Comeback kid Muzi Yeni ready to fire

Pesky rainy weather and cancelled race meetings have messed with jockey Muzi Yeni’s comeback to the saddle following injury.

But the popular ace from Umlazi is likely to be back with a bang this weekend, with a full book of eight rides at Fairview on Friday, nine at Turffontein on Saturday and nine at Scottsville on Sunday.

You can bet your boots that the feisty little guy will conjure a winner or two from that lot.

Yeni was out of racing for eight weeks after breaking his clavicle in a fall during the Allied Steelrode Charity Mile at the beginning of November. At the time, he was leading the jockey championship – the winning of which has been his burning ambition for some years.

Stipes said the circumstances of the Charity Mile accident at Turffontein had too much “complexity” to apportion blame to any particular rider, but did comment that eventual winner Winchester Mansion had shown bad “racing manners”.

Easing back into the saddle

Since Yeni’s return to the saddle at the dawn of 2025, he has managed to compete in just four races – thanks mainly to persistent rain across the Highveld, where the rider chose to ease himself back into action. Those four outings yielded a second place and a third.

He will be fired up to start ascending the title ladder and punters are well advised to give his mounts the fullest consideration.

At Fairview, any one of several promising rides for in-form trainer Kelly Mitchley could see him break the ice. But it will be at Turffontein’s feature meeting that he is likely to ride his way back into racing consciousness.

As an apprentice, Yeni spent a lot of his time with the powerhouse Mike de Kock stable and the master of Randjesfontein has remained an admirer over the years since.

Yeni to ride Greaterix

On Saturday, De Kock will give the diminutive fellow a leg up on promising grey colt Greaterix in Race 6, the Betway Got The Greenlight Stakes, a Grade 3 event over 1400m of the Standside track.

Greaterix is at even-money in the ante-post betting – and no wonder; he holds an entry to the WSB Cape Town Met later this month and this race is his prep and proving ground for that famous contest.

The son of Vercingetorix started as favourite for the Dingaans in late November after compiling a hat-trick of victories against worthy opposition through 2024. But he had a troubled passage that day and finished third in the race filly Quid Pro Quo famously doddled.

De Kock will surely have his charge in top order for Yeni to capitalise on.

This week, Yeni was in fourth place on the jockey log with 68 wins for the season – 40 behind leader Craig Zackey, 38 adrift of Gavin Lerena and 35 behind reigning champ Richard Fourie. The latter has recently roared back into the sort of form that saw him smash the record for wins in the 2023/24 season.