Tuesday 12 January marked one year since Warren Kennedy donned the Winning Form cap for the very first time when winning on the Darryl Moore trained Grande Maestro at Hollywoodbets Greyville. The rest, as they say, is history.
In the one year that Kennedy has been a Winning Form-sponsored jockey, he has enjoyed much success, such as winning the South African Jockey’s Championship in emphatic fashion. Kennedy rode 209 winners, a whopping 62 wins ahead of his nearest challenger, Greg Cheyne, who finished back in second.
“It was an amazing feeling winning the Championship for the first time, and doing it in such a great way, made it even better,” Kennedy explained.
Many experts and pundits have suggested that if it wasn’t for racing coming to a halt due to the Covid-19 restrictions, he would have broken Anthony Delpech’s long-standing record of 334 wins in a season. Kennedy, however, wasn’t too disappointed.
“We all had to do whatever it took for the betterment of the country at the time. Yes I had my eye on the record, but whatever happened had to happen,” he explained.
In addition to his Jockey’s Championship, he also had many feature successes along the way, winning five Grade 1s in 2020. Those included the SA Fillies Classic aboard Summer Pudding, the Allan Robertson aboard Vernichey at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, the Inaugural Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge aboard Rainbow Bridge, as well as the Woolavington aboard Summer Pudding on the same day at Hollywoodbets Greyville. He then closed off his 2020 Grade 1 account with a masterful ride aboard Summer Pudding when bringing her home from draw 18 to win the World Sports Betting Gauteng Summer Cup in fine style.
Kennedy was overjoyed by these successes and he was glad that he had a powerful team behind him. “Winning big races is something we all want to do, but what makes it even more special is when there’s a powerful team behind you, and I am extremely proud to have had Winning Form behind me throughout,” Kennedy added.
When asked which was his favourite out of the five?
“There’s no doubt that it was Summer Pudding’s win in the Woolavington (pictured top). She was gone at the 400 metre mark and within a few strides she got back up to win emphatically,” he reminisced.
Kennedy hopes to have an amazing year and wishes everyone a healthy and prosperous year ahead.
Written by Venal Naidu
