David Thiselton
Nathan Kotzen, the Summerveld assistant trainer to Mike de Kock, said that the two-year-olds Reign As Kings and Lonsome Dove are both in good shape before their Grade 1 engagements at Scottsville on May 26, but he added that they would be up against considerably better opposition than they’ve faced before.
Reign As Kings is by the English 2000 Guineas winner King Of Kings, who was described as “breathtaking” by one of the world’s best trainers, Aiden O’Brien.
He will be lining up in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion over 1 200m on May 26 at Scottsville’s annual Festival Of Speed, which has a Jackpot of Grade 1 races.
Reign As Kings lost narrowly to the useful Ivan Moore-trained My Jelly Bean on debut over 1 000m at Scottsville but has continued to improve since then.
He won his next two starts in facile fashion, beating the promising one-eyed Lionize by six lengths over 1 200m at Clairwood, then beating King’s Jet by 5,25 lengths at Scottsville over 1100m and then exacting revenge on My Jelly Bean, beating him by 1,5 lengths in the Non-Black Type Sentinel Stakes over 1 000m at Clairwood.
My Jelly Bean franked that form when possibly unlucky not to win the Grade 2 Umkhomazi Stakes over 1 200m at Scottsville, finishing a 0,4 length third before being promoted to second after an objection against the winner, Contador. Kotzen said, “He’s only beaten local horses so we will have to see how good he is on Saturday week.”
Reign As King’s style of racing will certainly be in his favour as Scottsville winners usually require a high cruising speed together with the ability to kick in the final stages and the big, long striding chestnut has both of those assets.
It is interesting to note that despite King Of Kings being bay his best son to date, King’s Chapel, a four-times Grade 1 winner, was chestnut, and his best daughter, the Grade 1 winner Ike’s Dream, was also chestnut, another factor that might be in Reign As Kings favour.
Lonsome Dove, yet another promising filly produced by the new boom sire Trippi, went like the clappers from the off on debut over 1 000m at Clairwood and was being eased down at the line by Anton Marcus, beating the King Of Kings filly Queen’s Court, who is no slouch, by 1,5 lengths with Valor Red, who is a full-sister to the Grade 1 winner Nania, a further 5,25 lengths back.
Her time was only 0,11 seconds slower than the Medallion entrant Blizzard Of Oz, a promising two-year-old Victory Moon colt from the Dennis Drier yard, who had won the previous race. “She went very fast but it was only a maiden, so we will have to see with her too,” said Kotzen.
The Grade 1 Allan Robertson over 1 200m which she will run in on May 26 is packed with class and despite her eye-catching debut, she will have to have improved from that run.
The De Kock yard last won the Allan Robertson with the Brazilian-bred Rat Burana in 2007, which was the same year in which Kildonan won the Grade 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint.
Rat Burana also won the SA Fillies Sprint in 2008, while the yard won the Medallion with Carnadore in 2005, so they are certainly no strangers to Grade 1 sprint success at Scottsville.
Richard McMillan
The top Gauteng sprinter Shea Shea is on the move and it will not be to Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg for the Golden Horse Casino Sprint but out of the country to campaign in the top sprint races overseas.
Geoff Woodruff, who trains the four-year-old National Emblem gelding, told me on Monday evening that he would not accept for the Scottsville race as “we are hoping to get him out of the country.”
Shea Shea won the Golden Horse Casino Sprint last year and most recently was an impressive winner of the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint at Turffontein.
He said they were looking to Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai – “or wherever the big sprints are.”
The gelding will follow other top horses destined for international competition like Igugu, Gimmethegreenlight and Variety Club. With the current ban on the export of South African horses due to African Horse Sickness under review and expected to be eased or lifted in the months ahead, the number of South Africa’s top horses being shipped overseas through whatever quarantine procedures are required is likely to increase.
As in past years, this will undoubtedly affect the quality of local racing which will not be conducive to increasing interest in the sport locally.
However, it will be a boon for the thoroughbred breeders in the country that are producing horses of international standard that should be allowed to compete on the world stage.
David Thiselton
Glen Kotzen reckoned he would give the one-eyed Political Playboy as much time as he needed to get maximum confidence on the track, but despite not being among the first nominations, he had not ruled him out of having a crack at the Vodacom Durban July.
Meanwhile, his superstar filly Princess Victoria (pictured) is “flying” ahead of her engagement in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1 200m at Scottsville on May 26 and his two-year-old Jet Master colt Fly Me Over is also in good shape ahead of the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion over 1 200m that same day.
Political Playboy was among the nominations for next Tuesday’s Grade 2 Betting World 1900 but was not an acceptor as he recently jumped out of a paddock, slipped and scraped his knees.
“It was a minor setback but any doubts we had about him taking part in the 1900 were then nullified,” he said. “There is no rush with him as he only has the one eye and we want to give him all the confidence in the world. I have been to show him Greyville, so he has seen all three of the KZN courses now.”
Kotzen reckoned he would run him in a Progress Plate next and then have a crack at the Grade 3 Cup Trial over 1 800m on June 9, a traditional last chance saloon for borderline July horses. Depending on his performance in that race the connections might then supplement him for the July. He added that it would be no disappointment if he didn’t get into the July this year as they didn’t want to rush him and they would instead bring him back for the Cape Sizzling Summer Season with the J&B Met in mind.
Political Playboy, a three-year-old Australian-bred gelding owned by Kotzen in partnership with Andy Williams, arrived in Durban unheralded but has made pundits sit up and take notice since then in no uncertain terms.
The Dehere gelding won his maiden over 1 800m in his fifth career start at Kenilworth, but in his first career start in KZN he romped home by four lengths over 1 600 at Scottsville, beating Turning Tide who is highly regarded and duly won his next start.
Political Playboy then won a competitive Graduation Plate over 1 600m at Clairwood, fighting back to see off Komatipoort with whom he was considerably under sufferance, with the rest of a decent field over five lengths back. The third-placed Auto Pilot franked that form by winning easily next time out, while the last horse to beat him in CapeTown, Petite Master, who touched him off in an 1 800m maiden, won a competitive handicap at Greyville over 1 400m last Friday night.
Political Playboy has a fair turn of foot and showed in his last start how resolute his finish is. He looks likely to relish the 1 800m of the Cup Trial and should get the July trip.
Kotzen said about the four-time Grade 1 winning Princess Victoria, “She is flying like a flying machine, touch wood. She is cruising and will be ready for next week Saturday.”
The Victory Moon three-year-old filly will face strong opposition in the SA Fillies Sprint from the likes of Ebony Flyer, Welwitschia and Chocolicious, while Wishful Eye would be interesting if the ground comes up fast and the best might not yet have been seen from Torra Bay.
The Scottsville Festival of Speed meeting has been a good one for the yard having won the Allan Robertson with Princess Victoria last year and the SA Fillies Sprint with Lady Windermere in 2009, so they would love to get one step closer to completing the grand slam for this meeting by winning the Medallion with Fly Me Over.
The Jet Master colt became the first two-year-old to beat older horses in KZN this season when winning a maiden on debut over the Scottsville 1 200, course and distance of the Medallion. His time of 70,03sec was quicker than the time of the two Grade 2 juvenile events on the day, the one won by the filly Straight Set in 70,2sec and the other one, which was awarded to the colt Ottimo after an objection, was run in 70,64sec. Kotzen said, “We don’t know how good he is but he ran a phenomenal time for a first-timer.”
David Thiselton
Ivan Moore said that the Grade 2 Umkhomazi Stakes winner Ottimo would race in cheek pieces in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion over 1 200m on May 26 on the advice of Felix Coetzee and he was pleased with his well-being as well as that of his other contender My Jelly Bean.
Moore said, “Felix said that Ottimo hadn’t quite learned how to gallop yet so suggested putting cheek pieces on him. I’ve had cheek pieces on him at work since then and he looks better in himself with them on but this horse doesn’t overdo it and only does what he has to do. He is a better horse at the races than he is on the training tracks.”
Ottimo, an Australian-bred colt by Oratorio who is owned by Fred Crabbia, was the fortunate recipient of the Umkhomazi Stakes trophy in his last start as he was beaten fair and square, albeit narrowly, by the Charles Laird-trained Medallion entry Contador. However, he was promoted to first after his third-placed stable companion My Jelly Bean had an objection, lodged by the stipendary stewards, upheld in his favour.
Moore said, “The way My Jelly Bean was finishing he might well have won the race.”
However, he still regards Ottimo as his main hope for the Medallion.
“I have to be honest I prefer Ottimo’s chances. He is a better horse than what he has shown on the racecourse so far”.
Indeed, the penny does not seem to have dropped for the twice winner from three starts and he still has a lot of scope for improvement so the effect the cheek pieces have will be interesting to see on race day.
Moore is under no illusions as to how difficult it will be to win the Medallion this year.
“There are a lot of good two-year-olds around, so we are all hoping.”
Moore reckoned that Ottimo would definitely get the 1400m of the Grade 1 Golden Horseshoe that is run on Vodacom Durban July day, July 7. The yard won that race last year with the ill-fated Fighting Warrior, who was also an Australian-bred owned by Crabbia (in partnership with Andy Williams).
He was not sure My Jelly Bean would get the 1 400m and said, “He could be a bit limited, but is an improving two-year-old and is getting better and better all the time.”
Moore said that both horses are very well and had come out of their Umkhomazi Stakes runs very well.
“They hardly looked as if they had had a race,” he said.
Coetzee will not be available for the Scottsville meeting as he is due to start a six month contract in Singapore on June 1 and was due to ride the Crabbia-owned superstar sprinter Rocket Man in the defence of his Grade 1 Krisflyer International Sprint crown at Kranji this Sunday before his shock scratching.
However, there is a chance he might return for the Golden Horseshoe if he gets a ride in the July.
Stuart Randolph, who won the SA Fillies Sprint on Val De Ra at the Scottsville Festival Of Speed meeting last year, will replace Coetzee on Ottimo, while Corne Orffer will keep the ride on My Jelly Bean.
