Welcome back Superman

So, those intrepid souls who rise to the challenge on a regular basis need – and deserve – all the help they can get. In recent years many of their prayers have been answered by Anton Marcus.

The 48-year-old master jockey has a winners-to-rides ratio of nigh on 30% and a placing score of about 40%. If “Superman” rides a horse with a fair chance of winning, bettors plonk money down with considerable confidence.

Marcus has been missing from our race cards for several months now – recovering from surgery to injured knee and wrist – and things just haven’t been the same in the halls of wagering.

So, there’s celebration among punters this week as the great one makes his return to race riding, swinging his leg over six runners at Greyville on Friday 25 October and five at Kenilworth the next day.

What are the odds on him not being in the winner’s circle?

Marcus has built such a reputation and record that he can pretty much pick and choose which horses he wants to ride. And he is a razor-sharp studier of form.

Hence, it’s little surprise to see six of his mounts over the next two days have been priced up as outright favourites. And the remaining five are second or third favourites.

The weekend’s main event is at Kenilworth: the R35,000 Western Cape Fillies Championship (Grade 2), a 1400m contest for three-year-olds.

Marcus partners Pretty Young Thing for the in-form Brett Crawford stable. A three-time winner from six outings, this one would be at shorter odds than her 11-2 if she wasn’t drawn in the widest stall of 16.

The 18-10 favourite is World Radar, a raider from Port Elizabeth, trained by Allan Greeff and ridden by Aldo Domeyer – on a flying visit from his new base in Hong Kong for the birth of a son.

However, this race is a real conundrum. At this stage of their lives, three-year-olds are still developing and can make dramatic improvement, so pretty much anything could win.

It’s a similar story in the preceding race, the Grade 3 Cape Classic for three-year-old males.

Marcus hops aboard 2-1 favourite Silver Operator for trainer Vaughan Marshall, but Justin Snaith’s duo of Sachdev and General Franco will provide tough opposition. An intriguing runner is Padre Pio, Dennis Bosch’s raider from KwaZulu-Natal, at a tempting 12-1.

Marcus gets the comeback rolling at Greyville on Friday night and a trio of engagements for Gavin van Zyl could have the Anton faithful in raptures.

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