David Thiselton

See It Again was in the news on Friday night for the wrong reasons again, while there was something to celebrate for the Glen Kotzen-trained On My Honour, although it was KZN Horse Of The Year Gladatorian who stole the show.

The former rider of See It Again Piere Strydom said this horse had started showing signs of being reluctant to load and had then also began missing the break, but he added, “I didn’t think it would become this bad.”

See It Again had never had a major problem loading before, but appeared to resent it when the handler leading him in on October 19 tried to jump up on to the side partitions in front of him before he was fully loaded. Contact was allegedly made with his head on that occasion and he backed out.

On Friday night he was led in with the hood and once again the handler leading him in once again tried to jump on to the side partitions before he had been fully loaded and once again the horse backed out.

Michael Roberts had said after the October 19 incident, “In hindsight, what should have happened was a handler should have been on the side rails before loading him, not this handler jumping up and pushing him back.”

Strydom said he agreed with Roberts and said he had always preferred the “relay” system, whereby a handler is waiting on the side partition.

He said, “As the horse is about to go in the guy leading him in jumps out of the way and passes it on to the guy waiting on top. If I was the starter that is the method I would suggest in the future. But I have asked for that to be done before and they said number of staff is a problem, because imagine doing that with half the field … there aren’t enough handlers.”

However, he confirmed that a handler leading a horse and then trying to jump up was problematic and elaborated, “Sometimes they are pulling on the rein itself, because they are trying to get up.”

A method used of the lead handler ducking under the front of the stalls could be an option, but that would also require an extra handler.

Strydom added, “Doing that also takes time and gives the horse the opportunity to think, so for me the relay system is always the best, it is quicker and easier.”

Only seven horses went to post for Friday’s race, so perhaps the “relay” option could have been tried.

There did actually appear to be  handler on the side partition trying to help, but he did not take over from the lead handler.

However, Strydom did conclude by saying, “It is so difficult, because a horse that doesn’t want to go in doesn’t want to go in … it might only go in if four or five handlers are able to almost lift the horse up and push him in. We don’t want to start beating the horse to get in, so we try different methods of encouragement … for example sometimes we try and get off the horse and wait inside the stalls. The weight being off feels different to the horses. But sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Strydom said he had experienced inconsistencies in the time allowed for a horse to go in.

See It Again was given very little time on October 19 to get in which all and sundry were surprised by considering the importance of the horse and the importance of that race. Much lesser horses have sometimes been seen to be given way more time.

This is a problem peculiar to horseracing, because if there are horses becoming unsettled in the stalls it is unfair on them to have to wait, but on the other hand it is unfair that one horse is given ample time because there are no unsettled horses, while another horse is given very little time because there are unsettled horses.

Strydom said horses were sometimes “bullied” to get in, which he is opposed to. He said, “Sometimes they use this whip and flick it. I am not saying they abuse them, but they can be a bit hard on them.”

However, he had no problem with the scrumming method whereby a number of handlers form a scrum and push the horse in, sometimes lifting them in the process.

Nevertheless, See It Again’s two intended preparation runs have turned in to no runs at all and he has also landed a seven day suspension.

He has drifted out to 16/1 with the sponsor for the Betway Summer Cup.

The only silver lining is that had he won Friday’s race, and he was favourite to do so, he would have risked being given a raise in his merit rating because he was not well treated at the weights and would have had to put in a sterling performance.

The Glen Kotzen-trained On My Honour was well treated at the weights with all horses except for the best in horse, Royal Victory, and his victory is unlikely to lead to a merit rated raise, especially considering the race was run at an absolute crawl and was 4,40 seconds slower than average.

The ride on runner up King Pelles drew the attention of the stipendiary stewards. King Pelles lost two lengths at the start and was given a hands ride except for one backhander late in the race. Royal Victory was a 0,90 length fourth.

King Pelles is 13/2 for the Summer Cup with the sponsor, Royal Victory is 17/1 and On My Honour is 20/1.

The highlight of Friday’s night’s racing came from the KZN Horse Of The Year, Gladatorian. The Stuart Ferrie-trained Vercingetorix gelding had to give Gr 2 winner over the 1200m course and distance, Cats Pajamas, 10kg if apprentice claims were included and yet he got up to narrowly beat  him.

He now heads for a Cape Town campaign, with the Gr 2 Green Point Stakes and Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate in his sights.