Anton Marcus – Head Honcho (Middle Stakes)

Bernard Fayd’Herbe – Marinaresco (Vodacom Durban July)

Weichong Marwing – Hermoso Mundo (eLAN Gold Cup).

Eric Ngwane – Matador Man (KZN Breeders Million Mile)

Sean Veale – Lady In Black (Thekwini Stakes)

I fielded an irate phone-call from a concerned punter this week, the caller complaining about the number of odds-on favourites that are getting beaten in KZN. “They should be absolute certainties,” was his opinion, and what were the Stipendiary Stewards doing about it?

Firstly, just because a horse is odds-on in the betting doesn’t guarantee success. There are a host of reasons why an odds-on favourite doesn’t arrive – top jockey aboard often the root cause of most complaints. But physical short-comings of the horse are up to the punter to sort. Horseracing is not branded the ‘brain game’ for nothing.

I cannot defend the stipes who were accused of being the ‘three blind mice’ but I do know that the drop-off in class of horse contesting South Africa’s Champion Season and the next level a mere three days later, is like falling off a cliff. One cannot compare.

Tom Collins (Candiese Marnewick)

The first two races at Greyville yesterday were possibly an illustration of the vagaries of the sport and what may lead to many unfounded conclusions. Top jockey Anton Marcus was one of the riders in the sights of my caller and he was aboard the odds-on favourite On The Bounce in the first.

Marcus has been aboard the filly in all six of her starts, a beaten favourite one three occasions, the last time ahead of subsequent Gr1 winner Lady In Black. But there are some that still feel skulduggery is at play.

The simple fact is that On The Bounce is not very fast and will be beaten more often than not even if she ever manages to win a race in the first place. Just because she is owned by the country’s top owner, trained by one of the country’s top trainers and ridden by one of the country’s top jockeys, does not necessarily make her a “good thing” no matter her 6-10 price.

Enough of the preaching to a race that had all guessing.

The Bird Cage Maiden Plate was a concoction that may have been stirred by the four witches in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.

There were no clear tactics at play and it was obvious that any instruction given in the paddock had come to naught as all the riders sat back waiting for someone – anyone – to make the play.

It was a jamboree of tactics but for punters at least the result was favourable. Tom Collins, that had been touted as more than useful in his previous three sprint outings, justified market support in getting home in a race that was ‘all over the place’.

“It was tactically befuddling,” confirmed winning rider Ian Sturgeon. No early pace and with all fighting for their head, Marcus on outsider King’s Music and no form to back his claims, made an early move on the turn.

The opposition panicked and as King’s Music played his last chord when disappearing out of the back door it was up to the best horse in the race. “His little bit of ability pulled him through,” confirmed Stuart Ferrie, long-time assistant to Dennis Drier who is enjoying the delights of Ibiza in Spain.

By Andrew Harrison

Joey Ramsden believes that Ancestry, a close second in both the Golden Horseshoe and Premiers Champion, will be a classic contender this season – “He is very much a Guineas horse and probably even more of a Derby horse.”

However the Milnerton trainer is narked that Bernard Fayd’Herbe did not employ more gamesmanship when Ancestry was beaten half a length by Eyes Wide Open (Richard Fourie) in the Premiers.

He said: “Bernard had the opportunity to keep him out and he let him in. I could have accepted it if he had quickened a bit and kept Richard three wide but this is racing. I don’t get an inch from Brett Crawford or Justin Snaith and nor do I expect it.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe (Liesl King)

Ramsden’s annoyance is easy to understand. There is a huge difference between first and second in a Grade 1 – several times the stake money involved in the case of a colt or a filly – and often it’s also the difference between ending up with a satisfied owner and a dissatisfied one. Both owner and trainer are entitled to expect their jockey to pull out all the stops.

However there is a certain camaraderie in the jockeys’ room, borne out of both respect for fellow riders and an acknowledgement of the dangers they all face travelling at over 50kph on animals whose steering and controllability are often suspect. The accepted creed is that, while you do everything in your power to win when the race is on in earnest, you don’t endanger your opponents by attempting to stitch them up coming out of the pens.

If you do that, you can expect to be taught a painful lesson in the very near future – and both Andrew Harrison’s report and the Tellytrack replay suggest that Fayd’Herbe’s act of sportsmanship came at the very beginning of the race.

On a less contentious note, Brett Crawford confirms that Champions Cup first and second, Sail South and Captain America, will both stay in training for at least another season. Objectives will include the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate in which they filled the minor placings behind Legal Eagle in January.

Last year’s Cape Derby winner It’s My Turn, only eighth in the Durban July, has been sent to a farm for a rest and Justin Snaith said: “All my Durban horses are having a break. They went from a hard summer to a hard winter and they are tired.”

Last year’s Scottsville Grade 1 winner Always In Charge is on the way back after pulling a muscle behind in early April and being forced to miss the Tsogo Sun Sprint.

Vaughan Marshall said: “He is back in work and coming right but we are not going to rush him.”

Stable companion The Secret Is Out, who has not been seen since her third to Carry On Alice in the SA Fillies Sprint, stays in training as a four-year-old.

Marshall said: “There were no further races for her in Durban but she will go for the good sprints in Cape Town.”

By Michael Clower

Justin Snaith finished second on the national trainer’s log for the second year in succession in the season just passed and will be crowned Western Cape Champion trainer for the fifth time in succession. Snaith, who was national champion trainer in 2013/2014, also finished highest in the standings for stakes earned in the Western Cape and this was the third time he had achieved this feat.

However, the big race limelight among Western Cape trainers was stolen by Brett Crawford, who won six Grade 1 races and finished third on the National Trainers log. In the August of 2009 Crawford left Plattner Racing to go on his own and in his first full season thereafter, in the 2010/2011 season, he finished 58^th on the National log. His prowess as a trainer is highlighted by his rapid climb to the top of the tree.

Justin Snaith (Nkosi Hlophe)

Candice Bass-Robinson finished in fourth place on the National Trainers log in her first season as a licensed trainer following the retirement of her legendary father Mike. She also became the first lady trainer in history to win the country’s premier race, the Vodacom Durban July.

Vaughan Marshall, Glen Kotzen and Joey Ramden were the other three Western Cape trainers to finish in the top ten in the National Trainers Championships.

Snaith became the third trainer in SA history, after Mike de Kock and Sean Tarry, to break through the R20 million mark for stakes earnings in a season. His star performer was the brilliant grey filly Bela-Bela, who won two Grade 1 events, the Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes over 1800m at Kenilworth and the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes at Greyville. In the latter race she proved a mile was her best trip and produced the female performance of the season, annihilating a top class field. She also finished third in the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m and fourth in her swansong in the Grade 1 Champions Cup over 1800m. Snaith, who has a satellite yard in Port Elizabeth in addition to his chief operation, a private establishment at Phillippi in Cape Town, also won three Grade 2s, seven Grade 3s, nine Listed races and five Non-Black Type events.

Crawford was R1,619,750 behind Snaith on the national log but in earnings in Western Cape races was only R369,963 behind him. He was only one behind national champion trainer Sean Tarry in the Grade 1 count, but he led the way together with Mike de Kock in the number of individual Grade 1 winners with five. He won the Grade 1 Met, sponsored now by Sun, for the third time in his career and this time it was with Whisky Baron. The latter was gelded at the end of last season and won all five of his races this term, which also included a Grade 2. He departed for an overseas campaign after the Met. Crawford’s only dual Grade 1 winner was Edict Of Nantes, who won the Investec Cape Derby and the Daily News 2000. His other Grade 1 winners were Captain America (Rising Sun Gold Challenge), Lady Of The House (Woolavington 2000) and Sail South (Champions Cup). Crawford also won three Grade 2s, three Grade 3s, three Listed races and both of his Non-Black Type victories were in R1 million events.

Bass Robinson won the July with Marinaresco and this classy and courageous little horse also won the Grade 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes over 1400m. Bass-Robinson also won the Grade 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes with Nightingale, who went on to finish tie-fourth in the July. She won two other Grade 2s, two Grade 3s and eight Listed races. One of her season’s highlights was winning the Non-Black Type $500,000 CTS Sprint with the classy sprinting filly Live Life.

Vaughan Marshall finished seventh on the National Trainers log with stakes earnings of over R10 million. He was trainer of the highest earning horse of the season, the brilliant three-year-old William Longsword, whose five victories included the Grade 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas and the Non-Black Type US$500,000 CTS Mile. William Longsword accumulated R4.065,000 in the season and was retired mid-season as a six-time winner in order to succeed his late great father Captain Al at stud. Marshall also won two Grade 3s and two Listed races and one other Non-Black Type event.

Brett Crawford and Anton Marcus (Nkosi Hlophe)

Glen Kotzen, who finished ninth on the National log, ended the season with a bang by landing the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Stakes over 1600m at Greyville with the exciting colt Eyes Wide Open. He scored a four-timer that day and this included a Grade 3. However, his best horse was undoubtedly the three-year-old Gold Standard, who won the Listed RA Stakes in PE and the Grade 2 Selangor Cup, before finishing a narrow second in the Cape Guineas, which was dominated by himself and William Longsword. Gold Standard then finished a fine fourth in an ultra-strong Sun Met. Unfortunately, he was laid off for the rest of the season. Kotzen had two other Grade 3 wins, one other Listed race victory and one other Non-Black Type win.

Joey Ramsden finished in tenth place on the national log. His best horse was the three-year-old filly Just Sensual, who won the Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, the Grade 3 Prix du Cap and the Grade 2 Tibouchina. She also finished second in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint. Ramsden won one other Grade 3 and five Listed races.

Dean Kannemeyer, who also had a satellite yard at Summerveld, finished 19^th on the national log and won one Grade 3, two Listed races and one Non-Black Type event.

Andre Nel finished in twentieth position on the national log in his first full season as Sabine Plattner’s private trainer. He won one Grade 3 race.

Mike Robinson and Adam Marcus both won one Grade 3 race each.

Other Western Cape trainer achievements included a Listed victory for Eric Sands.

By David Thiselton

The Vaal Outside track tends to favour high draws and there could be one or two opportunities for punters in the eight race card today.

It is a low key meeting and three MR 72 Handicaps are the joint highest rated races.

Sam Mosia

The first of these is the fifth over 1600m and Plum British goes for a hattrick over the trip. This four-year-old gelding by Great Britain used his naturally decent cruising speed to go the front from a favourable standside draw over the course and distance last time out. His relaxed disposition together with his suitability to the trip was proven by the extra he found and in the end he won cosily by 2,5 lengths. He was given a five point raise but looks capable of further improvement and he has a draw of nine in the 14 horse field which will give him a chance of repeating the tactic. Nephrite won the last time he ran over this trip and has been staying on strongly in his last two starts, both over 1400m, so will relish the step back up to 1600m. He has a tricky draw by trends, but being capable of a strong finish can afford to be dropped out in a race which should be run at a fair gallop. Devil’s Peak is a full brother to Dancewiththedevil, who won multiple Gr 1s from 1600-2000m, and he should relish the step up in trip after winning his maiden in good style from a difficult draw over 1400m. The form of that race has been franked, but he enters handicaps off a tough 81 merit rating, which is never an easy mark to win off for a young three-year-old. Furthermore, he has another unfavourable draw. Blue Diamond Road was not disgraced in a MR 80 handicap over course and distance last time and a repeat will see him involved here. However, a low draw is against him. Rain Shadow was never in the latter mentioned race after having to be reloaded, but he has dropped to a mark just one point higher than his last win, which was in January over 1700m, and he has a plum draw so should be staying on strongly.

Mphumelelo Mjoka (Nkosi Hophe)

The seventh race, a MR 72 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1200m, looks to be the toughest race on the card, but fortunately there are only eight horses involved so it will be possible for punters to include the whole field in the exotics. The selection to win is the bottom weight Modjaji, who jumps from the plum standside draw and has a useful 1,5kg claimer in Mpumelelo Mjoka aboard. This horse has won his last two starts, both over 1000m on the Flamingo Park sand. However, his turf merit rating was unaffected, so he has obvious claims. He has won over the course and distance before so the trip will not be a problem. Embrasiatic looks course and distance suited and has a favourable draw. Claremorris ran on well to win going away over 1000m first time out the maidens, so should enjoy the step up in trip. Nitrogen is interesting with blinkers on as he has shown good ability on occasion. Bally Swiss is in good form and is likely to be prominent in the betting. However, all of Burundi Bush, Secret Vision and Waity Katie are capable of winning too.

The last race is an open MR 72 Handicap over 1000m and Tiger’s Legacy looks to be a possible banker. He has good cruising speed coupled with a kick and will likely relish the step down to 1000m after hitting the front over 1200m last time and being run out of it. In his previous race over this trip he ran on strongly and only just failed. Gun Fighter has a plum draw and is capable of a strong finish, so looks to be the chief threat. They could be enough to get punters through the exotics, although Roman Evening looks to be a horse who is capable of doing better than his form suggests and has Weichong Marwing up from a favourable draw.

The meeting opens with a workrider’s maiden over 1000m and one of the only horses with any kind of form, Royal Standard, is ridden by the Champion workrider Sam Mosia from a favourable draw, so he can get punters off to a good start.

The best bet of the meeting comes in the second, a Maiden for fillies and mares over 1200m. The Mike de Kock Dynasty filly Holiday Romance caught the eye showing good pace over 1160m before staying on well to finish 4,5 lengths behind the fair sort Twelve Oaks. She finished just half-a-length behind second placed Brave Mary, who went on to win the Grade 1 Allan Robertson. With expected improvement Holiday Romance will be hard to beat from a fair draw and coming from the De Kock yard should be fit enough after a 117 day layoff. The first-timer Tamarina is interesting from a good draw, being a full-sister to the Grade 1 winner Forest Indigo. The big filly Orinoco Rock has plenty of scope and showed pace in Cape Town, so from a good draw on her Highveld debut could finish in the money.

By David Thiselton

Onesie, just over three lengths back to Lady Of The House in the Gr1 Woolavington 2000, has a strong chance of landing the third win of her career for Gareth van Zyl when she lines up in the sixth on the Greyville poly tomorrow.

In the saddle will be Brandon Lerena, back from his Mauritian ordeal, where he, along with Raymond Danielson, were cleared of all charges and had their three-month riding ban lifted on appeal.

Onesie is a daughter of Ideal World, the stallion responsible for the first two past the post in the recent Gold Cup, is well tried over the distance and if the Speed Ratings in the Computaform hold any water where she is rated 20 points clear of her nearest rival, then she should finish well clear.

Onesie (Nkosi Hlophe)

That’s the theory but Onesie also has the form to back her claims when running a cracking race in a Fillies Handicap at Scottsville last month where she was beaten less than a length by Silver Willow.

Warren Kennedy, who rode Onesie in her last four starts, will be aboard the confirmed poly specialist Seek The Summit who has recorded all five of her career victories on the synthetic surface. Of some concern is that she has not been further than a ‘mile’ this year but on the other hand has cracking form and now that she is older, the 2000m could be well within her compass.

Also rated lengths clear of his opposition is Ratso Rizzo in the opening leg of the Pick 6. His speed rating is 36 points clear of Epic Sword but it may not prove quite so straight forward as his speed figures could be misleading. He shows exceptional early pace but has been swallowed up late in all his starts. He had 2.5kg claiming apprentice Serino Moodley aboard at his last two and he has been replaced by the vastly experienced Anton Marcus. The drop to 1400m may also prove beneficial but most of the opposition should be fully aware of his front-running tactics and Marcus is unlikely to get away too easily.

Majestic Moon was the subject of an inspired gamble last time out. Stretched to 1600m for the first time, he was backed in from an opening call of 40-1 to 10-1. He made the expected improvement but not enough to master Winter Marchen who was some four lengths clear at the line.

But Paul Gadsby’s runner appears to have come to hand and could be the one mostly likely to be pressurising Ratso Rizzo come the final 100m.

By Andrew Harrison

Brett Crawford flies to England on Thursday to check over Whisky Baron before the Sun Met winner begins serious work in preparation for his British campaign.

Crawford said: “Whisky Baron works on grass at Newmarket next week for the first time since he arrived in England. He is doing very well and everything is fine with him. He will have his first British race at Newmarket either in the Shadwell Joel Stakes on 29 September or in a seven furlong race the following month.”

By Michael Clower

Summerveld trainer Kumaran Naidoo has always had notable success when raiding sand race meetings on the Highveld and this trend continued when he sent out two feature race winners at the Flamingo Park Festival on Saturday. He had three winners in all at Kimberley’s biggest race day.

Royal Zulu Guard (Nkosi Hlophe)

Naidoo put it down to simply identifying horses suited to sand and said, “The horses work on sand virtually every day and those with high actions are usually the ones who enjoy it.”

Naidoo once won the Listed Hampton Handicap over 1000m on the now defunct Vaal sand for three years in succession and that included a stable trifecta and a stable exacta respectively.

Nine of his horses were on a float which left Summerveld at three o’ clock last Friday morning and arrived in Kimberley 12 hours later.

The first of them to run was the formless four-year-old filly Show Me The Light. She raced in the first ever Workrider’s event at Flamingo, a Maiden over 1000m, and Kleinbooi Hlakabe, having his first race ride, got her up for second.

Sweet Vittoria then ran unplaced in a Maiden.

Northern Storm followed by finishing a narrow second in a MR 72 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1400m under Eric Saziso Ngwane.

Next up was Royal Zulu Guard, who had finished third when raiding Kimberley in March for a 1600m handicap. However, his best form is over a mile and this enigmatic sort finished unplaced in Saturday’s 1800m handicap.

However, there was plenty of confidence in Naidoo’s next runner, the Golden Sword four-year-old gelding Sabre Charge, who is owned by Alesh Naidoo. His two previous wins were both over 2400m and he was backed into 2/1 favourite for the R110,000 Non-Black Type The Department Of Economic Development and Tourism Diamond Stayers over 2200m. The out and out stayer loped along in relaxed fashion in the running and after improving position to within striking distance he stayed on strongly in the straight to win by 0,2 lengths under Lyle Hewitson.

Sabre Charge (Nkosi Hlophe)

Roy’s Magic, a disappointing type who had shown a return to form last time out off a much reduced merit rating, ran in the big one, the R200,000 RA Flamingo Mile, where he was 1kg under sufferance. He was not disgraced in sixth place.

Roy’s Marciano was next up in the R135,000 RA Sprint over 1000m. He went in with uninspiring form and duly started at 20/1. However, he has the high action Naidoo spoke about and this five-year-old Roy Moodley-owned Toreador gelding ran on strongly under Ngwane to win by 1,25 lengths.

Naidoo and Moodley then combined again to win a MR 66 Handicap over 1200m with the Argentinian-bred Tuscan, who was ridden by Hewitson.

A few hours earlier Naidoo and Moodley had combined to win a race at Greyville with Roy’s Yevahn.

Naidoo’s final runner at Flamingo Park was Roy’s Zaire, who finished unplaced in a MR 62 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1200m.

Naidoo’s outstanding start to the season, in which he has already sent out five winners, sees him the National Trainers log of the current one week old season.

By David Thiselton

Kenilworth today sees seven fancied rides for Callan Murray, the first Dan Katz runners for Hassen Adams and, perhaps above all else, Power Grid out to prove that last time’s giant-killing performance was no fluke.

Three of the Murray rides are favourites and two more are second favourites. He has only limited experience of what can be a deceptively difficult course – such rare visitors tend to underestimate the impact of the head winds and go too fast or too early – but he had five rides on Lanzerac day last November and won the Kenilworth Cup on Smart Mart for Mike de Kock.

Callan Murray

“He is a top jockey and I feel he is going to have a good day,” says Snaith who, pressed to name those he fancies most, singles out Dynamic Diana in race two – “She was unlucky first time and I think she will run a stormer.”

Unfortunately so do the bookmakers and World Sports Betting have her far shorter than any of the other Murray rides at 6-10. Lady Sutton at 7-2 is the only other in the field on offer at less than 10-1.

Murray should also win the first on 15-10 favourite Varside even though this one carries a red warning light after proving expensive to follow. He has finished second or third in all his last five runs and started either favourite on second favourite in the last four. Such horses tend to go on proving vulnerable.

Above Eleven (33-10) has sound claims in race four. She is rated 4.5kg better than 3-1 shot I Am Captain but is meeting what surely represents Katz’s best chance of the day on 5.5kg worse than weight for age. Know The Ropes is favourite at 28-10, wears blinkers for the first time and may beat them both.

The one race in which Murray does not have a ride is the 2 400m Tabonline Maiden and this looks good for Aldo Domeyer’s mount Rokatenda even though the 8-10 price is pretty miserly.

Power Grid, though, appears to be the bet of the day despite his famous flying fetlock. When he lowered the colours of Tevez and Silicone Valley in last month’s Pinnacle I calculate that he ran to a rating of 95 or 96. The handicappers were only allowed to put him up six points – which they did – and so in the Interbet.co.za Handicap he runs off a mark of 84.

In other words he has 5kg in hand. You don’t need me to remind you that plenty of such racing certainties get stuffed but Andries Steyn reports the horse in great form and the 11-2 on offer looks unbelievably – and uncharacteristically – generous.

By Michael Clower