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Murray Bell

Six years after returning to his native South Africa, Basil Marcus is a man living his dream. He's traded in the silks and saddles for the significantly harder work of training racehorses and says  he's never been happier.
Marcus is a legend of Hong Kong racing, seven times champion jockey and the winner of 671 races, making him third on the all-time list behind Douglas Whyte and Tony Cruz.
He set a record of 98 wins, in 1997-98, after a titanic struggle with his younger, up-and-coming compatriot Whyte, who took another six years to tip that record over.
In his halcyon years, he was stable jockey to Ivan Allan and subsequently to David Hayes.
But regardless of which trainer he was riding for, Marcus was always idolised by the local fans.
The South African  has been in Singapore this week, enjoying the association he's forged with Jay Peg - a horse he purchased for a mere 130,000 rand (HK$133,000) as a yearling - that has become a world-ranked horse and a leading chance in tomorrow's S$3 million (HK$16.9 million) Singapore Airlines International Cup.
'Jay Peg is part owned by my brother Selwyn, and he's still ridden by my younger brother Anton, so it's still very much in the family,' Marcus explained.
'When a large interest in him was sold, he had to go to Herman Brown for the Dubai carnival, but Selwyn and some of the other partners wanted to stay in for the ride, and of course after Dubai they are glad they did.'
'Dubai' is short for having won the US$5 million Dubai Duty Free, a race which will remain the equal-richest turf race in the world until October when the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will be run as a #4 million (HK$60.7 million) race for the first time.
The transition from jockey to trainer is not always a straightforward one and history is littered with sad stories about those who tried and met disaster. But very much like our own Tony Cruz, Marcus is excelling in his new profession.
'I'm based in the Cape and started very small with just 16 horses and it took a while to get going - probably two seasons,' he conceded. 'But we've been getting more clients supporting us and buying more yearlings and we now have 100 horses in training. We finished third on the trainers' list last season and every season seems to get a little bit better than the previous one.'
Marcus says that although the hours are 'far more tough and demanding' than those he worked as a jockey, he's enjoying life more.
'You know what? I love it,' he states. 'I'm finding training horses much more satisfying and it's also made me a much tougher marker on jockeys.
'As a trainer, you might take months, or over a year in some cases, of hard work and patience to get a horse where you want it. But much of that work can be ruined if the jockey doesn't get his part right.
'You learn to appreciate a good horse, because you never know how long you'll have them at that level. They are not cars, they are flesh and blood and just when you think they are on the brink of something big, they can get injured and dreams turn to dust. It can be very character building. They say, in racing, that you have some very high highs and some very low lows, and not much in between, and I think that's probably right.
'But those highs are so satisfying, and so intoxicating, that experiencing one keeps you going through all the problems and all the disappointments until the next one.'
Although he's now been home for six years, Marcus is still a proud ambassador for Hong Kong racing.
'Hong Kong's set up is still the best,' he said. 'Great trainers, many of the world's best jockeys, and these days a surprisingly large number of world-class horses. The prize money is terrific, and you probably have the best racing administration of any country in the world.
'I was sad to leave Hong Kong, but my family and I have settled back into South Africa very well. We enjoy the lifestyle, with more land and open  living.'
And what if the Hong Kong Jockey Club came calling, offering him a licence to train at Sha Tin?
'In any business, you have to properly evaluate every opportunity that comes your way,' he concluded with a dazzling, trademark smile.



Former HK great Marcus proves he's a class act off the track too