A Big Book, A Big Day
Craig Zackey’s path into racing started a long way from the winner’s enclosure. He joined the South African Jockey Academy at Summerveld in 2011 as a teenager who’d never sat on a horse, qualified at the end of 2015, and has since built a career that runs to ten Grade 1 victories, among them the Golden Horse Sprint at Hollywoodbets Scottsville aboard Battle Force. Along the way he’s become one of the busiest and most trusted riders on the Eastern Cape circuit, with a strike rate at Fairview that speaks for itself.
Today at Fairview, that trust was on full display. Zackey took the ride on five of Dean Smith’s runners across the card — a book most jockeys would be glad to have on any single yard — and turned it into a winning afternoon, banking a double.
Heliotrope And Sweet Julia Deliver
The first came aboard Heliotrope in the FM 78 Handicap, a mare who’d only recently switched to Dean Smith’s stable and had already won for the yard last time out at Fairview under Zackey in June. Sent out again today, the pair repeated the trick, making it back-to-back wins together at their home track.
The second was Sweet Julia in the MR 68 Handicap, a mare Zackey has partnered before to good effect, including a win at Fairview last October. Today’s success continued that history, and rounded out a card where the Zackey–Smith combination was rarely far from the placings — Iced Marmalade ran on for second, Captain Clever was third, and Rare Earth picked up minor money too. Five rides, two winners, and a yard-and-jockey partnership that Fairview regulars will have taken good note of.
If you’re following today’s Fairview card, the full racecard and form guide is at cfox.co.za/predictions.
