Where are they now? ERIC FORDRED Photo above: Eric Fordred riding the first winner of his career as a jockey for trainer Alec Uzent at Newmarket on the 1st May 1974 aboard the filly Nandina, owned by Messrs Forssman, Ebner & Leaver. The race was a Maiden Juvenile Plate for fillies over 1500m. Diminutive in stature, but sizeable in intellect. That is 64 year old Eric Fordred, a name our older readers will remember well. A household name as a jockey for 21 years in all SA Racing venues, Fordred was born in Zimbabwe, but moved with his parents to the Alberton / Germiston area in Gauteng, as a child. Riding farm horses with his siblings as a young boy, he cites his Grandfather as fomenting the Horseracing interest in him, and the bug bit at an early age.
In 1970, a 28kg waif of a lad tried joining The Jockeys’ Academy, but a pituitary glandular problem, affecting his weight (or lack thereof), almost cost him admission. After successful medical intervention, his apprenticeship commenced, initially at Pinetown Academy. As an apprentice, commencing in 1970, Fordred rode only two winners on the turf, but twelve on the sand. Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth his chief stomping grounds back then. He recalls, with great delight, his first ride, for Herman Brown. He was put on a giant of a horse, some 18 hands high. Despite the obvious nervousness, he finished 5th. They had to put cement around the saddle,� he chuckled. The 1980s were the golden years for Fordred. The list of legendary horses he sat, and/or won, on is impressive and lengthy. Among the champions he piloted that era were: Horatius, Flaming Rock, Captive Prince,
