Dennis Bosch’s promising Silvano colt Billy Silver is back at Summerveld after nothing went right for him in Cape Town and it looks unlikely he will return to Cape Town to run in the US$500,000 CTS 1200.
Bosch said the colt had run a nice race when fifth in his Cape Town pipe-opener in the Grade 3 Cape Classic over 1400m, but had returned blowing.
Billy Silver
However, his next run over 1200m had been disappointing and Bosch said, “He was thick winded down there, so seemed to have picked up allergies and he also bruised the sole of his foot. It was not a good preparation at all for the CTS 1200. So we brought him back here and he has arrived in good condition. I am going to start again from scratch and will have to bring him back slowly, but there are only about three weeks until the CTS 1200 so, sadly, I don’t think it’s going to happen. I must put his interest before money. It is also a big expense to travel him down and it’s not really about the money with him, it’s more about we want to see how good he is, because I believe he is good. He has not lost any of his ability, everything just went wrong for him in Cape Town.”
Billy Silver won his first two starts in KZN, both over 1200m, in impressive style.
Bosch’s yard was bolstered recently when prolific KZN owner Brian Burnard sent him 22 horses.
He has also received some good horses from other quarters and is looking forward to the careers of promising horses like Varallo, who has been gelded, Graduate, Iron Wolf, Shadow Catcher and Sunday’s easy winner Kazaar.
However, Bosch is wary of putting horses on pedestals.
He added the merit rating system meant placing horses was all important these days, but confirmed it was not easy to do so.
Bosch has a stable of 56 at present.
This season he has had 18 winners in KZN at a strike rate of 14.06, which puts him in joint fourth place on the KZN log together with Mark Dixon and Louis Goosen.
Reigning KZN champion trainer Duncan Howells leads the log on 29 wins. Dennis Drier on 23 wins and Dean Kannemeyer on 21 wins are in second and third place respectively.
By David Thiselton
