Warren Kennedy has become the Wizard of Waz

Jockey Warren Kennedy wrote himself into New Zealand horse racing history on New Year’s Day when he rode seven winners on the card at Pukekohe Park racecourse in southern Auckland.

Kiwi newspapers said this set a new record for the country, beating six wins on a day achieved by five riders in the past. Adding gilt to the moment, it was at one of the country’s major race meetings and included a Group 1 victory and three Group 2s.

The magnificent seven propelled the two-time South African champion into a clear lead in this season’s New Zealand jockey standings. He currently has 64 wins on the board, from 340 rides, with a strike rate of near 19% – eight ahead of defending champ Michael McNab and ex-pat Irishman Joe Doyle.

‘Wizard of Waz’

Kennedy, 43, told Trackside TV: “It’s been a fantastic day. I don’t think anyone could have asked for any better. Everything has gone my way.

“We’re all here to compete and everyone is congratulating (me); they know it’s a great feat to win seven in a day.”

Durban-born Kennedy, who has acquired the nickname Wizard of Waz, added to his tally of 17 Grade 1 wins at home by claiming the NZ$450,000 Sistema Railway aboard Waitak for trainer Lance O’Sullivan – coincidentally one of the five men who had held the previous record.

The jockey, his wife Barb and two daughters moved to New Zealand 16 months ago and he made an immediate mark, quickly acquiring a big following among the country’s avid punters.

The inevitable racing rumour mill has ground out a story that Kennedy is about to cross the Tasman Sea to the more lucrative Australian racing scene, but the man told The NZ Herald newspaper: “This is where we want to make our home, so we don’t intend going anywhere.

“Sure, if I got the chance, I’d love to go on some raids to Australia, but that would be it.

“We have already moved here, which is a big upheaval, and we don’t want to do that again.

“And we’ve had such great support and so many people be good to us here, so we want this to be our home.”

Hong Kong heroics

Meanwhile, providing further proof that South African jockeys – pound for pound, so to speak – are the best in the world, Lyle Hewitson and Luke Ferraris have been lighting up Hong Kong.

The former registered a triple at Sha Tin on Boxing Day, while he and Ferraris also got on the board on the last racing day of 2023 at Happy Valley.

Hewitson is in fifth place on the intensely competitive Hong Kong log, while Ferraris is seventh. A “newbie” in the city, reigning South African champ Keagan de Melo is still finding his feet but still occupies 13th slot.