KZN’s newest trainer and Sporting Post Personality of the Week, Carl Hewitson sends out his first runners at Hollywoodbets Greyville today and thus commences a brand new chapter in a long career around horses.
Read our interview with the former Yvette Bremner assistant earlier this week – click here for that
.A file pic of Lyle and Dad, Carl
Born in England, the soccer mad Hewitson felt the bite of the racing bug at the age of 13 through his Dad’s transport company.
David Thiselton reported on Gold Circle that he worked for Henry Candy during his school holidays.
Candy’s stables at Kingston Warren in Oxfordshire were close to the famous racing town of Lambourn, which is in turn close to Hungerford where Hewitson was at school.
Hewitson was soon a stable lad and apprentice rider to Candy and later joined Mark Usher at Rowdown Stables at Upper Lambourn. He had his first rides at Lingfield racecourse.
However, his first winner came in Belgium at the age of 17.
He was offered a position over there riding for Tommy McGarrity and he later rode for the Marquis de Merga.
After four years in Belgium he went on a working holiday to South Africa and initially rode in Port Elizabeth for Ian Passanah, whom he had met in Belgium.
He rode in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg, and later had six seasons in Mauritius and six seasons in Malaysia. His biggest success came when riding a Group 1 winner in Malaysia.
However, he always returned to Port Elizabeth and thus took up the position with Bremner sometime after his riding days were over.
Port Elizabeth was also the birth place of his son Lyle who was destined to become the South African Champion Jockey while still an apprentice in the 2017/2018 season and he retained the championship the following season.
Carl said, “I did not expect Lyle to ever become a jockey but he took to riding horses, first in polocrosse, and then used to ride work when he came to visit me in PE.”
Bremner gave up training recently in unfortunate and well documented circumstances but this unforeseen event inadvertently provided a boost to Carl’s new venture.
Fittingly Lyle will ride his father’s first ever runner, Love The View, owned by the International Racing Club.
This first-timer three-year-old gelding must have a shout from a plum draw of two in the 1200m maiden (off time 11h55) considering his sire Global View was a miler who gets them to run early and his dam, an Irish-bred by the legendary Sadlers Wells, has produced six winners and her five multiple winners include Pacific Spirit, a five-time winning sprinter who is Listed placed.
While their feature runner Mangrove, scratched, Lyle also rides Brazil Nut who is on a hattrick and is stepped up to 1400m.
Carl’s sprinter Quinlan will be ridden by Rocky Agrella in a Pinnacle Stakes event over 1200m and although his recent form is not too inspiring he is the best weighted runner according to official merit ratings.
