Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Brown bang on target

David Thiselton
The Herman Brown yard moved from their private Callaway Park premises within the Summerveld boundaries into Summerveld’s main stabling centre three weeks ago and have got off to a flying start out of their new home.
On Friday night at Greyville they had the rare feat of sending out three winners in succession, Orbison, Puccini and Jinzo, and later they nearly made it four on the card when Xis Boy finished second in the last race.
It was also a triumphant night for one of their most loyal owners, Paul Rhodes, who has a share in both Orbison and Jinzo. Orbison, a rangy and strong three-year-old gelding by Mogok, carried top weight of 60kg off his merit rating of 103 in a handicap over 1 600m and slammed a competitive field that included some well performed older horses. It was the manner in which he did it that was particularly impressive, coming from last under Raymond Danielson and striding around the field to win going away. Frank Robinson, the yard assistant, said that the Grade 1 Daily News 2000 at Greyville on June 5 could be his next mission, although he was leaving his options open. Jinzo won the R120 000 In Full Flight Handicap over 1 200m, beating the highly rated Casey Cool. He is proving a wonderful horse to own having now won five times from 19 starts, only failing to earn a cheque on four occasions. The Grade 2 Post Merchants on June 18 is likely his next target. Brown was away in Russia on Friday, having bought eight horses for some new, enthusiastic Russian clients at the recent National Yearling Sale. He is currently visiting another client of his, the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. His Dubai Duty Free second-placed Bankable was due to run in the Grade 1 Singapore Airlines Cup on May 16, but unfortunately fractured a pastern bone so has been withdrawn. Brown’s path to international success began about six years ago when he set off for Dubai to see what prospects it held, having recognised that the buying power in KwaZulu-Natal had dwindled substantially from its heyday and was showing little signs of recovery. He handed the reins over to Robinson and asked his father, the legendary Herman Brown Snr, to come out of his retirement to also keep an eye on things. That initial venture, intended for a month or two, has paid immense dividends. He won the then richest turf race in the world, the Dubai Duty Free in 2008 with Jay Peg, who followed up by winning the Singapore Airlines Cup.
He finished third in this year’s Melbourne Cup with Mourilyan. That’s not to mention the successes of his other international campaigners like Bankable and Lingari. On top of that he now has a list of clientele that would be the envy of many. Beside his National Yearling Sales horses, he has 16 Argentinian two-year-olds at his Summerveld yard for owners such as Dubai estate agent, Jim Hay.
Herman Brown Snr has been mentor to many current trainers, including the likes of David Payne, while both Michael Roberts and Basil Marcus served their jockeys’ apprenticeships with him. Herman Jnr owes a lot to him but Herman Snr said recently that seeing his son win gave him more pleasure than his own success. The highlight of his racing career was when he watched the Herman Jnr-trained Lingari win the Al Fahidi Fort in Dubai in 2006 at home on TV.
“To see that Herman had made a success of it was fantastic and both my wife and I cried,” he said. He also cites Herman Jnr’s feat of taking Sushisan from a maiden winner in February 2006 to Vodacom Durban July runner up in the same year as the “best training feat he has ever witnessed.” He said yesterday, “Herman said to me at the time ‘Sushisan’s a good horse, let’s see how good he is’ and he entered him in the Gold Challenge when considerably under sufferance. I thought he was crazy but he finished third and then 100m out he looked the winner of the July.” Herman Snr also thinks highly of Frank Robinson and said, “He is the most dedicated horseman I know.”

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