Big Race Bert - a legend in his own lifetime - Parade Magazine, June 2004, pg. 18
Like the great Sydney Laird and the mighty Politician, Bertie Hayden is one of South Africas racing legends. Now, after 44 years as a jockey and then trainer, "Big Race Bert" has been forced to retire albeit, as he believes, only temporarily.
At the age of 58, Bert has had an incredible career in racing, brought to a premature close at the end of May following a stroke in November last year which left him partially paralysed in his left arm and left leg.
But the gutsy little man, who earned his nickname for the numerous major races he won - including the then Rothmans July three times - has not lost his fighting spirit. He believes that, after intensive physiotherapy treatment, he will return.
In an interview with Parade, Bert looked back on his years as jockey and trainer and revealed, for the first time, the full story about the J&B Met of 1979 when he rode the great Politician to victory from an absolutely impossible position.
For those who were not there on the day to witness it live, or have never seen it on video, the winning burst by the big, powerful chestnut has gone down in South Africas racing history as one of the most sensational performances of all time.
Bert was the man in the saddle and he remembers it like it happened only yesterday.
But first, to fully understand Politician and his determination to win, it is best to look back at his career. He raced from a two-year-old to a five-year-old and won 18 of his 31 starts with four seconds and three thirds. As a three-year-old he won the Dingaans, the Cape Guineas, the Cape Derby, the South African Guineas and finished fifth in the Rothmans July on 5,5kg worse than weight-for-age. He was crowned champion three-year-old and horse of the year.
As a four-year-old he was second in the Champion Stakes, won the Hawaii Stakes, the J&B Met, the Queens Plate, the Administrators Champion Stakes and the Rothmans July. He was again voted horse of the year.
He won the Champion Stakes at the start of his five-year-old career then won the Somerset Plate and both the J&B Met and Queens Plate for the second year running - a feat that has never been repeated. He was voted champion older male.
It was as a five-year-old that he went to the start of the J&B Met for the second time to carve his name into the record books as one of the greatest thoroughbreds ever to race in this country.
Bert claims very little credit for the success, acknowledging that in this instance it was not the skill of the jockey but the gutsy determination of the horse that won the day.
"In those days Michael Roberts and I were good friends and at times we helped each other out in races. If either of us knew we couldnt win we would let the other through.
"On that day I was near the back on Politician and Michael was just ahead of me. When we got around to about the 800 I thought I must start moving up a little bit, I was a little bit out of my ground.
"I looked around and saw I either had to go four horses wide around the field or try my only other option. Muis was in front of me and I shouted Michael, Michael, please let me in and he eased off the fence and I got in there. But when I got in there he closed me up and I thought - what the hell are you doing.
"Anyway we stayed like that and when we turned for home he was still on my outside and I was shouting at him to let me out but he wasnt giving me any room and he sort of had me hemmed in. Anyway, you think so quick and I thought to myself - hell, the newspapers are going to tear me to pieces and Syds going to break my neck when I come back. In desperation I thought the only way out of this was to barge my way through, and if the horse falls Im out of it because they wont blame me for the horse falling and I actually forced him to go between two horses.
"At this stage Beau Art led turning into the straight and he went lengths ahead. Festive Season was the first to tackle Beau Art and go four or five lengths ahead of Beau Art. When I got through I still thought it was impossible - no horse can make up six lengths in two or three hundred metres. But he put himself into another gear and took off like a scalded cat and actually won by a neck - it was incredible."
Bert said riding Politician was like being in an XJ6 Jaguar against a Mini. "He was a tremedously big, powerful horse and he had plenty of guts. At the time, he was just a lot better than anything around. He was definitely the best horse I have ridden."
And that is some statement coming from a man who rode some of the best horses to race in this country including the two other horses on which he had won the Rothmans July before Politician - Mazarin in 1971 and Yataghan in 1973.
And what about The Bear, Syd Laird, the man who was undisputedly one of the greatest trainers ever in South Africa?
"He was a difficult person in himself, but a tremendous gentleman to ride for. If you did something wrong he never harped on it for weeks and weeks. He had a chat, had a go - at me or whatever - and then it was finished and thats the way it should be."
"His record speaks for itself - he had seven July winners. He knew how to get a horse to his peak and keep him ticking over at his peak for a long time."
Berts association with racehorses dates back a lot further than when he became an apprentice in 1960.
"My late dad, when he was a youngster, actually ran away from home to become a jockey and unfortunately for him he got heavy quite quick and he didnt continue. He always had me interested in horses and I actually fell off my first racehorse at the age of four - on the beach opposite Natal Command.
"The horses used to work there and one Sunday morning my dad took me down there and put me on a horse that was being led around. The horse got fresh and bucked and threw me off and I landed in the sand.
"I got up, my face was covered in sand and my nose was bleeding but my dad took me and threw me straight back on the horse again and told me to ride some more.
"Anyway, when I was 13 my dad phoned Robert Jackson and said he would like me to become an apprentice. He said no problem, send him down to Durban so when I turned 14, I came down to Durban and became the last apprentice to be signed on privately. I spent five years with him."
Bert then joined the stable of another South African racing legend - one of the greatest ever jockeys turned trainer, Harold "Tiger" Wright, and later moved to Cape Town where his talent was spotted by Syd Laird after Mazarin, ridden by the late Robbie Sivewright, had won the Derby. Laird arranged for Bert to return to Durban where he joined the famous stable as the lightweight rider.
He won the Rothmans July on Mazarin that year and spent 12 years with the Laird stable winning big race after big race. But, he says his most successful day was at a meeting at Milnerton when, having eight rides on the day, he rode five winners, two seconds and a third, four of his winners being the official jackpot.
As a trainer he had considerable success, beginning in Gauteng and later moving to Ashburton Training Centre.
"I havent had champion but I have had some nice horses. I had Name The Key who is a seven-time winner, Steven Charles who was a six-time winner, Beat The Breeze who finished up a six-time winner and that little horse Far Under Par who won a juvenile feature at Scottsville."
It was a poignant moment sitting with Bert in the office of his Ashburton stables, the horses all gone and his staff waiting to leave for the last time. It was a moment that brought home the reality of life that nothing is forever and it all moves on.
Bert has had an incredible career with many ups and downs, a career that has made him a legend in his own lifetime. Now he will move on, to live with his son in Durban, close to Entabeni hospital where he can undergo treatment.
Being the man of guts and determination that he is, one cannot help believing him when he says: "Ill be back again."
Parade Magazine, June 2004, pg. 18
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