Keagan de Melo: Rides and Tips This Week

Above all, his big moment came in the Laisserfaire Stakes, where Pink Pigeon held off our pick Babelicious by a fifth of a length for Justin Snaith. In the end, it paid 3/1.

Earlier on the card, however, he rode our pick Desert Ice in Race 2, and she ran on for fifth. Our Kenilworth results have every finish.

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First, Ile Moris runs in Race 4 against our pick Above The Law. He won his maiden at Kenilworth in August, comes back from a rest and has the better draw. So if Above The Law doesn’t settle, de Melo is the one sitting on the danger.

Then in Race 8, Frozen Asset won her maiden in October and could still be well handicapped. Even so, our pick there is Meg’s Legacy, and the full fields are on our Kenilworth tips page.

Bachata, in contrast, is the class horse among his rides. He is rated 102 in the MR 101 Handicap, but he carries 60.5kg after a break and has to give the rest up to 8.5kg.

Besides that, he rides Champagne Castle for Snaith in Race 7, and Sixseven in the big Maiden Plate. Sixseven was sixth on debut; therefore, a step forward is needed.

Then on Thursday he heads to the Vaal for two rides, and one of them is our pick. Anahita goes in the MR 82 Handicap for fillies and mares over 2000m.

Later he rides Obsidian, rated 97, in the R215,000 MR 108 Handicap. Our Vaal tips page has the full card and a pick in every race.

Keagan de Melo was national champion jockey in 2022/23. Also, five weeks into the 2026/27 season he led the jockeys’ log with 28 wins, nine clear of Kabelo Matsunyane, according to The Citizen. Last season, however, he finished third in the table, about 130 wins behind Craig Zackey, but he had taken nearly 900 fewer rides. Also, those figures date from early September, so the table will have moved since.