More Murray Magic!

Callan Murray’s explosive return to the land of his birth from a character-building stint in Australia has seen the 27-year-old ride ten winners in three weeks, including two Grade 1 victories in the space of a week.

Our 2015/16 SA Champion Apprentice, it may well take Callan Rossiter Murray a lifetime to repeat the feat of his career highlight of an extraordinary three Grade 1 trophies at Turffontein on Champions Day in 2017 when he steered Mustaqueem (SA Nursery), Rafeef (Computaform Sprint) and Deo Juvente (Premiers Champions Challenge) to victory.

But he has certainly hit the ground running since his homecoming in May on the back of a powerful yard that was fortuitously looking for a rider to consistently fill the key role of stable jockey.

And after his superbly judged performance on SA Horse Of The Year Dave The King in defence of the Global View gelding’s Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge title on Saturday, Callan now boasts a career tally of 11 elite level successes, 8 of which are for the De Kock team.

Callan’s maiden Grade 1 arrived in the form of the Mike de Kock trained Heavenly Blue, now an Ascot Stud-based stallion, in the SA Classic in 2017.

Saturday’s highlight marked a milestone in the fledgeling Father-Son partnership of Mike and Mathew de Kock as their historic first Grade 1 victory as a training partnership, and a career icebreaker for Mathew, in his capacity as a fully licenced trainer.

Mike de Kock once said Callan Murray had ‘the X-factor’ and there is plenty of poetic irony in the combination’s form after a punctuated association going back some 12 years.

Callan said after the Gold Challenge win that Dave The King ‘normally puts them to bed at the 600m-mark’.

“On Saturday I had to wait for the straight. It got a bit close, but if he got out and rolling he may have put a margin on them that would have been difficult to peg back. This was a really good win from him. This is very special. To get another one for Mat and Mr De Kock is wonderful. The last couple of years have been hard, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities.”

Tall for a jockey, Callan has to watch his diet closely but is fairly comfortable around 56kgs and his polished and likeable demeanour in front of the cameras speaks of a young man who has matured after stints in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

Callan’s first ride under rules came on 3 November 2013 when the Mike de Kock trained Captain Lars finished fifth at Hollywoodbets Scottsville. His second opportunity came the same day, a third place on Two Tone Rocka for Wendy Whitehead.

That all important first win came at his second meeting, when he steered Tennessee Strategy home to a three quarter length win at Clairwood for the Charles Laird stable. Callan closed his first riding season 16th on the apprentice log with 13 wins, a 4% win and 34% place strike rate.

The following season, he leap-frogged to third on the apprentice log with 41 wins, but things really got going in 2015/16.

On 11 November 2015, he partnered Deo Juvente to victory in the Gr2 Victory Moon Stakes for the Geoff Woodruff yard. As an added bonus, it was one of three wins on the day making it a full house from his 3 carded rides.

Callan notched 78 wins with a 7% win and 42% place strike rate to be named SA Champion Apprentice for the 2015/16 season and as an added bonus, won the Zimbabwean Apprenticeship too.

It was shortly thereafter that Callan was off to Australia for a 6-week stint with David Hayes’ Lindsay Park Stables. He made sure to leave an impression on departure, posting the final South African win of his apprentice career aboard Sheikh Hamdan’s Al Hawraa for the Mike de Kock yard. Callan hit the ground running in Australia, bringing home 4 wins and a fistful of places.

Back in Johannesburg in January 2017, his first ride back was Malih Albasti’s Talbec for the Mike de Kock yard which he got home in a tight finish to score his first win as a fully-fledged jockey.

Today, sporting a tousled hair-style and exuding confidence, Callan is a polished rider, courtesy of his international experience and having, by his own admission, ‘grown up’.

Domestic stability is key in a testing profession and the dog-lover recently got engaged to Australian horsewoman, Danielle Kerr.

The support of the De Kock partnership could well see him go to the next level if he decides to stay in SA.