr 1 on his second foreign excursion. He travelled more miles than Neil Armstrong to achieve all this, especially as he didn't exactly fly directly from Joburg to Hong Kong non-stop.

Take nothing away from Basil or Jay Peg (or the acrobatic Anton), but what Lucky has managed to do with J J since he came home from his first overseas jaunt may never be repeated in our lifetimes, irrespective of what happens tonight.

To answer the question, though, David Payne sets the standard for ex-SA jockeys who have turned to training - but then he has been training for 40 years and the likes of Marcus, Van Zyl, Lucky etc etc certainly have not. I was 13 years old when Payne saddled In Full Flight to win the July and Gavin van Zyl is exactly one day younger than me, so you do the sums.< Give him another 38 years or so and I bet he'll have won a few fancy races as well.

Magic, nice reply...... any other trainers come to mind that were jocks ? I must have left a few out .

Gary Alexander was never a jockey, and Russell Purchase was never a trainer (was he?) - his dad, I think, was a jocvkey and then a trainer.

James Maree, Muis Roberts (not forgetting the other, late Michael Roberts), Izak Cronje, Barend Botes, Ampie Calitz are other, mostly current trainers that come to mind who were jockeys. I think that Des McLachlan senior (not Choppies, who I think is his nephew) rode professionally as well. Alyson Wright's husband's name is Kevin, BTW.

Duncan Howells and his cousin Gavin Smith rode in amateur races, but were never professional jockeys. I think Geoff Woodruff rode over the jumps in the UK.

In years gone by, all of Snowy Reid, John Gorton, Tiger Wright, Dennis Durrant, Robbie Sivewright, Clive Hyde, Roddy England's dad Freddie, Andy Smith, Martin Shum, Rhys van Wyk and his late dad Hennie, Peter Kannemeyer, Reg Passsmore, Ivan Pickering, Albie Going and no doubt a whole lot of others were former jockeys who turned to training, with varying degrees of success.

ElvisisKing Wrote:

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> Magic, nice reply...... any other trainers come
> to mind that were jocks ? I must have left a few
> out .



I know a lot OF THE FOLLOWING WERE JOCKS AND TRAINERS......but am waiting to be cut down on some of the names Im not 100% sure of.!!!!!!!!

John Gorton
Clde Hyde
Rhys Van Wyk
Charlie Barends
Trevor Lange
Bertie Sage
Eugene Cox
Bartie Leisher
B Botes
John Nicholson
Bertie Hayden
Bennie Little
James Maree ..........................?? ????

THE QUESTION ASKED IS WHO IS THE MOST FAMOUS not the best ...only one michael roberts the greatest rider ever to come out of south africa known throughout the racing world for winning the british jockeys title against all the odds

Was MDK a Jock then i would give to him.

Magic -

Was there not a guy called Dean Russell based at Ashburton in the early 1980's.