Jockey Heavelon van der Hoven will attempt to boost his career by moving from Cape Town to Johannesburg this week.
Heavelon Van Der Hoven’s big moment on Illuminator
“The small stables are shrinking at the Cape, and there is more racing and better opportunities for me in Johannesburg,” he said.
Van der Hoven, a natural lightweight who can ride at 52kg, said he would be operating on a freelance basis, but already had offers of work from Paul Peter and Brian Wiid.
The young jockey is languishing way down the rider’s log, with just six wins, 12 seconds and 28 thirds this season from 236 mounts, for slightly more than a million rand in stakes earnings.
Stan Elley – eye for a good jockey
That translates into a meagre 2% strike rate, a dismal figure that belies his latent ability, according to Tellytrack presenter Stan Elley.
“He is a good kid and a neat rider who is not getting the opportunities he deserves, so I believe it’s the right thing for him to move.”
Elley is an astute judge of talent, having pretty much seen it all, starting out on the family stud farm in Oudtshoorn, then training for decades and now covering racing from around the country on the specialist TV channel.
So, a boost from him should provide much-needed encouragement for Van der Hoven.
Regarding his attributes and preferred riding style, Van der Hoven stated simply, “I am well balanced and like to conserve my horses from off the pace.”
He used exactly those methods to win the inaugural million-dollar bounty offered by Cape Thoroughbred Sales, on Illuminator in 2016.
The son of Trippi was an R180,000 purchase that massively rewarded the connections for their loyalty to the unheralded jockey. Van der Hoven had piloted Illuminator to victory at his first two starts and was riding all the work on Glen Puller’s very talented charge, so there was some poetic justice when the duo swept through to outrun favourite Silver Mountain and lift the gigantic prize.
His first winner was Knock ‘Em Out in September 2012, a 40-1 long-shot for Philippi trainer Riaan van Reenen. His next victory came in March the following year for Hekkie Strydom at Fairview on National Forest, which triggered a somewhat more productive spell in the Eastern Cape.
He moved back to the Mother City in 2014 but, apart from that bolt-from-the-blue stunner on Illuminator, found it difficult to make an impact.
Harlem Shake wins the Final Fling Stakes in 2016
Asked about the best horses he has ridden, Van der Hoven replied: “Illuminator and Harlem Shake.”
The latter is a capable three-time winning filly that upset in the Final Fling Stakes in 2016, though she failed to trouble the judge in this same race run over the past weekend.
Van der Hoven’s career dilemma in the Cape is genuine.
With power increasingly concentrated in a few bigger stables that have contracted, go-to riders, it leaves scant pickings for those who depend on chances from smaller trainers themselves battling to compete with cheaper, often infirm, horses against far stronger resources.
The situation may not be substantially different in Johannesburg, yet Van der Hoven ought to get more chances. It will be up to him to seize the opportunities that come his way and try clamber to a more respectable spot on the riding ladder.
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