Tarry’s trump

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Nikita

Just how Sean Tarry plays his ‘Legal Eagle’ trump card over the next couple of days will have a marked effect on the weights for the Vodacom Durban July. The weights are due out tomorrow.

Until now Tarry has not been drawn on Legal Eagle but given current bookmakers betting and their information network, indications are that the gelding will not run in the July.

But just when Tarry decides to withdraw Legal Eagle, if indeed that is his intention, will make a significant difference to the weights for the race.

Legal Eagle (Liesl King)

If Tarry withdraws Legal Eagle before publication of the weights then Tarry-trained French Navy will be allotted top weight of 60kg with current favourite Black Arthur 53,5kg.

If Legal Eagle runs, he will carry 60kg, stable companion French Navy will carry 57,5kg and Black Arthur 53kg. Should Tarry withdraw Legal Eagle after the publication of the weights French Navy will be pushed up to 60kg but Black Arthur would also rise by a corresponding 2,5kg to 55,5kg, 2kg more than if Legal Eagle is withdrawn before publication of the weights.

Also in this final scenario, a number of lower rated three-year-olds would get into the race not under sufferance as they would if Black Arthur carried 53,5kg or 53kg.

Tarry also pitched the July selection panel another curved ball as Trophy Wife scored a timely victory in a Pinnacle Stakes at Turffontein yesterday. Slow out, as is her want, S’manga Khumalo was content to sit well off the pace in the early exchanges of the 1400m event but moved the filly through smoothly on the inside rail to score a bloodless victory.

Trophy Wife had much in her favour here and just what view the panel takes will be interesting.

Not so lucky was Deo Juvente in the Gr3 Jubilee Handicap. 15th on the July log, Geoff Woodruff’s runner was pulled up before the line and his chances of making July 2 now look slim.

However, Tarry’s decision to send Leige up from his Summerveld yard paid dividends as he outlasted Rainy Day Blues giving some credence to the form of the Gr1 Daily News 2000. The first two home were not among initial July nominations but the final supplementary stage is today at a cost of R25k.

By Andrew Harrison

Heartland, and stipes, get it right

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Nikita

When all goes well in horseracing it is a sport without peer. When it goes wrong it is frustrating, not a human condition that many owners, trainers and or officials, for that matter, can handle without a grimace and expletive.

Scottsville patrons were treated to both yesterday as the first race resulted in a punter’s refund while Heartland realised some of his potential in the meeting’s headliner.

Heartland (Nkosi Hlophe)

It was drama in the first as Muzi Yeni was left standing in the pens when the gates sprung leaving the heavily backed Hour Glass riderless and Duncan Howells cursing. Alongside Hour Glass, Anton Marcus was quick to pull up on the favourite Pep Squad who was also being difficult in the stalls but heeding a shout of ‘false start’ by the starter. The balance of the field bolted for home.

In subsequent reports to the Stipendiary Stewards, Marcus and Yeni both admitted to hearing starter Paul Hepworth call a false start while the other riders appeared oblivious to the call and continued with the race.

Further investigation showed that the assistant starter had not raised his “all clear” flag to indicate that all was in order behind the gate as both Hour Glass and Pep Squad had not settled and in fact Yeni had removed his feet from the irons and was calling for the starter to wait.

Hepworth reported that he had not effected the start as he was waiting for the “all clear” flag and was also aware of the two horses playing up in the gate.

However, the ‘starting stalls opened prematurely and by themselves’ according to the preliminary Stipes report and the sudden opening of the gates did not give Hepworth time to sound the ‘false start’ siren. However, he did shout the instruction heard by both Marcus and Yeni.

In terms of Rule 61.5.13.1, chief stipendiary steward Shaun Parker had no option but to declare the race null and void and all bets were refunded.

Justin Snaith (Nkosi Hlophe)

There was a happier ending for Justin Snaith as Heartland, a full brother to champion Jackson, finally got his act together but apparently and frustratingly, too late to follow the plan originally mapped out for him.

Flopping first time out as a gelding late last month, Heartland had everything in his favour in the Daniels Flooring Allowance Plate and in spite of tugging his way to the start in the preliminaries he did the deed as was expected of him, winning comfortably from Beat The Retreat and pacemaker Budapest.

Snaith said of Heartland, “He’s always been a very smart horse and we just always hoped that we could get him into the right races. He could be a horse next year for the Queen’s Plate but I’ve got a bit of work to do.

“We gelded him two weeks before I came to Durban and it just set him back and the other night we were actually quite confident but the 61-and-a-half, first run back from gelding and night racing he just wasn’t too sure what was happening. You can put a line through that.

“He came back blowing heavily and I knew what I needed to do.

“We wanted to go for a few features here but we sort of missed them,” Snaith concluded ruefully.

As Damon Runyon so famously wrote; “Well – that’s horseracing.”

By Andrew Harrison

Olma in a good place

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Nikita

The Frank Robinson-trained Dynasty filly Olma will be using Saturday’s Gr 2 Tibouchina Stakes over 1400m at Greyville as a stepping stone into either the Gr1 Vodacom Durban July or the Gr1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes and has been thriving at Summerveld, as can be seen in the picture of her taken yesterday morning (Tuesday).

Olma (David Thiselton)

However, she faces a tough field and there was also bullishness from the Mike Bass and Brett Crawford yards.

Frank Robinson said, “She is doing exceptionally well, I couldn’t hope to have her in a better place. She has a wide draw but Piere Strydom is up, so he could take care of it.”

Olma is drawn 12 out of 12. The four-year-old filly acts equally well on turf as she does on polytrack and in a total of nine starts at Greyville, from 1400m up to 2000m, has won six of them.

She has been in the winner’s enclosure in her last three starts at the city track and this included comfortably beating the boys in the Gr 3 King’s Cup over 1600m on the poly.

Her exceptional turn of foot is one of the reasons she loves the tight track and the fashion of her wins over 1600m this season suggests she should be equally suited to the 1400m trip.

Olma’s last run in the Gr 1 Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes over 1600m at Turffontein was disappointing. However, this is a part of a trend because of the five below par runs she has had in her career, she needed one of them and the other four have been on the Highveld. The classy filly has otherwise been a model of consistency.

However, the favourite for Saturday’s race is likely to be the Mike Bass-trained four-year-old Trippi filly Inara.

Inara (Liesl King)

After winning the Empress Club Stakes, Inara was back at Turffontein two weeks later for the Gr 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m and ran well below her best.

She was given a deserved “little break” and assistant trainer Robert Fayd’Herbe said she had come back from it well. He added she does not take much work, so should be fit enough.

Three-year-old Silvano filly Silver Mountain is also in the Tibouchina, her first start since disappointing in the Gr 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas.

Fayd’Herbe said the yard had got the better of Silver Mountain’s feet issues and, although she was not wintering very well, she was doing a lot better than she had been.

However, In his opinion Inara is at this stage a “much better filly” than Silver Mountain.

Inara’s class is proven by her status as a four-time Gr 1-winner and she started this season with two good wins over 1400m at the tight Durbanville course, so the course and distance on Saturday should not pose a problem.

Silver Mountain, as a horse with plenty of speed and a fine turn of foot, should be ideally suited to the Greyville 1400m if bouncing back to the form which saw her winning the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas by five lengths.

Alexis (John Lewis)

Inara is the highest merit rated horse in Saturday’s race on 111, while Silver Mountain and Olma are joint-second highest on 107.

Inara is drawn wide in nine with Grant van Niekerk up, while Silver Mountain is drawn two with Bernard Fayd’Herbe up.

Brett Crawford could not separate his pair of four-year-olds, Alexis (Dynasty) and Cuvee Brut (Count Dubois), and felt they both had good chances.

Crawford’s runners have needed their first starts in KZN this season.

However, Alexis won well second time out over the Greyville 1400m. She loves Greyville and 1400m is her optimum trip, so she should have every chance from a draw of six under stable jockey Corne Orffer. She will likely be cherry ripe, although on paper off a merit rating of 100 she has a bit to do at the weights in the weight for ager plus penalties event.

Cuvee Brut has come out of her race at Scottsville on Saturday well. She was far from disgraced in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint, in which she was one of only two fillies, and finished a 3,4 length fifth to the brilliant Talktothestars.

She has proved to be equally good at 1400m and back in February won the Gr 3 Prix Du Cap over that trip at Kenilworth in fine style. She beat Alexis by 2,4 lengths that day, but was receiving 3kg and on Saturday she will only be receiving 1kg. She has a tricky draw of nine to overcome. However, she has the bonus of Anton Marcus up and this will be her third run of the SA Champions Season.

By David Thiselton

Intriguing POST Merchants lineup

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Nikita

The five-year-old Jet Master mare Fly By Night, winner of the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint two years ago, will take on the boys in the R400 000, Grade 2 Post Merchants at the Greyville Night Racemeeting on Friday, June 17.

The Mike Bass-trained sprinter had shown little to get excited about earlier this year but bounced back to something like her best when running second to Real Princess in the Grade 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint at Scottsville last weekend. She is one of the 14 runners that will face the starter in the 1 200m clash at Greyville and will undoubtedly be one of the more fancied runners in the race.

Fly By Night (Liesl King)

Also among the acceptors for the race that has a history going back decades, is the Western Winter entire Red Ray from the Joey Ramsden stable that made an encouraging return to racing in this country after an overseas stint when taking fourth place behind Talktothestars in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville. One could expect an improved run in the Post Merchants where he will also meet the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Captain Al gelding Captain Alfredo that was strongly fancied to win the top Scottsville race but ran disappointingly.

Captain Alfredo had previously won the In Full Flight Handicap at the venue and that last run was definitely not a true indication of his ability.

Dennis Drier might have been disappointed with his runners in the Tsogo Sun Sprint but will be feeling that the stable could do better in the Post Merchants where it fields the three-year-old Trippi gelding Ferrie. The gelding is making a considerable step up in class but he has won his three races to date in impressive fashion and with 52kg on his back from draw one he could be a lively contender for top honours.

By Richard McMillan

Bezanova loves Greyville

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Nikita

Highveld-based trainer Alec Laird is having another crack at the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge with Bezanova, who finished third in this race last year.

Bezanova has been at Summerveld since May 27 and has been “doing well” ahead of the big weight for age 1600m event, which is to be run at Greyville on Saturday.

Laird pointed out the big five-year-old Bezrin gelding always did well at this time of the year and appeared to love Greyville.

Bezanova (Nkosi Hlophe)

The biggest win of his career came when winning the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile in November 2014 as a four-year-old. However, in his seven starts in KZN he has only failed to earn a cheque once and that was when just 3,6 lengths behind Futura in the Gr 1 Champions Cup over 1800m two years ago as a three-year-old.

He won his debut at Clairwood over 1200m as a young three-year-old, then returned from the Highveld to finish third in the Gr 2 KRA Guineas and a narrow fifth in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000. Both races were won by the subsequently-named Equus Horse Of The Year Legilsate. He ended that Champions Season with a disappointing third in the KZN Breeders Million Mile at Clairwood, followed by his unplaced run in the Champions Cup.

Last season he only had two runs in KZN. He finished a fine third in the Gold Challenge. He raced wide for quite a while after jumping from draw ten in the eleven horse field, although he did have cover most the way, and he then found himself in a handy position off a slow pace and stayed on strongly to finish just 0,9 lengths behind Legislate at odds of 66/1. He proved it to be no fluke when winning the KZN Breeders Million Mile with 59kg on his back next time out.

This year Laird had an option to run him in a Pinnacle event over either 1450m or 1800m before transporting him to Summrveld and opted for the latter as he believed building him up from 1450m to a mile in three weeks would have not have been an easy task. He confirmed he had needed that last run on May 21 when unplaced over 1800m.

Bezanova has landed a plum draw of four in a ten horse field on Saturday. It is weaker than last year’s race. He will be ridden by Stuart Randolph for the first time.

Laird has two runners in the Listed Devon Air Stakes over 1400m, Arissa, who is drawn ten, and Maleficent, who is drawn three. Maleficent by Judpot is a full-sister to Gr 1 SA Derby runner up Rocketball and will be ridden by Weichong Marwing. Laird said she seemed better than Arissa based on their homework and she proved her promise last time out when winning a maiden over this trip at the Vaal by 5,5 lengths.

By David Thiselton

Hold fire on Bela

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Nikita

A decision on Woolavington winner Bela-Bela running in the Vodacom Durban July will not be made before the end of the week and in the meantime the stable advises punters to hold fire.

Bela-Bela (Nkosi Hlophe)

Jonathan Snaith said yesterday: “She is going to run on July 2 in either the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province or the July and the owners (Varsfontein Stud) want to see the Garden Province nominations which come out on Friday. They want to see how she is drawn and what sort of field she would be up against before making a decision.”

The grey filly is fourth favourite for the July at 15-2 with Betting World and 9-1 with World Sports Betting.

Snaith said: “Punters should definitely hold on until a decision is made. In any case there is no reason to back her now. Her price is quite short and I don’t see it changing much if we decide to run.”

Canon Guineas winner Black Arthur (Anthony Delpech) and Cape Derby winner It’s My Turn (Richard Fourie) are the stable’s two confirmed runners at the moment and a decision will be taken on Dynamic and Master’s Eye after they run in the Cup Trial at Greyville on Saturday.

By Michael Clower