Please Note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Leicester and Wolverhampton (UK) – 27 May 2025.

David Thiselton1

Jonathan Snaith has shared that Eight On Eighteen, on initial observations, has come of his highly impressive win in the Daily News 2000 very well indeed.

He said, “It is like he has never had a race,”

If the Lancaster Bomber colt does run in and win the Hollywoodbets Durban July he will become the only he eighth horse in history to have won both the July and the Met and he will become the first to have achieved that feat while still a three-year-old.

That would be a good accolade to have on his stud CV.

However, Jonathan countered, “I don’t think any three-year-old has won the Derby, Met, Daily News and Champions Cup in the same year.”

He added, “No decision has been made yet. His connections will evaluate how he comes out of the Daily News and make the right decision based on what is best for the horse while also considering his future breeding career.”

David Thiselton

Frank Robinson might opt for the Gr 3 Tote Derby and the Gr 3 Gold Vase as the respective targets of his Listed Lonsdale Stirrup Cup first and third-placed  Field Marshal and Shoot The Rapids.

He also has news about his best Hollywoodbets Durban July hope, Madison Valley, and about his smart Gr 2 Tote Woolavington 2000 third-placed filly Mocha Blend.  

The three-year-old gelding Field Marshal gave the late sire Lancaster Bomber the first of two stakes victories on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Greyville and put more emphasis on just what a big loss he has been to SA breeding, although his legacy will fortunately continue through the like of potential stallions like Eight On Eighteen and Snow Pilot.

Frank had felt before the race, and had told many who had asked him, that he did not feel Shoot The Rapids could give Field Marshall 8,5kg and still beat him.

He said Field Marshall was an improving horse and his below par previous start had been a flat run following a bout of anti-biotics.

He said most of the Lancaster Bombers stayed and he was confident Field Marshall would stay.

So it proved.

The gelding got a good position in midfield one wide with cover in the small eight horse field having jumped from draw eight under Kabelo Matsunyane.

In the straight he ran on well to beat the pacemaker Future Swing by 1,40 lengths.

Shoot The Rapids stayed on well from midfield on the rail to be beaten just a short-head by Future Swing, so owner of both horses Sid Moodley went close to getting the exacta.

Frank bought the Lammerskraal Stud-bred Field Marshall on behalf of owner Sid at the BSA Cape Yearling Sale for R325,000.

He said, “He was a magnificent yearling, I thought he was the nicest on the Sale. I also remembered his mother, the Western Winter mare Marcheline. She won second time out for Alyson Wright in impressive style and I remember saying to Alyson, ‘wow that is a nice filly’ and she agreed. But then she unfortunately got injured. She ended up just a one-time winner but I remembered the potential she had.”  

Frank has Field Marshall in the Hollywoodbets Durban July, although he admitted it might be too much for him to get in.

He has him entered in the Gr 3 Cup Trial but his merit rating has increased to 105, meaning he would have to carry 53,5kg as opposed to the original 52kg he had upon being entered.

He added, “So what I am thinking is maybe the Derby. He has won at Pietermaritzburg and its quite a nice race to win. He will come in with 54kg and will be a massive runner.”

Frank pointed to Shoot The Rapids’ tremendous run in last year’s Gold Cup as a sign of his stamina capacity and class. He was the one of the three in the front vanguard who had broken away from the rest and yet stayed on very well and was unlucky not to win. He was bumped and carried in by Future Swing and yet was only beaten a neck. Frank decided there and then to give him a deserved five or six months off recognising what a halcyon effort he had put in. The race would have taken a lot out of him.

Frank said Shoot The Rapids should be cherry ripe for the Gr 3 Gold Vase over 3000m on Hollywoodbets Durban July day, a race he finished a narrow second in last year to his stablemate Madison Valley.

Frank said, “Shoot The Rapids is not a bad horse. If you watch him in the WSB 1900, he was so unlucky, as he was coming into that gap he was squeezed out, he should have run second, definitely. I wasn’t going to run him in the Lonsdale, because he was going to have to carry 61kg. But then what happened was there were only six acceptors and they were humming and haaing, so I thought just put him back in. But he hadn’t really had a proper prep and I think that’s what found him out in the last bit of the race. He got a little bit tired towards the end. He has come out of the race well though.”

Frank’s best July hope is Madison Valley and he said he had just not “found himself” after gelding, which had happened after his tremendous Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup run, in which he came from the tail of the field to run a 2,35 length fourth.

He did have an excuse for his last run in the WSB 1900 as he had acquired a nick on his back and the infection caused his leg to swell up. A course of anti-biotics had thus been necessary. 

Frank said, “He should have won the Summer Cup. flying for fourth from draw 20. Then after that, I thought I’ve got to do the right thing, because he was rigged, one of his testicles was in his stomach, so had the op and left him on the farm for three months. Then I started prepping him and there were to 1600s I gave him just to get him up to speed and the 1900 was the one where he would qualify. Unfortunately, the anti-biotics, you think you can get way with it but you can’t, and they just flattened him for the race.”

However, there was good news this week about Madison Valley.

“I galloped him this morning (Monday) and he galloped like a superstar and looks unbelievable. I have him in a good space and I think he will win that race.”

Frank has decided to wait until the Gr 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m on Gold Cup day before running his smart Ideal World filly Mocha Blend again. She finished a good 1,50 length third in the Gr 2 Tote Woolavington 2000.

He said, “I think she needs to develop still, she’s a big baby in my opinion. The penny hasn’t really dropped with her. She’s still growing, she’s a big filly, a long filly and she just needs to grow into her frame. I think she can be a very good filly for next year. I will look at Turffontein towards the end of the year, those feature races there. Next year will be her year.”

Durban – A R500 000 Carryover to Jackpot One, which is expected to reach R1,5-million, adds sparkle to the annual Golden Horse Festival of Speed race meeting at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Saturday 31 May. The fifth race, the R1-million Allan Robertson Championship (Gr1) for 2yo Fillies over 1200m, is the opening leg of Jackpot One which sees the unbeaten Alan Greeff-trained East Cape Star, Direct Hit, go head-to-head with Sean Tarry’s One Fine Winter. One Fine Winter was beaten by another Greeff filly, Golden Palm, in the SA Nursery (Gr2) a month ago, but Tarry’s stellar record  at the Golden Horse Sprint race day is unrivalled and he will fancy gaining revenge on Gqeberha’s Champion Trainer.

The R1,5-million Gold Medallion (Gr1) for two-year-olds over 1200m forms the second leg of the carryover Jackpot and here Tarry has declared Green Diamond, the sole filly in the race, to go against nine colts and geldings. Green Diamond has won her last two starts by wide margins but she takes on a competitive field which includes the Peter Muscutt stable companions, Military Command and debut winner Little Boy Blue. On Nursery form, Robyn Klaassen’s Charming Cheetah seems well held by Green Diamond, but Charming Cheetah won first up as a gelding following the Nursery and he could make a big impression here. Zelatoris was a close second behind Charming Cheetah last time and appears to be well above the average.

Grade 1 winners, Double Grand Slam and Rascova, head the 15-strong line-up in the seventh race, the R1-million South African Fillies Sprint (Gr1) (F&M) over 1200m, but it could be argued that neither are at their absolute best over the trip. Candice Bass-Robinson won this race last year with October Morn and she will be hoping that Symphony In White can deliver back-to-back victories for the stable. However, both Symphony In White and Mai Sensation will be hard pressed to confirm the Poinsettia Stakes form with Asiye Phambili, who meets each of these talented fillies on far better weight terms. Asiye Phambili suffered the misfortune of losing her rider at the starting stalls a year ago, but Hollywood Racing’s 5yo daughter of What A Winter deserves a victory at the highest level and it could be pay-back time for Duncan Howell’s inmate.

A highly competitive renewal of the R1-million Golden Horse Sprint (Gr2) over 1200m completes Jackpot One and pin-pointing the likely winner is no easy task. “Lady Luck” will play her part but Future Variety has been teed up for this race and he should be doing his best work over the final 200m. His stablemate, the exciting Tenango, will be partnered by Aldo Domeyer which appears to suggest he is the stable elect. Alan Greeff saddles Fairy Knight, a winner of ten races from only 18 starts, but he may have to play second fiddle to fellow East Cape raider Cruise Control from the Gavin Smith yard. Cruise Control forms part of a strong Hollywood Racing presence, as they will also harbour high hopes for recent winner Ziyasha. Surjay jumps from the stand-side stall but he is already a Grade 1 winner and was runner-up in the Cape Flying Championship behind Gimme A Prince in January. With a full field of 16 runners, this year’s Golden Horse Sprint should be another nail-biter and is arguably the toughest leg of the carryover Jackpot.

David Thiselton
The big question after the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and Gr 2 Woolavington 2000 is whether the two respective winners, Eight On Eighteen and Little Suzie, will run in the Hollywoodbets Durban July and how the handicappers will view the race.
The pair gave Justin Snaith a big race double on the day and it was the third time Snaith had won the Daily News and the sixth time he had won the Woolavington. 
It was a great day for Johann and Gaynor Rupert. 
Gaynor’s Drakenstein Stud bred Eight On Eighteen and Johann is a part-owner of the now three-times Gr 1-winning superstar. 
Furthermore, it was an incredible fourth time in succession a Drakenstein homebred had won the Woolavington.  
Trippi filly Little Suzie’s win was particularly gratifying for the Snaith and Drakenstein Stud racing teams as she is a daughter of the great Oh Susanna, who won this race for the partnership in 2018. 
To add to the day’s success, Gaynor’s U.K. Stud operation, Cayton Park Stud, won a big handicap race at The Curragh in Ireland on Saturday with a Ed Dunlop-trained homebred colt called Skukuza, who is out of a Trippi mare called Shingwedzi.
Little Suzie became Drakenstein’s 18^th stakes winner of the season, which leaves them three short of their own SA record of 21 stakes winners in a season. 
The other part-owner of Eight On Eighteen is Nick Jonsson, who won the Daily News 2000 for a second time.
The Daily News field was reduced to six runners when Gr 1 SA Classic winner Confederate was scratched for an elevated TCO2 level.  
Eight On Eighteen jumped from the widest draw and was relaxed in last place under Richard Fourie as stablemate Makazole ensured a reasonable pace up front.
Eight On Eighteen rounded the field just before entering the straight, still travelling under a double handful. 
He had hit the front by the 400m mark such was his phenomenal turn of foot and Fourie just had to drive him out with the hands to secure a 3,80 length victory.
The handicapper is unlikely to touch Eight On Eighteen’s merit rating, considering he was at least 7,5kg better off than any of the placed horses, while the horse he was only 3kg better off with, i.e. Parisian Walkway, failed to match his 1600m performance for the fourth time in succession over further trips. 
The handicppers are also likely to be lenient on the rest of the field, due to the ease of victory. 
Spumante Dolce will therefore likely be used as the line horse.
With her gender allowance taken into consideration, this 117-rated filly effectively ran off a 112 merit rating.
So that would bring third-placed Okavango, who was beaten 0,25 lengths by Spumante Dolce, up to about a 112 and would put Native Ruler, who was beaten 0,50 lengths by Spumante Dolce, up to 111.
Spumante Dolce was in 13^th place on the July log and the proximity to her of Okavango and Native Ruler will give that pair a chance of getting on to the July log. 
However, they would have to leapfrog horses who are considerably higher rated than them to get into the top 20, presuming they will be rated 112 and 111 respectively. The only horse rated lower than 115 in the top 20 at present is the winner of the WSB 1900, Selukwe, and the winner of that race is usually given preferential treatment for July final field inclusion. Furthermore, Selukwe, performed better than both Okavango and Native Ruler in the WSB 1900 even if the weights are taken into consideration.
Justin Snaith said it would always be tempting to run in a great race like the Hollywoodbets Durban July, but also spoke of how hard a race it was on a horse, so with a lot of Eight On Eighteen’s career still ahead of him the final decision to run him would only come after careful consideration by all the connections.
The Lancaster Bomber colt would become only the eighth horse in history to have won both the Met and the July and would be the first in history to have completed that double as a three-year-old, so that would be a great accolade to have on his stud CV.
Richard Fourie believed the July will be the choice and said, “He is going about his business the right way and setting himself nicely for the July. I think the July would be the ideal target because he’s won the Met as a three-year-old already and is capped at 57kg in the July. He’s a quality horse and a big strong horse and can carry the weight.”
Little Suzie ran on well from a handy position under Sean Veale, although the latter will likely get a holiday as the filly hung inward and interfered with Rainbow Lorikeet, who was an unlucky 1,70 length fourth carrying topweight.
Little Suzie is unlikely to get much of a raise from her 106 merit rating as she was facing the 107 rated runner up My Soul Mate on 1kg terms better than weight for age   
She faced fifth placed 114-rated Beating Wings on 3,5kg better than weight for age and beat her by 2,20 lengths, so that could see her raised to about 111.
However, the Woolavington 2000 is also a race that might receive preferential treatment for July final field inclusion.
Little Suzie would have to be supplemented if she is going to run and Jonathan Snaith said, “She is progressive, she was a very immature two-year-old and is a late three-year-old and she has always been unlucky throughout her career. If you look at her her last run it was an incredible run if you watch the replay and that is why we fancied her so strongly today knowing she would relish the step up in trip. We will discuss it with the connections about supplementing her.”