Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Durbanville specialists dominate

MICHAEL CLOWER
Punters who believe in horses for courses really latched onto Isidingo in the 1 000m handicap at Durbanville last Saturday and they were rewarded when the 7-2 chance blitzed the opposition. Grant van Niekerk sent him straight to the front and was soon four lengths clear. He fairly streaked home in the colours of Francisco Rodrigues to give his 18-year-old rider his 39th success.
Ronnie Sheehan, explaining why it pays to follow this horse at the country course, said: “Going off in front is his only way of running but at Kenilworth it’s his downfall because there is almost always a headwind. Here there was no wind.” Losing weight gets harder as you grow older - as any middle-aged person will testify - and this season Andrew Fortune is finding his daily struggle with the scales even tougher than in the past. For the second consecutive Saturday he was forced to give up his rides. The champion, wearing a jersey and thick trousers in the hot sun in an unsuccessful bid to sweat off two vital kilos, said: “I’m battling and I’m still too heavy - but the weight will come right.”
The chief beneficiary was again Bernard Fayd’Herbe who deputised on top weight Al On The Run in the MR 90 Handicap, and got this race seven in the board room after being hampered by the Justin-Snaith trained outsider Apolo Grey in the final furlong.
Shane Humby lodged a successful objection on behalf of the partnership headed by Monty Govender and for once there were no complaints from connections of the relegated horse. Chris Snaith described the incident as “blatant interference” but the stewards exonerated rider MJ Byleveld, pointing out that he straightened his mount immediately after the gelding moved in. Fayd’Herbe also won the third, a 2 000m maiden on Forbes. His mount made hard work of it, and the rider had to really earn his fee, but it could be worth noting that the Mike Bass stable expect the gelding to improve considerably. Joey Ramsden treats his two-year-olds with kid gloves, reasoning that the easier he is on them the longer they will last, and so it was surprising to see Markus Jooste’s Bobby Bear running in the opening maiden just four days after making his debut.
Mind you, Richard Fourie’s mount made all to win in a common canter.
Ramsden said: “It wasn’t the plan to run today but on Monday I had a call from the National Horseracing Authority to say he couldn’t run on Tuesday as he had no stalls certificate.
“I therefore declared him for today only for the NHA to ring again saying they had made a mistake.” Ramsden promptly doubled up when Tara Zen who landed the Fillies Maiden Juvenile under Glenn Hatt, much to the delight of part-owners Richard and Carol Taylor. Fayd’Herbe won on Salamander Sue the previous Saturday by swinging wide at the turn and coming up the stands side rails.
“He very nearly repeated the feat on Splinter in the 1 800m handicap (race four) but his mount weakened in the closing stages as the Fourie-partnered Cold Hearted Cat stayed on strongly for owner Brett Maselle. Greg Ennion, pointing out that this is another who is better at Durbanville, said: “She needs a good pace and she gets that here whereas at Kenilworth they go too slowly for her.”
Fayd’Herbe, incidentally, also adopted the same unconventional tactics on Vandross in Isidingo’s race. This time he finished second but his mount never got in a blow. Hassen Adams’ Upton Park was made 28-10 favourite for the concluding 1 200m maiden but the Darryll Hodgson-trained gelding started slowly and only got up close home. Rider Gerritt Schlechter reported: “He kicked the pens and got left. He then suffered interference at the 1 000m mark.”
Blanic, part-owned by breeder Com Yiannakis, won a maiden here last month by more than three lengths and he readily followed up in the mile handicap (race five). He was again ridden by Byleveld who deflected most of the credit to Craig du Plooy who rides the horse at home and “has calmed him down a lot.”
Vaughan Marshall added: “Blanic surprised me. I thought he would run well but not as well as this. He ÿ¿ODcertainly come on.”

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