Juan-Paul van der Merwe: Star of the Week

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Juan-Paul van der Merwe: Star of the Week

11 years 8 months ago

Professional jockey JUAN PAUL VAN DER MERWE celebrates his 23rd birthday on December 28, which makes him a Capricorn. He is one of a young band of South African jockeys and trainers who are ably stepping forward to fill the ranks of those preparing to pass the baton on to the younger generation. With no real background into racing, it was on JP’s father suggestion that he applied and was accepted into the South African Jockey’s Academy in 2007. His fellow apprentices at the time were Gareth Wright, Tshwaro Appie, Grant van Niekerk and Athandiwe Mgudlwa. All these jockeys, along with JP have progressed steadily through their careers and are enjoying decent success. Van Der Merwe is a friendly, intelligent and hard-working young man and this is probably the reason he has always enjoyed good support from top trainers. His major success to date has been winning the OK Gold Bowl on Winning Leap for trainer Dominic Zaki. He has recently secured the plum job of stable jockey to top Cape trainer Glen Kotzen and has already achieved satisfactory results this season. Hardly surprisingly, he has been associated with some quality three-year olds, of which he rates Antonius Du Bois, the pick of the Kotzen yard. He will be partnering the son of Antonius Pius in this Saturday’s Grade 1, R1 million Grand Parade Cape Guineas to be run over a mile on Kenilworth’s summer course.

Juan-Paul van der Merwe: Star of the Week