Piere Strydom had a relatively successful appeal against his 90-day ban, 50 of which was to be suspended for one year, for dropping his hands and getting caught on the line while riding Dublin Rebel at Turffontein on 27 August.

The race was won by Top Shot.

While pleading guilty to the charge, Strydom opted to appeal against the severity of the sentence and that was supported by the Appeal Board. The sentence was reduced to 25 days and will start on Friday, 11 December, as Strydom is committed to rides today at the Vaal and Thursday at Turffontein. .

That means he will not be able to ride in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas on 19 December but will be back in time for the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate at Kenilworth in January.

      TABNews

Picture: Piere Strydom (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Gavin van Zyl-trained R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes winner Budapest passed his important stalls test yesterday and is on track for the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas to be run on December 19 at Kenilworth.

Budapest, who is actually trained by Gavin’s son and assistant Gareth under the new compartmentalised structure of the Van Zyl yard, delayed the start of the Ready To Run Stakes after being stubborn and reluctant to load and consequently had his starting stall certificate withdrawn.

Budapest (Liesl King)

Gareth said he had jumped “very nicely” yesterday and consequently regained his starting stall certificate.

He confirmed that one never quite knew what one would get with this horse in terms of behaviour at the track.

However, he is being given the best preparation possible in this regard, on top of his training for the race, as the renowned “Horse Whisperer” Malan du Toit has been brought in to work with him. Gareth revealed Du Toit would be trying a new strategy next time at the track which he believed would be more effective.

Budapest, an athletic colt by the Mossel Bay-based stallion Lithuanian, is being taken care of in Cape Town by Brett Crawford at the Phillippi training centre.

Gareth will be flying down soon to put in the final touches.

Budapest will be taken for a gallop at Kenilworth on Wednesday this week.

He has drawn wide in 24 out of 29 entries, as opposed to his draw of five in the Lanzerac, so is not going to have it easy.

However, Gareth was not overly concerned and believed due to his fine gatespeed and handy racing style he would have a better chance of overcoming the draw than most horses would.

Budapest is the only Van Zyl-trained horse down in the Cape at present, although a long-time inmate from the yard, No Worries, will be trained for the Cape Summer Of Champions Season by Glen Kotzen before being returning to his Van Zyl Summerveld base.

No Worries (Nkosi Hlophe)

No Worries’ original aim had been the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate, but Kotzen has changed course and will run him first in the Listed Jet Master Stakes over 1600m on December 19, then the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m on Queen’s Plate day January 9 before having a tilt at the J&B Met.

Kotzen is coming off a second-place finish with the Var filly Our Destiny in the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas. She proved what the yard had thought of her and cocked a snoot at both pundits, who didn’t give her the time of day before the race, and punters who allowed her to jump at odds of 100/1. Kotzen also pointed out she would likely have finished closer had she not been so green.

Kotzen has as high a regard for the Cape Fillies Guineas winner Silver Mountain as the rest of the racing fraternity do, and reckoned this star in the making looked likely to run in the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas on December 19, considering her draw of two, before taking in the CTS Million Dollar on January 23. He believed this could open up the way for three-year-olds to have a chance in the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes, which is also to be run on January 23.

Kotzen does not share the popular opinion that the three-year-old fillies crop is overall a weak one, besides the obvious exception of Silver Mountain, and pointed to Princess Royal running less than a length behind the best female sprinter in the country, Carry On Alice, in Saturday’s Gr 2 WSB Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m.

By David Thiselton

Futura has been installed 22-10 favourite by World Sports Betting to become the first dual winner of the J & B Met since Pocket Power eight seasons ago.

Legislate, scratched from last year’s race because of a virus, is second favourite at 4-1 jointly with Sean Tarry’s SA Derby winner Legal Eagle. French Navy, who took the SA Classic and Daily News for Tarry, is next at 6-1 while the Brett Crawford-trained Horse Chestnut winner Captain America is on 8-1.

Master Sabina and Deo Juvente, first and second in the Sansui Summer Cup for Geoff Woodruff, are on 14-1 as is Bouclette Top. Paterfamilias and Same Jurisdiction are on 16-1 and it’s 20-1 and upwards others.

By Michael Clower

South African champion Gavin Lerena has a smart book of rides, according to local reporters, for the prestigious Longines International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley (Hong Kong) on Wednesday night.

But it was In-form jockey Brett Prebble that expressed the most confidence after the allocation of rides and draws. After collecting the mounts on One Of A Kind, Strathearn, Jolly Posh and Ruby Coast, Prebble said: “We all know what Happy Valley is like and you can get the right horse but the wrong barrier and it makes it hard, but I think I’ve pulled some horses with serious winning chances and three of them have drawn inside gates,” he grinned. “I reckon I’m hard to beat.”

Gavin Lerena

Prebble’s take was a change on the usual, but three-time IJC winner Douglas Whyte was going in the other direction, singing from his preferred hymn sheet. “Someone will win it, but I don’t think it’s me,” he said after Business As Usual, The Sylph, King Of Household and Winnam were allocated to the South African who rides, like Prebble, Joao Moreira and Derek Leung Ka-chun, under the Hong Kong flag.

But another South African, Gavin Lerena, having his first shot at the series, looked to be a real contender after picking up the rides, if not the barrier draws.

Lerena’s first is a query mount, John Moore’s dirt specialist Happy Moments switching to the Valley for the first time, but Noble De Man, Mr Right and Superoi all look frontline chances in the last three legs, though all have drawn the Chinese lucky number barrier, eight. Mr Right and Superoi will even carry the saddlecloth number eight.

But, in a field containing only Whyte, Moreira and Moore who have won the series previously, there were cases being made for a number of different riders, including American Pharoah’s rider Victor Espinoza – second at his only previous appearance – and of course, Moreira.

The Magic Man pulled rides in the last two legs on which he already has a great record – Call Me Achiever, three rides for a win and two seconds, and Sparkling Sword, five rides for three wins.

Moreira was also allocated a likely improver in leg one, Entrusting. In the second leg he rides Valley winner, Addole, resuming for the season.

With jockeys scoring 12 points for a series leg win, six for second and four for third, winning a leg is an absolute must and having at least two good mounts looks essential to being a chance for the HK$500,000 first prize.

Since the series went to four legs in 2010 in an effort to prevent another triple dead-heat like the 2009 result, the magic number has been 24 points.

Ryan Moore (2010), Moreira (2012) and Yuichi Fukunaga (2014) all won with 24 points; 2011 winner Frankie Dettori (30) and 2013 winner Kerrin McEvoy (18) were the exceptions.

–          South China Morning Post (Alan Aitken)

Silver Mountain has the enormous riches of the CTS Million Dollar (R14.3 million) in her sights after annihilating the opposition in the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas and in the meantime she could also take on the colts in Saturday week’s Grand Parade Cape Guineas.

Candice Robinson opened up the fascinating prospect of the latter option, saying: “It’s a possibility. She has a great draw (2) and there is nothing else for her before the Million Dollar. We will discuss it.”

Sadly Mike Bass did not feel well enough to come and watch his fourth Fillies Guineas triumph – one that so emphatically put an end to his run of three successive seconds – but wife Carol said: “I think this could be the best filly we have ever had.”

Silver Mountain (Kenilworth Racing)

Certainly the daughter of Silvano provided a notable highlight in the annals of two famous Robertson studs – the Mike Sharkey-managed Highlands which bred her and Andreas Jacobs’ Maine Chance which bought her for R1.3 million.

But, perhaps above all, it was a triumph for Aldo Domeyer who buried the demons that threatened to destroy him. Watching him repeatedly, and professionally, looking back to his left as he sought to get into a position without murdering the opposition, it was hard to believe he had been feeling under severe pressure ever since the Choice Carriers four weeks earlier.

“There was a lot at stake for me and I’d been having sleepless nights,” he revealed. “I’d also been struggling to eat and drink and I lost so much weight as a result.”

He turned to religion and there, apparently, he found salvation – “I prayed and prayed, and that gave me the sense of calmness I was looking for.”

He certainly had it when he turned for home – “It was then just a question of choosing the gap and, when I did, she kept extending away from them while I was looking at the big screen waiting for Bela-Bela. But she didn’t come and, even if she had, my filly had too many answers.”

Seemingly the nerves are now dead and buried and not even the prospect of collecting a R600 000 percentage on January 23 is going to bring them back: “All the money in the world couldn’t bring me more happiness and satisfaction than winning this Fillies Guineas.”

Discussions on future plans will also take place between Glen Kotzen and his former bosses Ralph and Val Rixon following 100-1 chance Our Destiny’s second, albeit five lengths back. “She is bred to be a sprinter,” said a beaming Kotzen. “But I’m jumping with excitement. Everybody kept saying ’why are you running her?’”

The Bass team also has to decide on plans for third-placed Taffety Tart (Grant van Niekerk: “Again no excuses”) while Anglet, a neck away fourth, would have finished a whole lot closer had Raymond Danielson not been forced to ease to avoid Gareth Wright. He was unshipped near the 1 000m mark as Valediction was squeezed and clipped Silver Mountain’s heels.

Indeed this was why Domeyer couldn’t find Bela-Bela (fifth) on the big screen. “Valediction fell in front of me,” reported Piere Strydom who won the last two races for Justin Snaith. “Maybe I would have finished second but the winner was way too good.”

Anton Marcus on seventh-placed A Time To Dream also had a hard luck story, saying: “My saddle slipped back and I wasn’t fully able to assist her.”

Noor was a big disappointment for the many punters who seized on her as if she was the equine equivalent of the money-blowing machine that so fascinated racegoers. Her price plunged from 9-1 to 28-10, pushing the favourite out from 5-10 to 9-10. She finished sixth.

Anthony Delpech said: “Maybe that is as good as she is but it was her first time against top fillies.”

Flying Ice (eighth) returned fatigued and, while the vets could find nothing wrong, Sean Cormack reported that something was amiss with Well In Flight (ninth).

By Michael Clower

Joey Ramsden and Wayne Kieswetter’s Ridgemont Stud operation have unexpectedly split and as a result 14 horses have left, or are about to leave, the Milnerton trainer’s yard.

The first intimation that something was wrong came shortly after 11.00am on Friday when Ramsden’s assistant Ricardo Sobotker scratched Icy Fire from the Fillies Guineas, citing ”change of stable” and leaving the sought-after Bernard Fayd’Herbe twiddling his thumbs in frustration in the jockeys’ room.

Joey Ramsden (Kenilworth Racing)

Ridgemont manager Craig Carey said on Saturday: “It’s an amicable departure and there is no animosity on our side. Joey told us that he did not want to train for us anymore.

“I think Icy Fire would have run a very good race in the Fillies Guineas but in the circumstances we didn’t think it was the right thing to run her. Who will train her in future will be finalised this week but it is likely to be Brett Crawford. He will get a percentage of the horses, some will go to Mike Bass and some to Ormond Ferraris.”

Ramsden would not comment, except to say: “I think Wayne is a superstar but other than that I don’t want to talk about it.”

Drinks magnate Kieswetter – he is the boss of Magnum and part-owner of a successful Scottish whisky distillery – has spent a small fortune buying fillies to form the basis for his breeding operation and has taken first retainers on both Fayd’Herbe and Greg Cheyne.

He sent his best horse so far, the Ramsden-trained Cold As Ice (part-owned by Brian Finch), to England to be trained by William Haggas and even forked out for Fayd’Herbe to fly over and ride her.

The businessman and Ramsden seemed to have a perfect relationship, the trainer going to Australia to buy fillies for the operation and Kieswetter helicoptering Ramsden around the studs for pre-sales inspections. Ramsden had long been a close friend of Carey.

By Michael Clower

Mike de Kock will leave Mooghamir in Cape Town to be prepared for next month’s Investec Cape Derby after the 15-10 favourite put his sickness problems behind him under Anthony Delpech in the WSB Support Handicap at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Mooghamir (Kenilworth Racing)

De Kock said: “He is a horse with ability but he is also a cougher – he was coughing for a year – so I decided to get him out of Jo’burg early to see if that would help, and it has. He is a real galloper and his stamina kicked in at the death.”

Sean Tarry is targeting the Betting World Cape Flying Championship with Carry On Alice who shaded 14-1 shot Cuvee Brut by the minimum margin in the hands of S’Manga Khumalo in the Southern Cross Stakes.

The champion trainer said: “She will either run next in the Diadem (Dec 27) or the Sceptre (Jan 16). She has been down here (with Eric Sands) for about two and a half weeks. I have six here at the moment and I will bring down another four or five.”

Brett Crawford will aim the runner-up in the Sceptre, reasoning “six furlongs is what she wants.”

The in-form Dean Kannemeyer is fully aware that 92 is a low rating for a Cape Flying contender but Captain Alfredo made it three on the bounce under Grant Behr in the Southeaster.

Kannemeyer said: “This is a speed horse and he has a lot of potential. I will talk to Fred Crabbia about it and we will have a look at the Cape Flying.”

By Michael Clower

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

The fourth career win of the superb looking Tony Rivalland-trained five-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding Diamond King was a long time coming (21 months after his third win) and it was fitting it happened in the KZN Summer Chapter Challenge final at Greyville on Friday night. Later the Gavin van Zyl-trained Silver Spring was just as deserving a winner.

The meeting was delayed for a long time by jockey Jarred Samuel’s terrible fall near the finish of the fourth race, but the good news is that he has escaped without any head injury or broken bones, although he was still on a ventilator early yesterday and was due to be brought out of sedation.

Diamond King (Nkosi Hlophe)

Diamond King, owned by stalwart KZN owner Mary Liley and bred by Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan,  is by the top sire More Than Ready and not surprisingly was expensively bought for Aus$250,000 as he is a fantastic looking specimen. He looked set for big things when showing a fine turn of foot under Brandon Lerena to win the Listed KZN Guineas trial over the Greyville 1600m as a young three-year-old. He had already shown his class before that on one occasion over 1200m at Clairwood when, after losing about five lengths at the start,  weaved through the field and flew late to finish just 2,5 lengths behind King’s Bay, who went on to win his next start before being sold overseas.

Sizeable money offers followed Diamond King’s KZN Guineas Trial win, but Liley decided to keep him. One reason is the difficulty these days of coming by a good horse and the other reason was his character. He has always had tremendous presence and is one of Liley’s favourites. His playful nature sees him often biting his doting groom Mtutu Holiwa and he likes to kick and buck too.

Unfortunately, Diamond King has always been plagued with soundness issues and but for that Rivalland believed he would have mixed it with the best.

After finishing runner up in last year’s Listed Christmas Handicap over1600m at Greyville, he benefitted from a rest on the farm and has found consistency this season.

He has often been an unlucky horse, and has suffered his fair share of interference, probably due to his racing style of coming from off the pace.

It appeared to be going awry again on Friday night. He has an aversion to the pens and is always loaded in the last line, but for some reason he was loaded in the first line this time and Rivalland believed that could have been the reason he lost a couple of lengths at the start. However, this could have played in his favour as he was then able to slot in behind the bulk of the field on the rail with only Fourth Estate behind him.

The field concertina-ed as they came up the hill but he still turned for home in second last place with about six lengths to make up. However, he than showed his usual fantastic turn of foot to get within striking distance and then under a tremendous drive from the ever talented Lerena got up to win by 0,25 lengths from the Duncan Howells-trained Baltic Amber (16/1). The Frank Robinson-trained Black Jaguar (25/1) has always been well regarded and got up for third, despite being 2kg under sufferance, and the Paddy Lunn-trained Cat In Command (14/1) and the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Last Tiger were next best.

Silver Spring (Nkosi Hlophe)

Diamond King started joint second favourite at 4/1 with the disappointing Silva Hawk, who finished well back. Last Tiger was the 22/10 favourite.

Rivalland will monitor how the five-year-old gelding comes out of the race before targeting him at the Gr 3 Christmas Handicap over1600m on turf at Greyville, although an alternate could be stepping him up to 1750m for the Listed Michael Roberts Handicap over 1750m at Scottsville on January 17. Diamond King was merit rated 89 for Friday night’s race and shouldn’t be unduly punished as Baltic Amber could well be used as the line horse.

Later, the 2000m Summer Chapter Challenge final was also won by a horse who has been plagued with soundness issues, the Gavin van Zyl-trained seven-year-old Silvano gelding Silver Spring. Jockey Warren Kennedy was particularly proud of the old warrior saying, “He is just strewn with problems but no matter what he always tries his heart out. He came into the race spot on this time.”

He started at odds of 7/1 and jumped well from a good draw before getting the perfect position in third behind his stablemate Qatar Springs. Secret Lover had got over from a wide draw to take it up before opening up a lead of a few lengths. Silver Spring got the better of Qatar Springs under the hands in the straight and then stayed on strongly when asked the question, crossing the line 1,5 lengths ahead of the Frank Robinson-trained Great Rumpus. The latter, a six-year-old gelding by Black Minnaloushe, was backed in from 12/1 to 6/1 after dropping to a 79 merit rating and running a good second over1800m on the Greyville turf last time out.

The high-flying Van Zyl yard also clinched third and fourth places with Night Shadow and Qatar Springs. Night Shadow has relished being stepped up to middle distances recently, winning two on the trot on the poly, and he ran on in eyecatching fashion. The Duncan Howells-trained Nicklaus finished fifth. Silver Spring, who has always been thereabouts recently running off roundabout an 84 merit, drifted out in the betting from 5/1 to 7/1. It was an open betting heat with Night Shadow starting favourite at 11/2 and both Great Rumpus and Nicklaus started at 6/1. Qatar Springs started at 14/1. Silver Spring is owned by John Chapman, Errol Budlender and Paul Rencken and was bred by the late Terry Silcock.

Anthony Delpech rode a treble at the meeting, two of them for Dean Kannemeyer, who also had a treble. Athandiwe Mgudlwa rode a double.

By David Thiselton

Silver Mountain has what it takes to lift the roof off the stands for Mike Bass and his family in the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Throughout the last four nightmare months of near-death, amputation and desperation – and a recovery that has had to be fought for every step of the way – this filly has shone like a beacon of hope.

Silver Mountain (Liesl King)

Her trainer will be at the racecourse to see her – and he has been at the track most mornings this week – with his determination to get back to his old self proving far better medicine that anything the doctors can prescribe.

Nobody knows better than he does how frustrating it has been to send out the runner-up in each of the last three years and the way Silver Mountain won the Choice Carriers four weeks ago has convinced the bookies that victory is a formality – the sponsors have her at 11-20, Betting World at 6-10 and favourites have won four of the last five runnings.

Some in the stable believe all she needs is a decent gallop and no bad luck. “She has plenty of pace and a turn of foot,” says a confident-sounding Robert Fayd’Herbe.  Bass’s daughter Candice is worried about the draw but wife Carol recalls how Sun Classique won from gate 13 nine years ago.

On paper Aldo Domeyer’s task is easier than it was in the Choice Carriers. This time he has ten inside him instead of 14 and twice as much ground in which to get in before the bend starts. But the bend is significantly sharper and going three wide could be fatal.

So what can spoil the party? Seemingly not the favourite’s stable companion Taffety Tart who was closest of those that ran in the Choice Carriers and is best-priced 20-1. “She is going to prefer this longer straight but she had every chance last time,” says Grant van Niekerk, “and the other filly is very good.”

Flying Ice (16-1) was beaten just under three lengths. Can she close the gap? “Over a mile, definitely,” answers Neil Bruss. “She drew badly in the Carriers and I think she also needed the run. She has come on a lot since.”

Flying Ice (Nkosi Hlophe)

Justin Snaith has won four of the last eight runnings, reckons he could win five of tomorrow’s nine races and that he has the ammunition to take the big one. “Silver Mountain is going to be a hard nut to crack but I couldn’t pick two better fillies to have a go at her,” hesays. “Bela-Bela (6-1) could still be a bit green but she is very well while A Time To Dream (winner of her last three and 12-1) is no slouch. Indeed I would almost put her level with Bela-Bela.”

But maybe the biggest danger to a Bass red-letter day, the draw apart, could be 9-1 shot Noor who has won her only two starts. Both were in much weaker company but Mike de Kock has not got where he is today by running no-hopers in classics. Indeed he has won this one three times – twice in the last three years – and had four seconds.

“I like this filly and she can run,” he enthuses. “Her last win was in a handicap when she was giving weight to older horses and I think she will handle the step-up no problem. The only thing is she has had to travel and she was delayed five hours on the road by an accident.”

Well In Flight (14-1) and Icy Fire (20-1) can be expected to show improvement on their Choice Carriers running as can 25-1 chance Anglet (Paddy Kruyer: “She got bumped coming out of the gate and she was baulked a furlong out”) but she has a terrible draw. At 33-1 and 5-1 a place the lightly-raced Our Destiny is probably best of the long shots.

By Michael Clower