Jockey's Agent

Are jockey's agents good for racing.... Anton Marcus does not employ an agent & he is the most
successful jock.

Why would they not be? Anton Marcus has the luxury of not needing an agent imo..

I reckon we have five or six agents members here maybe they can comment..

Tero Wrote:

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> Are jockey's agents good for racing.... Anton
> Marcus does not employ an agent & he is the most
> successful jock.

I think what you are asking is if agents are needed in racing,..agents are needed more by jocks who travel a lot and dont have time to study form and make the necessary calls etc...but Im fairly sure that the game wouldnt shut down if we left
Anton who rides for some very strong base stables does not need an agent as he rides mainly for Marcus Jooste and when other yards have a horse that they feel has a big chance of winning they will phone and offer him the ride, the reason for this is quite simple, the man is a genius and imo it is like claiming 10kg's when he rides for you...

Tero


here is my 2 cents worth. I dont agree with titch about the " travelling " part. I do though agree that Anton does not need one.

I dont know how long you been in the game but ill tell you about a few agents i know that took jockeys that COULD ride but zero skill at obtaining and maintaining rides. All of a sudden with the help of an agent their lives were transformed.

1: Charles Van Booma....journeyman jockey, sigend up Tony as an agent. 1st year they were as before, 2nd year Tony was incharge and Charlie had the best season of his life.
2: Gavin Van Zyl.....good jockey with weird action/riding style, paulo took over his rides and Gavin had the best season he had ever had.
3: Donovan Habib....journeyman jockey whos claim to fame had been Goldmark, Paulo was his 1st agent and they had 3 or 4 years NEVER equalled by Don
4: Pierre Strydom...excellent jockey...Beatie and Louis ensured that his rides were the 1st or 2nd choice in a race for circa 10 years. Dont kid yourself into thinking pierre did this all with his brilliance
5: Anthony Delpech...excelent jockey Ray got hold of him boom SA champion
6: Weichon...excellent jockey rode for many stables NEVER since had good years as when Bruce did his rides
7: Rene......humungous potential NEVER achieved the succes numerically he had when under my guidance
8: Figgy.....talented rider needed an agent to get him onto the correct horses
9: Gary Waterston......twilight of his career revived for 1 season by signing me up to do his rides
10: MJ Odendaal.....awesome rider when Grant was his agent he had the world at his feet.


the list goes on and on. I have been gone from sa for nearly 14 years now but i keep intouch with some of the boys and girls (yes melanie was an excellent agent for Marthinus)

For me its simple, if you want to get rides you need an agent. Any ride is BETTER than sitting in the room. This of course does NOT apply to the top 10 jocks but anyone else should be trying to maximise his rides per meeting. This will open doors and every now and then fluke a winner.

A little story now, MJ Odendaal was Alec Lairds stable jockey. I was at scratchings and Grant was no longer doing MJ's rides. MJ had taken a ride for another trainer hoping it would come out. WIth 5 minutes to go it looked like it was getting in and Alec Lairds horse was also a runner but with no jockey. As i was doing Gary Waterston rides and I WAS AT SCRATCHINGS, i motioned to Gary Sniffles that i had Alec on the line and that "bugger MJ if he is on the other horse stick waterston on mine" I echoed this "fake" call to Gary and he declared waterston on Alecs horse. 11 am hit and scratchings closed, i called Alec and said " alec sorry i could not get hold of you but MJ was on another horse and you were without a jockey so to avoid you getting a fine i stuck waterston on for you. dont worry he will be there 1st thing in the morning to ride work for you"

the horse won and we rode all of Alec Lairds horse for 5 months after that........AGENTS are needed.

Nice story easy. Yes I believe agents are needed. Why should a jockey waste his time looking for rides when he should be adding more value-added-time to exercise riding, etc. and doing what we all do best. Except for jocks who are contracted into big stables like Anton. But it must be difficult for the agent to manage conflict of interest - one jock must get upset when he sees favouritism to another jock for an apparently a better ride.

Thanks titch & easy.

I am assuming once a jockey signs a contract with an agent, the agent decides if the jockey should ride for a certain trainer or not.
Richard Fourie no longer rides for the powerful Snaith stable because he did not get the ride on Gimmethegreenlight( posted on another thread) , imo the agent made a big mistake by withdrawing Fourie from riding all Snaith's horses.

Easy, Tony also did miracles for Uys when he first moved to Jhb,as far as traveling goes it is a huge factor, Muzi on any given week can be in Kim on Monday,Jhb Tuesday Durban Wed, Vaal Thursday ,PE Friday etc...there simply is no time for him to do his own rides..

THE BEST agent this country ever saw was grant harrison who did strikers rides from the mid 90 s for around five or 6 years and included many group i winners including july met queens plate winners ..he had no equals and if he had fourie under his wing today he would win jockey titles...he lives in new zealand now...

Tero Wrote:

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> Thanks titch & easy.
>
> I am assuming once a jockey signs a contract with
> an agent, the agent decides if the jockey should
> ride for a certain trainer or not.
> Richard Fourie no longer riders for the powerful
> Snaith stable because he did not get the ride on
> Gimmethegreenlight( posted on another thread) ,
> imo the agent made a big mistake by withdrawing
> Fourie from riding all Snaith's horses.

loosing a big stable like the Snaiths will take its toll but Richard is a very capable rider who will remain competitive as is reflected by the fact that he has 7 rides today and tuesday and a full card on Thursday in Jhb

pirates Wrote:

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> THE BEST agent this country ever saw was grant
> harrison who did strikers rides from the mid 90 s
> for around five or 6 years and included many group
> i winners including july met queens plate winners
> ..he had no equals and if he had fourie under his
> wing today he would win jockey titles...he lives
> in new zealand now...


Grant was diff class, imo Rob Champion currently the best around he has been getting top class rides for Karl and others consistently for years and stands out, but if the other Grant (Hunley?) was still booking rides he would put us all in the shade..

Grant Harrison was a legend. He would agonise over decisions sometimes, and there were times when he would phone me three times in a day to ask me the exact same question. "Are you sure this is the right one??" "What about that one???" etc. Even after he'd already committed himself to a ride and there was nothing he could do.() Piere Strydom got his money's worth from Grant, for sure.

In fact, both Grants were/are superb agents, and to answer the original question of course agents are valuable. Why on earth would they be bad for the game in any way?

Best of the past agents Pat Guilfoyle by a division. Did Michael Roberts and a few others rides in those days. Anton is great doing his own rides. Often phones 10 mins before anyone else and sometimes before you even nominate.