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Anton Marcus has been humble in his assessment of his third South African Jockey's Championship success, snared on the final day of the season after he pegged back Gavin Lerena to land the title by a single win.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Marcus confirmed he had only chased the title for the last 10 days of the season at which point he had to make up an eight winner deficit.
“I never thought I'd make it even before the last day," he said.
He went into the last two days of the season four winners behind Lerena but rode a hat-trick at Flamingo Park last Monday and a double at Kenilworth last Tuesday while the luckless Lerena drew a blank on both days.
“If I could have written a script I would have made it a dead-heat,” he said.
Lerena started the last meeting one win ahead of Marcus, who retained the title for the third successive year.
Lerena looked to have the title under control before he suffered a broken leg that cost him a16-win lead.
Marcus was full of praise for his weighing room colleagues including Lerena.
“It's great, wonderful and I feel privileged to have won it,” he said.
“I honestly think too much emphasis is placed on the championship. From a personal point of view it's awesome, but it's the guys with the best support, the ones on the right horses, who will win it.
"I certainly don't think it determines who the best jockey is. I feel that in every province in the country you can virtually throw your colours into the jockey's room and whoever picks them up will do the job.”
Marcus said his fruitful association with Markus Jooste, the country's perennial champion owner, played a big part in his success.
Klawervlei, a company part-owned by Jooste, sponsored this year's championship by putting up a R250 000 bonus prize for the winning jockey.
