The Paul Lafferty-trained Unbelievable Chad returned to Summerveld no worse for wear after taking hold of the bit at Turffontein before the Investec Dingaans on November 28 and bolting to the start. He was duly scratched much to the disappointment of his KZN fans.

He always travels well and Lafferty said, “When you have a Ferrari you look after it and this horse is a Ferrari. So we checked him thoroughly, including his mouth and there was no damage to his teeth. But we have cut back two of his molars to try and prevent him from grabbing the bit like that again.”

Lafferty will take the Toreador colt to the racecourse for a gallop on a raceday as another preventative measure.

He will then likely run him in a Novice Plate with the aim of preparing him for the Champions Season.

Unbelievable Chad is named after and part-owned by the by Olympic swimming gold medallist Chad le Clos.

Chad’s father Bert, who coined the term “Unn-Believable”, was a former bookmaker, so knows the racing game well, and both he and Chad took the mishap well after travelling up to Johannesburg to watch. They proved their sportsmanship too by making a point of congratulating the connections of the winner, the Mike de Kock-trained and Wilgerbosdrift Stud-bred Tiger Ridge gelding Noah From Goa.

By David Thiselton