Apprentice Lyle Hewitson is well on his way to emulating the great Michael Roberts who was the first apprentice to be crowned National Champion Jockey. The circumstances leading to their championship were vastly different but that’s not to take away from Hewitson’s achievement. He is 12 clear of Anthony Delpech, currently side-lined through injury and not expected back in the saddle this season, and 40 winners clear of Muzi Yeni.

Hewitson can add another to his growing total when he partners On Your Life for John Nel in the fifth at Greyville today. On Your Life has been running consistently since his maiden win without much luck. But the handicappers have been giving him some relief, little by little, and he is down from 66 to the 58 he races off today. At his new mark he should be a lot more competitive.

Lyle Hewitson

He is currently on offer around 7-1 with Track & Ball who have Honest Prince and Elegant General priced up as joint favourites. Honest Prince has finished in the money in all four starts since being tried in blinkers and he could prove better over this shorter trip. Elegant General, narrowly beaten last run, has a big weight but gets 4kg off his back courtesy of apprentice Luke Ferraris.

Hewitson has another good ride for one of his main stables, although Sean Tarry’s filly, Cals Crush, faces a stiff task in the Lightning Shot Bar Handicap. She boasts some strong Highveld form and although beaten last time out she does take a drop in class. She takes to the poly for the first time but from a good draw should have every chance.

She is a 3-1 chance with Track & Ball, joint favourite with Princess Vicky. The word was out that Glen Kotzen’s filly was home and hosed after putting up a smart barrier trial, and the money was on the mark as Richard Fourie rode a confident race to get the even money favourite home. The opposition is a lot stronger this time around by Princess Vicky was only penalised a kilo for her victory and should be competitive again.

Interesting runner will be Val-A-Ree. Doug Campbell’s filly suffered her first defeat in the Strelitzia Stakes behind Saturday’s Allan Robertson third Inverroche and that form could be good enough to see her home here.

Surprisingly it took Johan Janse van Vuuren longer than expected to register his first Gr1 victory but he got that monkey off his back at Scottsville on Saturday when he won the Allan Robertson. Van Vuuren saddles the Australian import Deerupt n the opening leg of the Pick 6 and she is likely to be a popular exotic bet banker. Track & Ball have her short at 7-10 with first timer Believe The Best finding some support after a smart barrier trial. She comes from the powerful Glen Kotzen yard so any support needs to be taken note of.

Kom Naidoo has taken to his new surrounds at Ashburton and Innocently Naughty can fly his flag in the Itsarush.co.za Maiden place. She is rated way higher than any of the exposed runners and her biggest threat could come from Garth Puller’s filly Tuulikki that has been priced up favourite. Puller gave her two barrier trials before stepping into a race proper and she surprised by finishing a close-up second at long odds. In contrast, she is on offer at around 15-10 this afternoon and Mandla Ntuli stays with the ride.

By Andrew Harrison

Racing enthusiasts throughout the country and particularly those on course for Daily News Raceday at Greyville on Saturday, can look forward to three very exciting races where a host of Vodacom Durban July hopefuls, including four in the top six of the big race betting, will be in action.

Pack Leader

At the final acceptance stage for the R2-million, Grade 1 Daily News 2000, the R1-million, Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 and the R300 000, Grade 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup, there were no July entries of significance that were withdrawn but Sean Tarry elected to run his Silvano filly Chariot Of Gold in the Woolavington 2000 and not the Daily News 2000 where she had also been a nominee.

Justin Snaith’s Twice Over gelding Do It Again, second favourite for the Vodacom Durban July on July 7, heads the 13-horse field for the Daily News 2000 with regular pilot Bernard Fayd’Herbe in the irons and the very inside draw from which to jump. While official betting for Saturday’s feature races were not available at the time of writing, the Daisy Guineas winner is likely to start the short-odds favourite.

The Glen Kotzen-trained Philanthropist colt Pack Leader that impressed in both the Investec Cape Derby where he finished third and the Sledgehammer at Greyville has drawn toward the outside while the Trippi gelding White River from the Brett Crawford stable will make his bid from the mid-field draw.

Snaith’s star filly Oh Susanna has stood her ground for the Woolavington 2000 and is likely to be on offer at prohibitive odds when official betting opens. She is drawn one from the outside of the 10-horse field and will undoubtedly be the exotic bet banker for most punters. However, the Duncan Howells-trained Captain Al filly Fiorella is not a runner to be ignored and with Muzi Yeni in the irons there will be some who believe she can beat Oh Susanna after having upstaged the Snaith stable companion, Snowdance, in the Daisy Fillies Guineas.

The Lonsdale Stirrup Cup has trimmed down to 12 runners with Dean Kannemeyer withdrawing four of his five nominees and leaving only the Silvano gelding Mr Winsome to fly the stable flag while Justin Snaith will campaign with three runners including the Dynasty gelding Made To Conquer that has won his last three starts.

Brett Crawford runs his Highland Night Cup winner Hero Quest while champion trainer Sean Tarry competes with Hyaku that finished second in that race and his four-year-old Dynasty colt Shenanigans that ran a good second over 2 000m at the Vaal last time out. Here are the final fields below.

By Richard McMillan.

Jockey MJ Byleveld has no concern whatsoever about the 2000m trip for Tap O’ Noth ahead of the Grade 1 Daily News 2000 at Greyville on Saturday.

Byleveld was somewhat annoyed people had written the horse off as a non-stayer after just one run.

He said, “As a specimen from day one he has looked like a horse who would go a trip and I have no doubt he will stay.”

MJ Byleveld

Furthermore, the Captain Al colt is a half-brother to the useful stayer Strathdon, who has won a Grade 3 over 2500m and a Listed race over 2400m.

At the time of his run in the Grade 1 Cape Derby the Marshall yard had a problem with a virus which was affecting many horses.The yard were unable to find the reason for his well below par run in the Cape Derby but Byleveld pointed out he was not travelling well virtually from the off so was clearly not himself and the yard believe it had nothing to do with him not staying.

Tap O’ Noth’s SA Champions season pipe opener in the Grade 2 Daisy Guineas at Greyville was his first run since the Cape Derby and his 2,25 length third was also a touch disappointing considering he started favourite. However, Byleveld pointed out that being on the rail had not really suited him and both of his eyes were closed the next day too due to the kickback on the night. Tap O’ Noth is indeed a big, rangy type and would likely prefer some room to use his action.

Last week Tap O’ Noth was looking a picture at Summerveld and despite the cold weather had a gleaming coat.

Byleveld confirmed he was fit and doing very well and added, “We could not have him any better.”

Byleveld finished fourth for Marshall in two of the four Grade 1s on Saturday at Scottsville and eighth in the other two. He said about the two-year-old filly Canukeepitsecret, who finished fourth in the Allan Robertson and whom Marshall rates as good as her two Grade 1-winning sisters The Secret Is Out and All Is Secret, “She might just need blinkers. When the gap opened she fired but was a bit green.”

By David Thiselton

There are no plans – for the moment at any rate – to extend barrier trials to Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Phumelela boss Clyde Basel said: “It hasn’t been discussed yet but there is nothing on the table. We want to see what the upside is of the barrier trials in KZN.”

Racing there is run by Gold Circle which made the trials compulsory from March 1 for all newcomers and for any horse returning from a 150-day break. Phumelela runs racing in Cape Town and Johannesburg. A straw poll of trainers and punters at Kenilworth last Saturday revealed mixed views.

Picture supplied by Liesl King

Some of the older trainers said that the concept was tainted by the barrier trials staged in the 1990s when one unscrupulous trainer (long since dead) ran several horses in each one and manipulated them for the express purpose of hoodwinking the public and so getting a better price when his horses ran in an actual race.

Another said that in the summer the ground at Kenilworth is too firm to risk horses more than necessary but another was all for it and proposed staging them on alternate weeks at Kenilworth and Durbanville, the latter being filmed if the trials did not coincide with a racemeeting.

In the betting hall they still remember the villain of the 1990s – “He certainly didn’t help the punter. He was the biggest crook of the lot” – but they thought such trials would help with assessing two-year-olds.

Up in the Pocket Power lounge one racegoer, who seldom misses a meeting, ruled out any repeat of the old villainy, saying: “Things are more transparent these days, and anything that can be done to improve things for the punter would be welcomed.”

The trials would have obvious benefits with unraced horses – for punters, trainers and the animals themselves – particularly as the Cape Town training facilities are inferior to those at Summerveld. They would also be beneficial with horses returning after a break.

So often punters hear, or read, that a horse is “just having a gallop” and they are immediately placed in a quandary. The message is clear – the horse is not that busy. But such horses sometimes win, and often they are placed. They cannot be safely ignored. If the horse could be sidestepped into a barrier trial (where there is no betting), everybody would benefit.

By Michael Clower

The Dennis Drier yard are on a high after landing their 9^th Scottsville Grade 1 victory and 11^th overall on Saturday and they are now looking forward to a big run from Lady In Black in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 at Greyville on Saturday.

Drier is not a believer in the “second run after a rest” theory, which some racing people are adamant about, but the Dynasty filly did run a below par 2,85 length fifth in the Grade 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas last time having won impressively in her SA Champions Season pipe opener in the Grade 3 Umzimkhulu Stakes over 1400m.

Lady In Black (Candiese Marnewick)

Drier said, “She is very well. Last time she ran three wide and the race just didn’t go well for her. Justin Snaith’s filly Oh Susanna is a champion and she is the one we have got to beat but Lady In Black couldn’t be better and has come on a lot for that last run, she will be a different filly on Saturday.

Lady In Black is drawn three out of a disappointing ten nominations. Stable jockey Sean Veale, who rode Var filly Sommerlied to victory in the SA Fillies Sprint on Saturday, will be aboard as usual. Lady In Black was initially an entry for the Vodacom Durban July, but was scratched after the Daisy Fillies Guineas and will stick to the fillies route.

Drier’s Grade 1 day started badly on Saturday when his joint favourite for the Allan Robertson Outlandos D’Amour finished unplaced.

He said he did not want to use the long delay at the start as an excuse but added, “She is usually so laid back, but she was in a muck sweat by the time she loaded and then played up in the pens.”

He believed this Captain Al filly would stay further than sprints, but both hers and Sommerlied’s futures would be under discussion.

Drier had three runners in a strong renewal of the Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion and he claimed a fourth place with the Master Of My Fate colt Goliath Heron.

By David Thiselton

Dennis Drier clinched his ninth Grade 1 victory at Scottsville this decade when Sommerlied won the SA Fillies Sprint on Saturday and it provided an eighth victory in the space of ten years for the progeny of Avontuur Thoroughbred Farm stallions.

Avontuur have been closely associated with the Festival Of Speed meeting in this period through their stallion Var, the sire of Sommerlied. Their newer stallion Oratorio has now joined the party as he scored a one-two in Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion courtesy of the Tobie Spies-trained Van Halen and the Dennis Bosch-trained Cue The Music.

The four-year-old filly Sommerlied is the holder of the Scottsville 1000m course record but proved she could stay 1200m when winning the Grade 3 Poinsettia in yielding going at Scottsville four weeks ago at odds of 16/1. Ominously, the yard said she had still probably needed that run, her first since returning from a highly disappointing campaign in Cape Town, so it was surprising she was allowed to go off at odds of 15/1 on Saturday.

Sommerlied (Candiese Marnewick)

She jumped well from draw four under Sean Veale and the writing was on the wall for her opponents by the 500m mark as the speedy Jo’s Bond had provided her with a perfect tow. Veale then switched her inward and she was still full of running when hitting the front at the 300m mark. She fended off the favourite Magical Wonderland to win cosily by 1,5 lengths with another KZN horse, Neptune’s Rain, a short-head back in third. Vaughan Marshall’s The Secret Is Out, a previous Grade 1 Allan Robertson winner, emulated her full-sister and stablemate Canukeepitsecret, who had earlier finished fourth in the Alan Robertson. Jo’s Bond was one position worse than last year in fifth.

Drier has walked away with at least one Grade 1 trophy from this meeting in every year this decade apart from 2016. It started with Link Man winning the Gold Medallion in 2010, then Val De Ra won the SA Fillies Sprint in 2011. Potent Power, Captain Of All, Guiness, Seventh Plain and Sand And Sea won the Gold Medallion in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively, Captain Of All won the Tsogo Sun Sprint in 2015 and Sommerlied made it nine this decade. Drier’s first Scottsville Grade 1 success was way back in 1990 with Spook and Diesel in the Gold Medallion, then known as the Smirnoff Plate.

Var’s run at this meeting began in 2008 when the Vaughan Marshall-trained Villandry won the Gold Medallion. He produced the winner of the SA Fillies Sprint for three years in succession from 2011 courtesy of Val De Ra and the Duncan Howells-trained Via Africa, who won it twice in a row. In 2012 and 2013 he also produced the winner of the Tsogo Sun Sprint through the Charles Laird-trained pair Contador and Normanz.

Sommerlied became Var’s career eighth individual Grade 1 winner and his progeny have now scored 16 Grade 1 victories in total. He is a speed stallion yet his greatest progeny was the magnificent miler Variety Club.

In Saturday’s Gold Medallion the previously unbeaten colt Cue The Music looked set to justify favouritism. He had been up with the pace throughout and kicked ahead at the 400m mark. Unfortunately, he had not had any cover throughout and began wobbling under the right-handed stick in the final 300m. The strapping gelding Van Halen was thus able to reverse form with him under a fine ride by Craig Zackey, who got him up by a quarter-of-a-length. It was the wrong order for Avontuur as they bred Cue The Music, who is a half-brother to Val De Ra. Van Halen’s slow start turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Zackey had originally intended to “bowl him” in front due to his tremendous speed. Zackey had felt he was a 1000m specialist the first-time he rode him and praised the Spies yard for the stamina work they had put into him. Van Halen showed a tremendous turn of foot from off the pace.

Oratorio was described by Timeform of 2005 as “sturdy, good-bodied, who usually impressed in appearance.” He has stamped his progeny and Van Halen is a classic example as he is a magnificent specimen. Cue The Music is also strongly built and like Val De Ra has a magnificent racing temperament.

The purchase of Oratorio was a coup for Avontuur as he was one of the legendary Danehill’s best sons on the racecourse and before his first crop had raced here he had already produced over 40 stakes winners around the world.

By David Thiselton

Brett Crawford proved at Scottsville that the practice of protecting handicap marks can be counter-productive when his three-year-old Bold Silvano gelding Bold Respect clinched the Listed In Full Flight Handicap/Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint double.

Brett Crawford

In 2015 Crawford had Gulf Storm well enough to win the In Full Flight Handicap and despite the horse being raised nine points for that win he went on to finish second in the Tsogo Sun Sprint to the brilliant Captain Of All.

Bold Respect was also in good enough shape to win the In Full Flight in his SA Champions Season pipe opener four weeks ago. He was raised five points by the handicapper but the effort in going all out in that race not only brought him to his peak, but it also gave the yard confidence. Crawford had pointed out last week a first outing at Scottsville was always tough for a horse and they would likely be better in their next attempt. Bold Respect duly more than made up the required 2,5kg improvement by winning the Tsogo Sun even more easily. In the In Full Flight he beat his stable companion Sunset Eyes by half-a-length and on 1kg worse terms beat him by 2,5 lengths in the Tsogo Sun. Sunset Eyes finished third, 0,75 lengths behind the Dorrie Sham-trained Pinnacle Peak, who made it a Grade 1 runner up double. It was a rare one-two for three-year-olds in the race. Sham said after the Querari gelding had finished second in the Computaform Sprint that she was thrilled to just have a runner in the SA Champions Season. Pinnacle Peak gave Bold Respect half-a-kilogram and will no doubt be back to contest the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint.

Bold Respect jumped well and Corne Orffer was happy to let him use his big action in front. Pinnacle Peak lay second throughout on the outside. The perfect horse for Scottsville’s tough track is one that has both the speed to free-wheel down the hill and then produce a kick to put the opposition under pressure when the climb begins at the 500m mark. Bold Respect duly responded well to Orffer’s urging at the 400m mark and his long stride did the rest. He never looked in danger of defeat and justified 113-20 second favouritism. The favourite Kasimir, jumping from draw one, moved up well at the 400m mark but his effort petered out and his sixth place completed a day to forget for the national champion elect yard of Justin Snaith.

Bold Respect, considering the speed and class he showed, will likely start favourite for the Mercury Sprint. On Saturday he received 3kg from the Computaform Sprint winner Attenborough and beat him by four lengths.

This was Crawford’s first Grade 1 win this season. Last year he won six, including the Rising Sun Gold Challenge with Captain America, who runs in the same Delmar and Lance Sherrell-owned black and white colours as Bold Respect.

By David Thiselton

Jeff Lloyd will have his final throw of the Vodacom Durban July dice on board Rocket Countdown if the Selangor Cup winner makes the cut.

The Guv’nor’s rides on the big day are being organised by Deez Dayanand but his trip is sponsored by Kuda Insurance whose managing director Wehann Smith is part-owner of Rocket Countdown – and the booking was confirmed straight after the horse finished second to the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge in Saturday’s Winter Classic.

Jeff Lloyd (Supplied)

At the moment the gelding is just one of seven listed immediately below the July log’s top twenty but he has crowd-pulling appeal way above the other six. In addition to his legendary jockey, who will be bidding to finally win the great race at the 26^th attempt and will hang up his boots shortly afterwards, the horse is trained by the history-making Candice Bass-Robinson who became the first of her sex to train the winner (Marinaresco) last year and in her first season at that.

She has been in blistering form all this season and she has no doubt about her horse’s claims to get into the race, saying: “Why shouldn’t he get in? He deserves his place in the line-up after winning a Grade 2, he was giving weight all round in the Winter Classic, he will enjoy Greyville and he has a turn of foot. I want him to run.”

Oh Susanna, who could create a vacancy as Snaith Racing has said that she is only 50:50 to run, is a prohibitive 4-10 for the Woolavington at Greyville on Saturday, her first race since winning the Sun Met. World Sports Betting quotes Fiorella as 11-2 second favourite and goes 11-1 Lady In Black, 13-1 Elusive Heart, 22-1 and upwards others.

Daisy Guineas winner and leading Durban July fancy Do It Again is 7-2 favourite for the Daily News on the same card with Surcharge on 5-1, Pack Leader next at 6-1 and Majestic Mambo on 15-2.

By Michael Clower

Eric Sands and Chris Gerber yesterday tossed the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge into the Vodacom Durban July mix and the effect on the ante-post market could be like an unexploded grenade.

The Wilgerbosdrift/Mauritzfontein-bred Ideal World gelding is unbeaten in three starts and he won Saturday’s Highlands Stud Winter Classic decisively, despite throwing away most of his best cards with almost reckless abandon. Even so a July supplementary for such an inexperienced horse looked, in the immediate aftermath anyway, about as likely as tearing the guts out of him over a mile and a half in the mud of the Winter Derby.

After all the Queen’s Plate and the Sun Met are already on the horizon. But Gerber knows that it can sometimes pay to strike while the iron is hot rather than play the long game, and Sands has on occasion had more disappointments served up than breakfast.

Rainbow Bridge (Liesl King)

After yesterday morning’s repast he issued an upbeat bulletin, saying: “Rainbow Bridge pulled up fairly well – apart from a little bit of warmth in one joint – and it is now the intention to go the July route provided the horse is 100%.”

Richard Fourie’s mount was backed down to odds-on at Kenilworth on Saturday – when the word soft appeared in the going description for the first time since last September – but his backers could hardly believe it when they say him so close to the pace. “He was tugging the whole way. He never came back to Richard,” said the trainer.

Fourie candidly admitted: “I thought I rode a bad race. I was going to try to be three or four lengths off them but then he started over-racing. I now think that he is better switched off sitting last but he is a quality horse with a very bright future.”

Rocket Countdown, conceding a kilo, was beaten a length and Doublemint was half a length further back third although Callan Murray was left under no illusions about finishing any closer – “The winner dropped a gear and he was never coming back.”

Certainly the winner’s merit rating considerably understates his ability. Handicapping rules meant that he could not be raised higher than 84 for his Winter Guineas win and a further ten points is the maximum he can get for this.

Joey Ramsden might have been concentrating more on Scottsville but he still found time to plot Call To Account’s victory in the Olympic Duel Stakes. Drawn on the unfavoured inside, he advised Donovan Dillon to resist the temptation to tack across. Only three horses stayed with Bernard Kantor’s Captain Al filly but, unexpectedly, they occupied the first three places. The 2-1 favourite was doing well to be racing at all as she fractured her off-fore last year.

Ramsden also won the third feature, the Stormsvlei Mile, with Fresnaye on whom an inspired Fourie came from miles back to get up inside the last 50m.

Finally, as you finish reading this, spare a thought for Ronnie Sheehan. The octogenarian, battling all sorts of illnesses (and now a lung infection as well) in the Panorama Medi-Clinic, has been in racing over much of the southern half of Africa for almost 70 years. He is down to a handful of horses but the aptly-named Over Again was his second winner in a week – and he was on at 8-1!

By Michael Clower