Michael “Muis” Roberts, South Africa’s best jockey is born

Michael Leonard Roberts was born on 17 May 1954 in Cape Town.[i] Roberts was one of South Africa’s most renowned jockeys.[ii] Roberts was nicknamed “Muis” (English translation for mouse), due to his petite physique when he registered as a member of the South African Jockey Academy in Shongweni, Pinetown, Durban, as a fourteen year old boy who stood a mere 1,32 metres tall.[iii] Michael won the South African national jockey title for 11 times in a row, before immigrating to England in 1978.[iv] One of the biggest honours in Robert’s life was meeting the Queen Elisabeth II, after winning the King George and Q.E Stakes.[v] At the age of 48, Muis retired after a severe neck injury,[vi] he sustained during a fall in the United Kingdom in 2001.[vii] Roberts became the first South Africa, jockey or horse to appear on the cover of the elite magazine called, “The Blood-Horse”. End Notes [i] M Roberts (Michael, Muis), http://julyhandicap.info/index.php?page=person&personid=1719 ↵ [ii] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 219. ↵ [iii] M Roberts (Michael, Muis), http://julyhandicap.info/index.php?page=person&personid=1719 ↵ [iv] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 219. ↵ [v] Honouring The Mighty Muis, http://www.sportingpost.co.za/2017/01/listed-michael-roberts-handicap-2017-honouring-the-mighty-muis/ ↵ [vi] David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 219. ↵ [vii] Michael “Muis” Roberts honoured, http://www.summerhill.co.za/blog/2008/11/26/michael-muis-roberts-honoured.html ↵