Muzi’s odd place in racing history

A man from Umlazi township in Durban rode himself into a curious corner of history in Asia at the weekend. Jockey Muzi Yeni won the last horse race to be run in the island state of Singapore.

Was it an honour? It seemed more sad than triumphal. It was even weird, with the estimable Muzi being specially flown in for that one race, giving the local jocks a riding lesson and denying them the privilege of making their own history.

Yeni had ridden in Singapore six years earlier without success, at an International Jockey Challenge.

“I’m proud to have won the last Gold Cup at the last day of racing in Singapore,” said the diminutive South African. Understandable sentiments; one more tale to tell the grandkids about a stellar career.

But one wonders who else in the world will be looking back on 5 October 2024 at Kranji racecourse and fondly remembering the moment the axe fell on a proud racing tradition.

State-of-the-art Kranji

After 182 years of horse racing in Singapore, the government has called time – reclaiming the Kranji property, which it says it needs for new housing in a land-scarce city.

A couple of decades ago, the Singapore Turf Club ran the biggest game in the region, with racing moving from an outdated facility at Bukit Timah to the spanking new, state-of-the-art, $500-million Kranji – with enthusiastic government backing.

At the time, Singapore racing was a level above Hong Kong – now one of the most important jurisdictions in the world.

Interestingly, many Chinese old-time punters considered Kranji ill-fated as the feng shui of the place was all wrong.

Onshore casinos were allowed to open, racing management wobbled and, fatally, Covid struck. When the course reopened after the pandemic, crowd numbers were down to a tenth of what they were in 2010.

Different people in government reckoned young people weren’t interested and donned the black cap.

Grand Singapore Gold Cup

Trainer David Kok, from Malaysia, set his heart on winning the curtain call – the 100th running of Singapore’s biggest race, the Grand Singapore Gold Cup. No-one else thought his horse Smart Star had any hope: handicappers allocated him an under-sufferance weight of 50kg and punters left him to languish at odds of 33-1.

Fed up with no local backing, Kok launched a worldwide search for a top lightweight rider to help him realise his fond dream. Humble journalist Mike Lee, of the Straits Times newspaper, suggested Muzi Yeni, current leader in the South African jockey championship, who has ridden more than 2,000 winners and is one of the most popular figures in his homeland.

He couldn’t have chosen better.

Another Straits Times journo, Brian Miller, wrote a mood piece about his last trip to the races on Saturday with his old punting buddies, ending with: “… (we) will gather on a Saturday afternoon and look across the land. We will point to where the finish post once stood. Someone will say: ‘Hey guys, remember Smart Star?’

“The rest will chip in: “Ahh, yes, the Gold Cup of 2024. What an upset! What a ride! What a horse!”

“And, standing with them, I will toss in my two cents’ worth: ‘What a pity it all had to end’.”