CHAMPION jockey elect Basil Marcus conjured a typical late rally out of Success Partners to snatch the Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup from Deerfield at Sha Tin yesterday and then frankly answered the $64,000 question. For just about every racing observer Marcus' distinct and brilliantly effective riding style is a bit of a mystery. He appears to be at his mounts from trap to line yet any straw poll of the jockeys will come up with the same answer, he's the hardest to get past in those desperate last 100 metres. So how can he punch away at them for 95 per cent of the race and still have something up his sleeve for the finish? Marcus said: 'The funny thing is, ever since I started riding I've never had horses pull with me.
'I suppose it is because I ride on a long rein. Horses just seem to relax and drop the bit. I don't sit against them and the impression I'm working hard on them is misleading. I'm not doing anywhere near as much as it may appear from the stands and that is why there is often that little bit left for the finish.' Yesterday's feature event, a quality Class One 1,800-metre affair, was vintage Marcus, who continues on his inexorable path to an incredible fourth championship in six seasons When the field settled down, Super Freighter had the lead and Marcus already looked to be shovelling on the coal on Success Partners.
Super Freighter was a spent force soon after they swung for home and while Success Partners, seemingly hard ridden but now we know differently, was there, he was surely vulnerable to the likes of Deerfield whom Wayne Harris had produced stealthily down the centre of the track. Coming inside the 200-metre marker, it looked for all money as if the Neville Begg-trained Deerfield was going on to score a memorable victory for the father and son-in-law combination.
But Marcus is never beaten until he has crossed the line. Somehow he found some hidden reserves within Success Partners who fought back to grab Deerfield in the shadows of the post. 'It was a very brave and very, very gutsy win,' Marcus said about the Ivan Allan-trained four-year-old, who has now won six of his last seven races, and is improving so rapidly that the 2,400-metre International Vase looks a natural target for him in the first half of next season.
'I'd be pretty confident of him getting the 2,400 metres,' continued Marcus, who has also made one or two adjustments to his riding style since arriving here from South Africa, via England, for the start of the 1990-91 season. 'One of the things I've done is change from putting my whole foot in the iron to just my toes. The other is that I've worked on getting lower in the saddle.
I'm quite prepared to admit I was very upright - perhaps a bit too upright - when I first arrived.' The toe-in style of riding, which has become very popular with the top European jockeys since Steve Cauthen and Cash Asmussen arrived from America and British champion apprentice Alan Munro went to ride work over there, is the subject of much debate at the moment.
