Frankel is going to leave his mark on South Africa and General Franco’s impressive debut at Kenilworth yesterday indicated that he is going to be one of those to do it.

Miss Frankel has won a Listed race but, with all due respect to her, the CTS sale-topper looks as if he is going to be in a different league. A chestnut, with three long white socks, he started favourite for the opening Maiden Juvenile Plate and accelerated like a machine to lead 200m out to romp away and win easily. When Richard Fourie glanced left there was nothing there. The official margin over second-placed Three Two Charlie was three and a half lengths but even that hardly did justice to the impression he created.

Fourie said: “He wasn’t giving me any sort of feel early on and I thought to myself ‘He is probably going to need it.’ Going through the 400 he saw daylight and then he was a completely different horse. He wanted to be in front and he picked it up so quickly that he carved through the field and ran all the way to the line. He caught me by surprise but he is a quality horse and he is going places.”

He was meant to be doing that in the Listed race on Met day and he was favourite when sore shins forced his withdrawal. He was bought as a yearling for R4 million by John Freeman for Jack Mitchell and his daughter Nancy Hossack. Mitchell is in America being treated for serious illness and, as Freeman said, this performance will be a massive tonic.

“We are not comfortable paying that sort of money for horses, especially with the current stakes, but he has now proved that he was a good buy,” said Jono Snaith. “He is a horse we would like to earmark for the Cape Guineas and if he continues like this he could be a stallion one day. We might now put him away for a bit. Certainly we won’t go for all the juvenile features. He might run in one of them but that would be all.”

The stable failed to follow up with the much vaunted Amy Johnson in the fillies equivalent. She seemed to have trouble going the pace but ran a highly promising third. “She is lovely,” said Fourie. “She is not a five furlong horse but I was impressed that she was able to keep up.”

The race was won by the Fosters’ well supported Mirage, a R500 000 Captain Al confidently handled by M.J. Byleveld. “She is special and I think she has a really bright future,” said Vaughan Marshall. “She will go a mile so we are in no hurry with her.”

S’Manga Khumalo took a crashing fall when Ibra fell – for no obvious reason – in second place 100m out. He lay on the ground for quite some time and was taken by ambulance to Rondebosch Hospital reporting of a headache and a sore neck plus a possible left thumb injury.

By Michael Clower

El’ Zara could become the first two-year-old to win in open company in KZN when she lines up in the first at Greyville this evening.

Louis Goosen’s filly takes on what is a fairly modest field of maidens after putting in two promising sprints against her own age group and bookmakers have her in the red.

Both starts were on the turf at Scottsville and she showed good pace before being run out f it late. The switch to the poly should be beneficial and she can get the better of She’s A Crusade and Variety Concert.

Belther, beaten a nostril by stable companion Popova last time out is at the top of the boards along with Ruby Slippers setting Lyle Hewitson up against Anton Marcus. Alistair Gordon’s came from well back when beaten by Popova and Ruby Slippers has been knocking at the door for Doug Campbell.

Better value could be the 6-1 about La Duchesse. Paul Gadsby filly has improved since racing in blinkers although her last run is best ignored as she was run into from behind and eased out of the race. She has the best of the draw and goes well on the poly.

Caliente is a weak favourite for the fourth and makes a return to home turf in the fourth after a largely disappointing spell in Cape Town. However, he was up against stronger when fourth behind Grand Silvano and he will have his supporters.

Hewitson teams up with the Duncan Howells runner Jet Stream who is having his second run after a break and looks fair value at 7-1 in the market. He made most of the running before behind run down late over the Scottsville 1950m and a switch to the poly over a shorter trip should make him a big runner.

The fifth is something of a punter’s nightmare with any number of runners in with winning chances. However, Philae is long overdue another visit to the winner’s enclosure after running up a string of places, mostly against stronger opposition than what she meets tonight. The handicappers have been reluctant to drop her in the ratings because of her consistency but she has plenty in her favour here. Marcus has stuck with Nattie Kotzen’s filly Master Keys after her convincing win last time out and the stable is in form with Cumulus carrying the same colours to victory at Scottsville on Sunday.

Wayne Badenhorst is quietly making a name for himself and Isovar steps out under is care for the first time in the sixth, the filly acquired off the Chris Gerber dispersal and previously trained by Alec Laird. She has some patchy form but two of her most recent outings have been in Assessment Plates where anything can happen.

Candice Bass will be looking to Hopeful to open her winter season account after a smart last outing at Durbanville but she does appear to be a better proposition over a mile and further.

The last two races look nigh impossible to peg down with any confidence but Mambo Lyric was a close-up second to the well-fancied Mocha Rose last time out and could fit the bill in the seventh while Louis Goosen has three runners in the last with Yaas and Bravo Zulu the likely pick but with bookmakers offering 9-2 the field, punters should know what they are up against.

By Andrew Harrison

The 90-winner rural racing hero Philisande Mxoli was accepted into the South African Jockeys Academy (SAJA) at the beginning of the year and is already making an impact riding work.

Philisande, now 20-years-old, started riding in rural races in the Eastern Cape at the age of thirteen. 

Unlike KZN rural racing, in which the racing gait is limited to trotting, the Eastern Cape has races in both galloping and trotting gaits.

Therefore, Philisande arrived at the Academy with experience in riding “short” (short stirrup straps and thus high in the saddle) at a flat out gallop.

Furthermore, he clearly has BMT as he has won the “Berlin November” twice. The latter is the equivalent of the Vodacom Durban July in Eastern Cape rural racing. His winning mounts in the Berlin November were Remember and Final Judgement (not to be confused with the former Glen Kotzen-trained filly of that name).

The rural races take place on fields, as opposed to the racecourses of professional racing, and the distances Philisande was racing over were 1000m, 1200m and 1400m.

Philisande has taken well to the Academy and is enjoying himself.

Lopez Mogongo and his team look for Academy candidates around the country every year and do the assessments. Philisande was one of two picked from the rural racing organisation. He was accepted as he had the right physical attributes, he did well in the fitness tests, he had natural balance and his experience counted in his favour as he already had good hands.

He has been the first of this latest in-take to make it to track and has been riding at Ashburton for the like of Duncan Howells and Belinda Impey and also for private trainer Doug Campbell.

He has impressed a number of watchers and has already been given the responsibility of galloping horses on the grass.

Philisande spoke of his appreciation for this opportunity and said he had been working with the riding masters on adapting his style.

Riding Master Laurence O’Donoghue said, “He is doing very well. He has nice hands and is a good horsemen and is a quiet well mannered and respectful young man. We like him a lot.”

Philisande said he was expecting to have his first race ride next year.

Meanwhile, Joshua Solomons had his first race ride on Sunday at Scottsville, finishing unplaced on the Michael Roberts-trained Master Of Fire over 1200m in a Maiden Plate.

O’Donoghue said this Capetonian now had promise, having overcome some early trials and tribulations as one who had never sat on a horse before arriving at the Academy.     

On Thursday Gabriel Pieterse will be making his debut on the Grant Maroun-trained Singaswewin in an Apprentice Handicap over 1000m at the Vaal. Gabriel hails from Lusaka in Zambia. He was a Zambian champion motocross rider and also played polocrosse, so arrived with riding experience.

Two apprentices, Cole Dickens and Tyrell Maharaj, are presently in the UK. They are there for four weeks to complete the International Apprentice Course at the British Racing School campus in Newmarket.

SAJA has partnered with the British Racing School (BRS), through funding from The Childwick Trust, which enables two of its Apprentices to have such an opportunity annually. Cole and Tyrell are the fourth set of South African Apprentice Jockeys selected.

The pair will be based in Johannesburg after arriving home and will start riding in races immediately.

By David Thiselton

With a feature race stakes pot of some R30-million for owners and another R17-million also available to them for supporting events during the three-month feast of high-class thoroughbred racing from May to July, South Africa’s Champions Season in KwaZulu-Natal is ready and set to blast off at Greyville in Durban at the end of next week.

The Independent On Saturday evening race meeting at the Theatre of Champions on Friday, May 3, will open the feast of 51 feature events that will attract the best horses from the leading stables in the country, promising racegoers, general racing fans and the average public plenty of excitement and entertainment throughout the three-month programme.

Champions Season, one of the biggest and most comprehensive festivals of racing in the world that attracts international interest, includes feature race involvement of all categories of racing from the exciting juveniles to the mature stars over distances from 1 000m to 3 200m with Africa’s greatest racing event, the world famous R4.25-million, Vodacom Durban July, standing out as the iconic centerpiece of the festival and the 13 Grade 1 races to be run.

A total of 34 graded races will be staged with the R600 000, Grade 2 KRA Guineas, R500 000, Grade 2 KRA Fillies Guineas and the R500 000, Grade 2 Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes getting the festival action under way.

Traditionally, the R500 000, Grade 2 World Sports Betting 1900 at Greyville on May 18 is where the preparation for the Vodacom Durban July begins “on site” and over the years a number of runners that have won the tough 1 900m race have gone on to win the premier event.

There are five “super” days during the season, the first being the unique Tsogo Sun Sprint meeting at Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg on May 25 where four Grade 1 sprints over 1 200m will be run. The best speed horses in South Africa gather at the venue for the R1-million Tsogo Sun Sprint, the R750 000 South African Fillies Sprint and the first two Grade 1 events for juveniles, the R750 000 Gold Medallion and the R750 000 Allan Robertson Championship for fillies.

The country’s top three-year-olds take centre stage a week later on June 1 in the R2-million, Grade 1 Daily News 2000 and the R1-million, Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 at Greyville. It is from the three-year-old ranks that the champions of the future emerge and a number of winners at this meeting have gone on to win the Vodacom Durban July, other major events and international success.

The battle for a place in the final 18-horse field for the Vodacom Durban July will close on June 8 with the running of the R1-million, Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge and the Grade 3 Cup Trial with the meeting also featuring the Grade 2 Tibouchina Stakes and six other exciting feature events.

With the feature programme continuing at pace over the following weeks the Grade 2 Post Merchants will provide a “sprint breather” before the Track & Ball “Derby” and Track & Ball “Oaks” at Scottsville with the KZN Breeders Club adding excitement to the festival with the eight-race programme for horses qualifying under the terms of the KZN Breeders Series headed by the R1-million KZN Breeders Million Mile.

Vodacom Durban July day dawns on Saturday, July 6, when some 50 000 excited fans will fill the Greyville racecourse for the 12-race feast headed by the R4.25-million, iconic Grade 1 “July” over 2 200m. With an exciting entertainment programme, fashion shows and parties raging in the massive marquee village, racing goes through to the evening including the R1-million, Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes and the two Grade 2 Juvenile clashes over 1 400m, the Durban Golden Horseshoe and the Golden Slipper.

The racing action continues through July and includes the New Turf Carriers Rider Cup where provincial teams will do battle before Champions Season comes to a dramatic close with the grand finale on Saturday, July 27, featuring the famous R1.25-million, eLAN Gold Cup over 3 200m, the R1-million World Sports Betting Champions Cup over 1 800m, the R1-million Grade 1 Mercury Sprint, the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes and the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes, both worth R750 000.

Ends

The racing future of Horse of the Year Oh Susanna hangs in the balance after the 2018 Sun Met winner managed only fourth when starting favourite for last Saturday’s HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes. But Justin Snaith has vowed to make no more overnight attempts to beat the altitude.

He said yesterday: “That was my final effort and I won’t be doing it again. There are certain things in life that you can beat but unfortunately nature isn’t one of them, and I have come to the point where I think I have tried enough – barring sending the horse to Jo’burg for three or four months beforehand. Indeed I had a sleepless night worrying about the altitude and about her travelling up to Jo’burg in the dark.

“The horse is fine – it just didn’t work out – but we are discussing her future at the moment including whether or not she will carry on racing.”

The Drakenstein homebred has already earned a place in South African racing history as the first three-year-old filly to win the Met since Chair Lady in 1902.

By Michael Clower

Justin Snaith introduces a pair of potentially high class two-year-olds at Kenilworth today and, despite certain reservations on the part of their trainer, it just might be worth siding with both of them.

General Franco, a R4 million CTS sale topper by wonder horse Frankel out of a Kingmambo mare from the family of Pilsudksi, has already been backed from 22-10 to 14-10 for the opening Maiden Juvenile Plate while the dogs have been barking about the Captain Al filly Amy Johnson who appeals at 9-2 for the fillies race 35 minutes later.

“They are both exciting babies but they have got to go out there and prove it,” says Snaith. “I don’t think General Franco is a 1 000m horse and whether Amy Johnson can win over the trip first time up is also a hard ask.

“General Franco is a beautiful individual and is everything I hoped he would turn into. We will give him a little bit of a chance early on – I want him to settle and train on to go round the turn – but if he fires up at the end I think he will be in the shake-up. Indeed I will be disappointed if he isn’t.”

Snaith also runs the more experienced Shinnecock  (22-10) – “He has had two decent runs and is very quick.” However he was beaten at odds-on on both his starts so punters may fight shy of him.

Fighter (8-1) showed promise first time and Paul Reeves says: “He has his work cut out but he will run a nice race.”

S’Manga Khumalo rides in the first three races for Joey Ramsden and 9-1 chance Stormin Norman (a R550 000 Var colt from the family of Horse Chesnut) can be expected to go well. Riding arrangements suggest that 7-1 newcomer Chaac (a R250 000 Soft Falling Rain) is preferred to fellow newcomer Three Two Charlie – “Chaac is a nice horse but he might be run off his feet over 1 000m,” fears Candice Bass-Robinson.

Most of the money so far in the fillies race has been for the Vaughan Marshall R500 000 Captain Al Mirage (backed from 7-2 to 18-10 with WSB) but Amy Johnson might just be good enough. “There is something about her and she could have that X factor,” says her trainer. “She is going to go close and, if she is as good as we think she is, she will be impressive.”

But don’t ignore Sailing Ship despite her 10-1 price. Candice Bass-Robinson says she could be ready enough “if the 1 000m does not prove too quick.” The betting also points to Ibra (33-10) even though she made a noise first time and was scratched with a dirty trach wash 17 days ago.

Drama Queen appeals in the fillies winners’ race (2.40pm) and the fact that 5-2 favourite Heaven’s Embrace (race six) is Anton Marcus’s only ride of the day is a tip in itself.

By Michael Clower

After discussion between Handicappers, Camphoratus had her rating increased from 95 to 105 following her last-stride win in the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes over 1600m at Turffontein (standside) on Saturday.  There is no reason to doubt Camphoratus’s performance as she did win the Grade 3 Flamboyant Stakes at Greyville in December and she has now won in her first attempt at Grade 1 level.

In assessing the race, it was agreed that the right key horse to use was third placed Nafaayes to the 103 she actually achieved when she won the Grade 2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas (over the same course-and-distance as the Empress Club Stakes) and again when she finished second in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic. Nafaayes has been highly consistent and seems to be a logical choice of line horse.

Running Brave goes up from 99 to 104 after she finished a close second in the Empress Club.  She had finished behind Nafaayes in both the Gauteng Fillies Guineas and in the SA Fillies Classic and it seems obvious enough that she must have run a better race here.  Nafaayes was dropped from 107 to 106 and is now the equal of fifth placed Celtic Sea (whom she also beat in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas).

In other changes, Oh Susanna was dropped from 119 to 118 and so remains higher than Lady In Black (117), who finished second behind Oh Susanna in the Grade 1 Paddock Stakes during the Cape summer season.  Fiorella drops from 102 to 100, Fresnaye was dropped from 110 to 108 following two below-par efforts since she arrived on the Highveld.  Ghaalla has been dropped from 102 to 100, Cascapedia goes from 109 to 107, and Al Danza has had her rating cut from 104 to 102.

NHA

A third successive Langerman winner for Vaughan Marshall? And could this be yet another Captain Al-sired Cape Guineas winner for him?

Doubtless the Milnerton trainer will be throwing up his hands in horror at such chicken-counting predictions but Captain Of Stealth again delivered the goods like Pegasus incarnate in the opener at Durbanville on Saturday.

Starting almost unbackable at 1-3, he was nudged into the lead almost from the off and 400m out he was asked to quicken. He was then shown the whip to make sure he got the message and, when MJ Byleveld looked back it was almost as if he himself couldn’t believe it. Twice more he turned his head round while his mount coasted home six lengths to the good.

“He was giving weight to two of the others and you are always seeing horses getting beaten when they do this,” he said, explaining why he kept looking round. “I know it’s early days yet but I think this horse is special. He is very good and his big asset is his speed.”

Marshall added: “You are always a bit worried that the first run might have been a fluke but his work at home has been phenomenal and this is what I expected. He is very good. We will see how he comes out of this but the Langerman is at the end of June and we will see how we go.”

The winner’s task was undoubtedly made a bit easier by the enforced withdrawal of Minnesota Dream but beating two previous winners by six lengths easing up takes some doing, and this is an exciting prospect even if he does not look the most straightforward of rides. On the way to the start he veered right instead of left at the bend past the stands and refused to stop until he had taken his jockey almost back into the parade ring.

Owner Pat Firestone sported a tie in his yellow and blue colours and his partner in the horse, John Habib, took things a colourful stage further with a shirt to match! “We are thrilled that the Captain came back and won so easily again,” said Firestone. “We have a lot to look forward to and we are very excited.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s enforced absence cost him a winner on Celestial Storm in the next (Corne Orffer deputised) and possibly another on Lip Service. Keagan de Melo replaced him in the fillies maiden, had trouble securing a clear run and was only beaten a fast-dwindling three-quarters of a length by Bella Summer.

De Melo had some compensation on the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Var’s Boy while Justin Snaith, out of luck with Oh Susanna at Turffontein, struck with Jailhouse Rock and What A Red.

By Michael Clower

Bernard Fayd’Herbe was lucky to escape serious injury when Minnesota Dream took fright in the pens for the opening juvenile plate at Durbanville on Saturday.

Viewers, both on TV and at the racecourse, looked on in horror as the gelding repeatedly bounced himself from one side to the other, crashing violently against the metal framework, before Fayd’Herbe reached up to the stanchions above him and pulled himself clear of danger.

The jockey, who had arrived back from Dubai less than two hours before the race, was stood down on medical advice for one race after another before going off to hospital for x-rays with a suspected broken foot.

However he reported yesterday: “Fortunately there is nothing broken. I am badly bruised on both feet, my knee and my neck but it’s nothing serious. I will try to be back riding by Tuesday and, if not, I will be back by Friday.

“The damage happened when he went back and I got caught between the horse and the back gate. Then I hit my head on top of the gates when he flipped up. I managed to grab onto the top bar and pull myself up. I was lucky.”

Minnesota Dream somehow got his right front leg over the partition in the process and was withdrawn by the vet. However Joey Ramsden’s assistant Ricardo Sobotker said that the horse was OK afterwards. He has had his starting stall certificate withdrawn.

Eric Sands is to work Rainbow Bridge at Greyville for the first time next week as he prepares the Sun Met winner for his bid to achieve a lifetime’s ambition for new owner Mike Rattray in the Vodacom Durban July.

The four-year-old, who sweats buckets every time he goes into a float, travelled to Summerveld from Milnerton last Tuesday and took the journey surprisingly well. “I was pleased with how he travelled,” said Sands. “Anton Marcus has already cantered him at Summerveld, we show him the track next week and his first race there will be the Independent on Saturday Drill Hall on May 3.”

By Michael Clower

A long held plan came to fruition at Turffontein Standside on Saturday when the Robbie and Shannon Hill-trained Camphoratus upset some big fish in the wfa HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes over 1600m and thus the stallion Byword, who now serves as a teaser, gained a first Grade 1 winner.

Robbie Hill is based at Summerveld but has been up at Randjesfontein since March 2 training just two horses, Camphoratus and Red Chesnut Road, for target races in Johannesburg.

He said, “When Camphoratus won the Flamboyant Stakes (on December 26 over 1600m at Greyville) we felt she was good enough to compete in the Empress Club and the plan was put in place.”

She was a 36/1 shot in the Flamboyant but Hill pointed out her previous bare form had not told the whole story.

He said, “She had a bad habit earlier in her career of messing around in the starting stalls. They have now begun accommodating her but prior to that she was not getting away on terms.”

After the Flamboyant the four-year-old filly ran a 2,80 length fifth in a Pinnacle event over 1500m at Scottsville on February 10. 

She arrived in Johannesburg on the morning of the Grade 3 Acacia Handicap over 1600m at Turffontein Standside on March 2.

Hill said, “She ran not a bad race there.”

Then when she finished second in the Listed Jacaranda Handicap over 1800m at Turffontein Standside on March 30, carrying joint topweight of 57,5kg, it confirmed the Empress Club Stakes plan should go ahead.

Hill does not believe 1800m stretches her and said, “Gareth (Wright) sent her for home too soon in the Jacaranda, he made a mistake. My only instruction on Saturday was to sit and wait and not go too early.”

Wright followed the instruction to a tee. Camphoratus clearly had a ton in hand in the straight when held together in midfield. He pressed the button at the 400m mark and she then showed what Hill describes as her “unbelievable acceleration”. Wright had to switch her inward and she then became involved in a stirring dual with the narrow Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas runner up Running Brave. Camphoratus surged in the final strides to win by a neck.

She had been the third lowest rated horse in the field off a merit rating of 95 and had not surprising started at odds of 66/1.

Among the defeated in a star-studded field was the 119 merit rated reigning Equus Horse Of The Year Oh Susanna. The trip was short of her optimum and she could only stay on at one pace from a handy position to finish a 2,20 length fourth. 

The Gauteng Fillies Guineas and Ipi Tombe winner Nafaayes, merit rated 107, was third and other beaten horses were the Graded-winning stars Celtic Sea, Fiorella, Fresnaye, Ghaalla, Cascapedia and Redberry Lane as well as last year’s narrow Empress Club runner up Al Danza.    

Hill, who stood on the stands and said he had remained surprisingly calm as the drama unfolded, added, “She obviously relished the soft conditions and some others might not have liked it, but it was nice that the plan came together.”

In contradiction, Byword’s sire Peintre Celbre had relished fast ground when winning the 1997 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by five lengths. However, he did also win a heavy ground Group 1. Byword’s only Group 1 win, in the Prince Of Wales Stakes over a mile and two furlongs at the Royal Ascot meeting, also came on fast ground, although he did manage two stakes wins on good to soft going.

Byword defeated none other than Twice Over in the Prince Of Wales but at stud in South Africa, starting in the same 2013/2014 season, their respective paths have followed divergent courses. Byword was originally with Rob Pickering’s Middlefield stud in the KZN Midlands but after one season he was transferred to Mauritzfontein Stud. Pickering felt that was the right move and still had high hopes for him. However, with just one decent horse in his first two crops it was soon apparent he was not going to make it in an ultra competitive environment where buyers expect early results. He was thus demoted to a role of teaser stallion at Wilgerbosdrift Stud. However, stud manager Guy Murdoch of Mauritzfontein said, “After yesterday’s Grade 1 we might have to reconsider.”

Camphoratus was bred by Pickering. She is out of the unraced Horse Chestnut mare Wild Camphor, whose only other foal, Scent Of The Tiger (Tiger Ridge), was a four-time winner.

Hill picked Camphoratus out at the BSA KZN Yearling Sale at Sibaya and said, “The chief reason I liked her was her beautifully big girth and she was also very well balanced.”

He bought her up for what has proved a bargain R50,000.

Camphoratus travelled home to Summerveld on Saturday night. Her obvious target SA Champions Season target is the Grade 1 wfa Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes. Her fine turn of foot is an asset at the tight Greyville circuit. 

Meanwhile, Hill is preparing Red Chesnut Road for a crack at the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m at Turffontein on May 4.

This horse was a top prospect as a two-year-old but has been plagued by injury since developing a bone sequestrem beneath the hock. A bone sequestrem is when a piece of dead bone detaches itself from the healthy bone.

“He is a hard horse to train,” admitted Hill.

However, the five-year-old Pathfork gelding proved he stays middle distances when “settling beautifully” and running second in the Listed Michael Roberts Handicap over 1750m last year and he later finished a decent fourth to Head Honcho in the umThombothi Stakes over 1950m.

Hill concluded, “If I can get him 100% right on the day he is a proper horse and will have a shout.”

By David Thiselton