David Thiselton

 

The Corne Spies-trained filly Hazy Dazy is on the cusp of a repeat fairytale story with just the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks standing between her and Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara glory.

 

She will become the second daughter of Act Of War to do the Triple Tiara following the success five years ago in 2021 of the Paul Matchett-trained War Of Athena.

 

The other similarity in the stories of the two fillies is that War Of Athena was purchased for just R30,000 while Hazy Dazy was bought for just R37,000.

 

Act Of War is by Dynasty, who was a stamina influence, and Hazy Dazy’s damsire Eightfold Path is by stamina influence Giant’s Causeway.

 

Xander Spies has no doubt Hazy Dazy will see out the Oaks trip, despite her first and second dams, Rabbedoe and Brataloochee, being speedsters.

 

Hazy Dazy has in fact won over 2000m before and on Saturday her win over the tough Turffontein Standside 1800m course and distance was in sticky going.

 

Xander Spies said, “There are no indications in my mind that she will not stay the Oaks trip. In fact what is interesting is that all of the horses who had been labelled as ones that would stay actually finished further back in the Classic than they had done in the Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas.”

 

Hazy Dazy’s supporters had a scary moment in the race, because after leading it appeared she had been swamped at the 400m mark.

 

However, she had soon fought back and established a clear lead before holding on by a length.

 

Xander said, “I was slightly concerned but Trent (Mayhew) gave a very good explanation. He said the same happens every race, but this was one of the few times she had been in front. So he hadn’t pulled the stick, because she was just cruising and he just waited another 50m, as he would normally do, knowing she had a lot left.”

 

Corne Spies deserves the success, because ostensibly he actually bred Hazy Dazy.

 

She is out of the Eightfold Path mare Rabbedoe, whom Corne trained.

 

After training her he bred with her and was responsible for putting her in foal to Act Of War.

 

However, COVID-19 then hit and he gave her away to David Makins prior to Hazy Dazy being born.

 

Makins had an association with the Spies yard because Corne’s father Tobie used to train for him.

 

Hazy Dazy was officially bred by Breedon Stud, owned by David Makins and his wife Martha.

 

Xander believes Hazy Dazy would always have ended up in the Spies yard anyway but Corne made sure of it by purchasing her at the David Makins dispersal Sale upon the latter’s passing.

 

Eightfold Path has a magnificent pedigree, being by “the iron horse” Giant’s Causeway out of the superstar five-times Gr 1-winning European champion racehorse Divine Proportions (Kingmambo), but Xander said, “It’s not a pairing (Act Of War-Rabbedoe) most would have thought would produce something this good, but I guess you can find them anywhere.”

 

Xander pointed out that although Rabbedoe’s mother Brataloochee was a “proper” racehorse, Rabbedoe’s pedigree page had “nothing” of note to the extent that on the Sales page it went all the way down to the sixth dam.

 

The yard received Hazy Dazy in the December of her yearling year and he remembered her being quite a runt and looking more like a weanling.

 

The yard often buys on spec and then puts a syndicate of owners together.

 

The owners of Hazy Dazy are Mr D Dasrath & Mrs C Dasrath, Messrs R P Macnab, S Poriazis, Vikash Sobaren, X Spies & D Vayapuri

 

Hazy Dazy has grown into a noticeably tall filly and has a fine action, which has carried her to six wins in eight starts, including a Gr 1, a Gr 2 and a Gr3.

 

Her first feature success was in the Gr 3 Fillies Mile at Turffontein Standside on Betway Summer Cup day.

 

Despite starting at odds of 17/2 she won that by an authoritative one lengths from the Alyson Wright-trained Charge It, who is a Varsfontein Stud-homebred Gimmethegreenlight filly who is a full sister to Surcharge, who won a Gr 1 in both SA and in Australia.

 

Hazy Dazy was supposed to run in the race Charge It won next time out, the Listed War Of Athena Handicap, but she sustained a slight injury and it was decided not to risk it.

 

She then started at the amazing odds of 25/1 for the Gauteng Fillies Guineas, despite having beaten most of the field in the Fillies Mile.

 

She won the Guineas in effortless fashion in the end, despite actually looking a bit green.

 

The bookmakers were way more cautious on Saturday and she was sent off as even money favourite.

 

Her aims after the Triple Tiara races are over look to be the Woolavington 2000, but Xander emphasised she would not be going for the Hollywoodbets Durban July.

 

He said that history had shown that making a full bid for the Triple Tiara took a bit out of a horse and the July would be a bridge too far this year, although it was definitely on the cards for next year.

 

It was a fine day for the Spies yard on Saturday as they also won the Gr 3 TAB J J The Jet Plane Stakes over 1000m with their sprinting stalwart William Robertson (Rafeef), who is now a 17 time winner and he will be going for the Computaform Sprint next, a Gr 1 wfa event he has won before.

 

The Spies yard only have 14 horses of three years old or older and yet have won five black type races this season.

 

Rob Macnab also has a share in William Robertson and both he and Hazy Dazy run in his blue, white crossed sashes, red sleeves and cap colours.

 

Meanwhile, Rabbedoe was purchased on the same Sale as Hazy Dazy by a bloodstock agent who seeks second careers for horses and it is believed she was subsequently sold to a riding school somewhere in the Limpopo.

 

Please Note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Taunton and Wolverhampton (UK) – 9 March 2026.

David Thiselton

The main race at the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly meeting yesterday, a Middle Stakes event over 1200m for fillies and mares, saw a comfortable victory for the Wendy Whitehead-trained Buttercup Baby and it brought up a 100^th win as owners for Sandy and Eugene Arundel’s Itssa IT and Business Solutions ownership concern.

Buttercup Baby was off an 88 merit rating which did not make her well weighted as she was officially 1,5kg under sufferance with Convocation. However, Rachel Venniker’s gender allowance of 1,5kg brought the pair together at the weights. On the same weight terms Convocation had beaten Buttercup Baby by 0,45 lengths over this trip at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on February 18, but Buttercup Baby had some fine poly form over this trip and she was duly backed in to 5/2, although Convocation also shortened from 28/10 into 18/10. Buttercup Baby, a four-year-old by What A Winter, was taken straight to the front from the widest draw of seven and got their quite easily, with the tardy start of the well known front-runner Hierkommiebokkie in pole position aiding her cause. Buttercup Baby stayed on well in the straight and fended off the challenge of Sovereign Grant to win by half-a-length, although not before drifting outward and this led to an unlucky Kythera, who was going for a gap between the two front-runners, having to be snatched up late and it probably cost her third place. Back At The George was third and Convocation only managed fifth place.

It was fitting Wendy Whitehead trained the Arundels 100th win as she was their first trainer when they went into the sport in a big way and she picked some of their best horses at the Sales, including Gr 1 winner Rascova and the many-times Graded-placed Minogue, so their were some emotions shown in the winner’s enclosure by both trainer and owners.

Earlier in a C Stakes event for all horses over 1200m, the Glen Kotzen-trained Gimmethegreenlight gelding The Mask scoring a deserved victory after finishing second in his three previous starts. The Mask was actually at the bottom of his merit rating band in this contest so was 1kg under sufferance with the best weighted males and 3kg under sufferance with the best weighted runner, the raiding Highveld filly Dondoyaki, but nevertheless he started favourite at 9/4. Chad Little managed to get him to the front from draw six out of seven and after stealing a march at the top of the straight at the same time as second favourite Ibutho was looking for gaps to open further back, he never looked like being caught and won by 3,20 lengths from Winter Waves with Ibutho next best.

The meeting started with a surprise result as the Gareth van Zyl-trained I Am Invictus led from start to finish under S’Manga Khumalo and held on by 0,60 lengths from Sail The Horizon and Light The Fire to convert odds of 10/1. The good looking Vercingetorix gelding had finished last on debut, but looks a type who can progress.

In the second race, an Open Maiden over 1400m, the hard-knocking Louis Goosen-trained Pomodoro filly Saudi Sweep carried joint topweight of 60.5kg but that didn’t stop her scoring by 0,60 lengths under Rachel Venniker from the odds-on favourite Vaans Spirit. She jumped from pole and came from a handy position with a sustained run down the inside.

In the fifth race, a fillies and mares Class 5 over 1000m, the Alyson Wright-trained three-year-old Willow Magic filly Magical Sky was taken to the lead under Damyan Pillay, just heading a horse inside of her,  and she kicked on well under a finely judged ride to win by 1,50 lengths.

In the sixth, a Class 5 for fillies and mares over 1900m, Glen Kotzen and Chad Little clinched a double together as Legislate filly Sesame came from midfield and outfought Sweeter Than Honey under a typically powerful ride by Little.

In the seventh, a D Stakes event over 1900m, the MJ Odendaal-trained What A Winter gelding Takeyourbestshot had just won an Open Maiden off a 61 rating and off a 64 was at the bottom of his merit rating band in this race, but he was nevertheless backed into 18/10 favourite and he led throughout to win by an easy 1,70 lengths under Keagan de Melo.

In the eighth, a Class 4 over 1600m, Fanie Bronkhorst’s journey down with six horses hadn’t looked to be going well, but Erupt mare Boom Boom made it worthwhile as Serino Moodley extracted a strong charge from her to win by a head and a shorthead from Blue Poppy and Prom Queen in a thrilling finish.

In the last race, a Class 5 over 1600m, S’Manga Khumalo managed to get the Vengi Masawi-trained Potala Palace gelding into a handy position with cover from draw five and with the rest of the field being held up by Master Silvano, who was battling to keep up, Khumalo just had to steer Pied Piper straight to chalk up a 1,10 length victory from a closing Basie Raakvat. Hollywood Racing’s Ashburton-based trainer Masawi has now had 14 wins in his first full season as a licensed trainer and he has the highest strike rate in the country at 25.45%.

David Thiselton

Sean Tarry won two Grade 1s and two Listed races at the 12 race World Pool Classic day meeting at Turffontein Standside on Saturday. It was also a fine meeting for the Corne Spies yard and owner Rob Macnab and partners as they won a Gr 1 and a Gr 3 together

Tarry’s gelding Grand Empire had run on well from some way off the pace in the Gr 2 TAB Gauteng Guineas for a 0,60 length second and was surprisingly easy to back at11/2 in the Gr 1 HKJC World Pool SA Classic over 1800m.

The SA Classic favourite at 5/2 was the dual Gr 1 winner Jan Van Goyen.

A furious pace was set in the race from a vanguard of three rank outsiders, All Systems Go, Yippee Kiyay and Radio Star.

There was a gap of eight lengths back to Trust, whose jockey Serino Moodley’s pace judgement was later proven to be just about perfect.

Jan Van Goyen sat on Trust’s quarters without cover.

Grand Empire was in the box seat of the main contenders, on the rail behind Trust.

Going through the 400m mark All Systems Go had skipped clear and there was still no move from Moodley, although Craig Zackey on Grand Empire had moved past Trust on his inside.

Trust got going just after passing the 400m mark and One Eye On Vegas was also running on strongly from off the pace.

Jan Van Goyen never looked threatening.

Raymond Danielson had sat in last place on Gauteng Guineas winner Splittheeights and looked to be planning to follow Jan Van Goyen at the top of the straight. When that plan went awry the horse was left with too much to do to catch Grand Empire and Trust.

The pacemaking vanguard were swamped at the 100m mark with Grand Empire being challenged in front by Trust. One Eye On Vegas began wilting and was mastered by the running on late Splittheeights.

The front pair crossed the line as one and it was just the head-bob that gave Grand Empire the win over the luckless Trust.

The result gave the phenomenal sire Vercingetorix yet another Gr 1 winner. Grand Empire was originally bought by Eric Sands for R400,000 at the National Yearling Sale. He was bred by Al Adiyaat and is owned by Mrs H Kuhn.

Had the handicappers’ initial handicapping of the Gauteng Guineas been in place a line horse would have been easy to find for the SA Classic, but they look to instead be in the same boat as they were for the Guineas, i.e. the choice of using a line horse that will either make the ratings too high or one that will make the ratings too low. Using the 118-rated Jan Van Goyen, who was beaten 4,25 lengths, would make Grand Empire about 126 or 127, while using either Trust or Splittheeights will give him a maximum of about 113.

The handicappers might be justified in using the higher rating, because of the result of the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Stakes, in which the Tarry-trained Tin Pan Alley blew away a top class field to win by 3,75 lengths. He was originally used by the handicappers as the line horse for the Gauteng Guineas on 117, while Grand Empire later became the official line horse. Both horses proved themselves better than their respective ratings of 117 and 108 on Saturday.

Jan Van Goyen was viewed as the best three-year-old in the country prior to Saturday and his 9,10 length defeat in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate was excused because he had gone too fast when chasing pacemaker Dave The King. However, there was one nagging doubt created by the King’s Plate and that was that the horse who was together with him in the running at that too fast pace i.e. Legal Counsel, beat him by 4,65 lengths. However, Jan Van Goyen shouldn’t be written off yet because he did have no cover throughout in his one wide position on Saturday.

In the Horse Chestnut Tin Pan Alley found the perfect position in midfield on the rail.

The surprise pacemaker was Fire Attack.

The conditions were sticky on the day and after Tin Pan Alley had powered into the lead down the inside the favourite See It Again, who prefers 2000m, had too much to do coming from midfield on the outside.

See It Again was doing fine work late to pip last year’s runner up Texas Red for second. Fire Attack was fourth and two previous winners of this race, Main Defender and Cosmic Speed were next best.

The Real Prince appeared to hate the conditions and was never in the hunt.

The Moutonshoek-based stallion The United States now has a second Gr 1 winner this season and he also had first and third in Saturday’s race.

Tin Pan Alley, bred by Moutonshoek, is owned by the Wernars Family & D Chinsammy

In the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic the Corne Spies-trained Hazy Dazy gave the Summerhill Equestrian-based sire Act Of War a third career Gr 1 winner thanks to a fine ride by apprentice Trent Mayhew. Hazy Dazy led and appeared to have been swamped in the straight, but in fact Mayhew had just been  reserving her in the sticky conditions and she came back to lead handsomely before Golden Palm produced a late surge to limit the winning margin to a length. Bred by Breedon Stud, she is owned by Mr D Dasrath & Mrs C Dasrath, Messrs R P Macnab, S Poriazis, Vikash Sobaren, X Spies & D Vayapuri, and she remains on track for the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara.

Macnab is also a shareholder in the Spies-trained stalwart William Robertson (Rafeef), who later won the Gr 3 J J The Jet Plane Stakes over 1000m.

Tarry’s two Listed wins were with Secretary Bird (Rafeef) and Care Forgot (The United States), while Mike and Mathew de Kock won a Listed race with the unbeaten World Attraction (One World).

David Thiselton

 

The Hollywoodbets Durban July conditions have been finalised and the final field panellists might be in for an interesting evening before the Final Field And Barrier Draw Ceremony, whilst the three-year-olds look to be on the back foot at present.

 

There will be a longer handicap this year with a 10kg spread in the weights from a topweight of 62kg down to a bottom weight of 52kg.

 

Furthermore, it will just be a straight handicap, unlike recent July conditions in which there was a maximum and minimum weight for certain age groups and genders.

 

If the final field happens to have a spread that is less than 10kg, the topweight will still be 62kg. If, for example, there is a weight spread of 7kg among the entries, then the bottom weight will be 55kg.

 

If the topweights are scratched after the setting of the weights, then the new topweight will be dragged up to 62kg. For example if the topweight after scratchings is 60,5kg, it will be dragged up to 62kg and after the rest of the field have been dragged up the bottom weight will become 53,5kg.

 

The final field will not necessarily be chosen by merit rating order.

 

Justin Vermaak, Executive Racing and Bloodstock of Race Coast, said, “There will be a final field selection panel like before and merit rating will be a leading aspect, but the panel will also take current form and distance suitability into account etc.”

 

In recent years the final field panellists have not had it too tough as the field was cut up before the final field announcement, with a lot of horses being scratched due to the recognition by the connections they do not have much chance, either due to the weights not favouring them or due to them being off form – the final declaration fee could have, in those cases, been considered a waste of money.

 

However, with the longer handicap, there are going to be more horses who still have form chances on paper.

 

Looking at last year’s July for example, third-placed Selukwe was rated 111 and had to carry 54kg due to the condition that the minimum weight for an older male was 54kg. He was thus 2kg under sufferance with the 127-rated topweights, both older horses, and he was 4kg under sufferance with the officially best weighted horse, the 129 rated (nett 125-rated) Eight On Eighteen, who was set to carry 57kg despite being the highest merit rated horse in the race due to a condition that three-year-old males could not carry more than 57kg.

 

In last year’s race Oriental Charm carried 60kg, Eight On Eighteen carried 57kg and Selukwe carried 54kg.

 

Under this year’s conditions the weights for those three horses would have been: Oriental Charm 62kg, Eight On Eighteen 61kg and Selukwe 54kg. Selukwe would have been 2kg and 4kg better off with Oriental Charm and Eight On Eighteen respectively under today’s conditions.

 

He would have been 2kg better off with the winner The Real Prince too and, on paper, would have been beaten 0,30 lengths instead of by 2,65 lengths.

 

There could theoretically have been a horse who would have been even more favoured by today’s conditions than the 111-rated Selukwe example.

 

Using last year’s race under today’s conditions, an older horse who had been rated 107 would sneak into the handicap under today’s conditions.

 

A 107-rated older horse last year would have had to carry 54kg, 6kg less than the topweight, but under today’s conditions it would have only had to carry 52kg, which would be 10kg less than the 62kg topweight.

 

Therefore, there are theoretically going be a lot more horses standing their ground at the time of the final field selection process this year, because a lot more of them will have chances of winning on paper than would have been the case under the old conditions.

 

Furthermore, with stakes of R10 million up for grabs there will be less cases of horses being scratched due to the  connections deeming them to be off form. They might still want to take their chances.

 

The difficulty for the panel will come in deciding whether a lower rated horse is deemed to have better recent form or better distance suitability than a higher rated horse.

 

For argument sakes let’s assume that we go back to last year and there are still many horses standing their ground until the bitter end. After the top 17 are selected, according to the last log and current form, let’s assume the next two horses are the 115-rated Madison Valley and the 120-rated The Real Prince.

 

The Real Prince is rated five points higher than Madison Valley, but he has never run a race beyond 1600m before.

 

Madison Valley on the other hand finished a close fourth in the Betway Summer Cup over 2000m and in his final run before the July he won the traditional July pointer, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial over 1800m.

 

Which one are they going to put in the all important 18th slot?

 

Such a scenario is going to have much more chance of happening this year.

 

Although it has been said that weight avoidance tactics are going to be used this year, those who do take that route are probably going to run a bigger risk of not qualifying than ever before.

 

Now on to the three-year-olds.

 

Eight On Eighteen was held in high regard last year and came into the race 2kg well-in, according to official merit ratings, and yet he was not able to win the race.

 

Under today’s conditions he would have had to carry 61kg, effectively 2kg more.

 

So it was tough last year for a top, top three-year-old who was favoured by the old conditions.

 

How tough will it be for good-but-not-great three-year-olds under the new conditions, considering there is no maximum weight for them and no minimum weight for older horses?

 

Likewise it will be tough for females.

 

Furthermore, this year’s three-year-old crop are arguably overrated off their current merit ratings.

 

For example, Gauteng Guineas runner up Grand Empire could not win the Wolf Power 1600 against older horses when 2kg under sufferance off a 102 merit rating (effectively a 106 merit rating), yet he is now rated 120. There will be cries of “but the handicapper is clueless” when looking at that, but those who do say that are clueless themselves, because the handicapper rates a race on that race, not on past races, and Tin Pan Alley had earned his 117 rating by beating older horses and Grand Empire had then beaten him. Furthermore, Grand Empire was likely not at his peak for the Wolf Power with the Triple crown series looming.

 

Nevertheless, the overall impression is the current three-year-old male crop is not shining and it is questionable whether any of them have properly earned a rating of 120 or above.

 

It could well be an older horse July, but on the other hand there is an impressive unexposed horse like Note To Self among the three-year-olds and more such types might emerge.

 

The build up to this year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July is going to be more intriguing than ever!