Top jockey Muzi Yeni celebrated his birthday in style at Scottsville yesterday when riding a four-timer, while trainers Kumaran Naidoo and Duncan Howells both clinched trebles. The Gold Circle and Witness newspaper charity race day also featured the KZN Summer Chapter Challenge Final which was won by the classy Charles Laird-trained Split The Breeze brilliantly ridden by Anthony Delpech.

The Pietermaritzburg Community Chest and the KZN Blind and Deaf Society benefitted from the meeting.

In the Chapter Challenge Final, the four-year-old Rathmor Stud-bred Brave Tin Soldier gelding Split The Breeze had it all to do carrying 62kg off a merit of 94 and having to jump from an unfavourably high draw of 13.

Split The Breeze (Nkosi Hlophe)

Delpech dropped him out, as was the plan, and the horse then steadily crept up through the centre until diving through a gap towards the inside which saw him drawing level with the fancied Tony Rivalland-trained Highway Explorer. He then fought off the latter’s attentions to win by a short-head, with the Chris Erasmus-trained Panza staying on well to be just a quarter-of-a-length further back in third. The James Goodman-trained Piano Man and the Doug Campbell-trained Fire The Rocket were fourth and fifth respectively.

Split The Breeze, owned by Alesh Naidoo’s The Fire Racing Trust, is lightly raced but has now won four of his ten starts.

Delpech felt he had a lot of horse underneath him as they entered the business end but said by the line Split The Breeze had “had enough”, so it remains to be seen whether he will go further (he finished fourth in the Listed KZN Guineas Trial last year).

The Summer Chapter Challenge Final qualifying series winner was the admirably consistent Paddy Lunn-trained seven-year-old mare Quintella on 36 points. The Chris Erasmus-trained Teppanyaki was next best on 34 points and the Campbell-trained Fire The Rocket third on 26 points.

Trainer Tony Rivalland and his loyal owner Mary Liley still left yesterday’s meeting happy despite Highway Explorer having narrowly failed to clinch them a Chapter Challenge Final double (they won the 1600m final together on Friday night at Greyville with Diamond King). However, they combined earlier yesterday to win the third race over 1200m with the New Zealand-bred first-timer Global Flyer, a smart looking gelding by Stravinsky who was ridden by Brandon Lerena.

Yeni won the first over 1200m on the Howells-trained Trippi colt Treasure Hunter, who is out of the Gr 1 Allan Robertson-winner Gee Pee S. He followed up on equally promising Howells-trained Elusive Fort filly, Elusivenchantment, who won the second easily and impressively. Yeni later won on the Colin Scott-trained Burrwood and the Howells-trained Tiptol.

Two of Naidoo’s trebles were ridden by Tristan Godden and one by Delpech.

By David Thiselton