The Justin Snaith-Callan Murray combination, two winners at Kenilworth a week ago, can take advantage of a favourable draw to score with 5-1 shot Township Melody at the Cape Town course today.

Justin Snaith

This filly has a fair bit to find with 12-10 favourite Sequined on handicap ratings in the Betting World Maiden, and she is assessed three points below Heart Of A Legend, but she is drawn four and they are going to start towards the outside. Over this 1 400m that can count for a lot and the lightly-raced Township appears to be on the upgrade.

The It’s a Rush Welcome Maiden makes for a difficult start for punters but Danger Rock opened 11-2 favourite with World Sports Betting and at that price Grant van Niekerk’s mount makes a lot of appeal. True, Cot Campbell beat him easily last time but he should confirm the placings with the Snaith-trained Magnificent Seven (10-1).

The sahorseracing computer has Dayonaut (backed from 10-1 to 7-1) dead-heating with Danger Rock but the Paul Reeves runner is six-years-old and hasn’t managed to win in nine starts.

The three-year-olds receive only 2kg whereas they should be getting 5.5kg more under the weight-for-age scale.  That represents four and a half lengths at the distance of this race but the handicappers reckon Danger Rock is over 10kg better than Dayonaut so he should prove the better.

Incidentally three-year-olds won half the Kenilworth all-aged maidens in August last year and the older horses tended to do better in the longer distance races.

The Joey Ramsden-trained Rommel has been nibbled at and he is capable of better than his last run (in April when he started third favourite) would suggest.

Callan Murray

Newcomers don’t win a high percentage of Kenilworth maidens but it is worth noting that Emperors Tractor is out of a half-sister to star sprinter Shea Shea. That said, he has drifted from 10-1 to 14-1. Sabbatical (14-1) is bred to need further.

Orakal has ben supported from 11-1 to 7-1 and Mike Robinson, who has booked Weichong Marwing, can win the Tabonline Handicap with King Of The Corn who is 2-1 favourite and should win by three lengths according to the computer.

The main negative is that his winning run came to an end when the going changed to yielding. Waiting For Rain (5-2) finished a neck in front of him last time but the main danger could well come from Murray’s mount One Direction (22-10).

Pumeza is only first reserve for race two and, although a bit disappointing last time, she stands out on her previous two runs. Tough Love, who wears ear muffs for the first time, has been backed from 6-1 to 15-4 and, if Pumeza doesn’t get a run, this one gets the vote to beat 6-1 shot Waterbaby.

By Michael Clower

Frankie Dettori, whose Cape Derby win in January was to presage a highly successful British season, will be back in South Africa in mid-November as a member of the visiting international jockeys team.

When he heard that Larry Wainstein was contacting potential team members Dettori rang the Racing Association boss and asked: “Is there a seat left on the bus?”

Frankie Dettori (Epsom Races)

Dettori also took part in last year’s competition and rode a double at Turffontein. The other internationals who have accepted are nine times Irish champion Pat Smullen, Hong Kong-based Mauritian Karis Teetan, Brazilian Silvestre de Sousa (champion in Britain in 2015), British-based Italian Andrea Atzeni and Australian Hugh Bowman.

Wainstein said: “The format has changed this year. There will be no Port Elizabeth, just the one day at Turffontein when there will be six races reserved for the competition.”

He added that Kenilworth, dropped in 2015, would have been brought back into the fold last year had the competition not clashed with the big Lanzerac/Selangor Cup day when owners and trainers wanted their own jockeys in the valuable races. The same consideration was likely to apply this year.

By Michael Clower

Supporters of Legal Eagle had their hopes boosted for tomorrow evening’s Equus Horse of the Year Award when he was voted the winner of the Cape Breeders’ version at a dinner near Stellenbosch last Wednesday.

But the Western Province chapter of the Racing Association also gives its awards at the function and in this one Legal Eagle was usurped for the premier prize by Captain America. It might have been a surprise to some but it was greeted with cheers by those involved with the Gold Challenge winner, and Lance Sherrell led the charge to the stage displaying much of the gusto and dash he used to reserve for rugby internationals.

Legal Eagle (Liesl King)

As Cape Breeders deputy chairman James Armitage pointed out, Western Cape-bred horses won the vast majority of last season’s 30 Grade 1 races (Klawervlei alone bred the winners of seven of them) and nearly half went to horses sired by Captain Al, Dynasty or Silvano.

Derek Brugman, accepting the owner of the year award on behalf of Mayfair Speculators, predicted: “One day when we start exporting you guys will reap the rewards you deserve.”

But he also pointed to the recent increase in stakes saying: “Three years ago we raced for R56 million and this year we raced for R96 million. We are going to keep pushing and we are aiming for R150 million.”

The huge prize money on offer in sales restricted races has played a major part in the increase but it was Brett Crawford who dominated the awards, with horses trained by him winning six of them. He himself was presented with an exceptional achievement award.

Similarly honoured was Candice Bass-Robinson for becoming the first of her sex to train a Durban July winner and for having such a sensational first season. “I got lucky this year,” she said modestly but the audience rose to their feet just as they had done for her father 12 months earlier. To cap it all last Wednesday was her birthday as well as National Women’s Day.

Justin Snaith, who pipped Crawford for the champion Cape trainer award, caused some amusement by recalling his first few years with a licence “when we used to go to the smaller breeders to pick from the chuck-out paddocks.”

Charles Faull was presented in his absence with a special service industry award and John Koster, accepting Klawervlei’s breeder of the year award, reported that Captain Al’s stable at the stud is to be turned into a museum to honour the outstanding stallion.

He added: “They say a great horse will change your life and a special horse will define it – and that is exactly what happened with us and Captain Al. He was our hero.”

– Triple Grade 1 winner Bela-Bela will start her stud career by visiting Gimmethegreenlight.

By Michael Clower

Sean Tarry won his third National Trainer’s Championships in succession in the season just passed and if he hasn’t already sealed his place among the greats in South African racing history it seems a foregone conclusion he soon will.

The two other Highveld big guns Mike de Kock and Geoff Woodruff were in the top ten again.

Sean Tarry

Tarry smashed his own stakes earnings record. His phenomenal return of R36,109,550 was 1,71 times more than the earnings of second placed Justin Snaith. In terms of dominance this was second in recent times only to De Kock’s 2010/2011 season in which his R21,714,451 earnings were 1,73 times the amount of second-placed Snaith.

Tarry’s 215 winners also broke his 209 mark from last season.

Tarry led the way in Grade 1 wins with seven, achieved through four individuals. He also won eight Grade 2s, seven Grade 3s, five Listed races and twelve Non-Black Type events.

Tarry’s reigning Equus Horse Of The Year Legal Eagle retained his crowns in both the Grade 1 wfa L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and Grade 1 wfa HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes to confirm his invincibility over a mile. However, when bidding to become the first horse since Sea Cottage to retain three Grade 1 crowns in one season, he was beaten into second in the Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m.  He also finished second in the Grade 1 Sun Met over 2000m and won the Grade 2 WSB Green Point Stakes. He has an excellent chance of retaining his Horse Of The Year title, especially considering he was giving 2,5kg to his 1,5 length conqueror in the Met, Whisky Baron, and 1kg to Deo Juvente, who beat him by a neck in the Champions Challenge.

Tarry’s superstar mare Carry On Alice beat the boys in the Grade 1 weight for age (wfa) Betting World Cape Flying Championships over 1000m at Kenilworth and won the Grade 1 South African Fillies Sprint over 1200m at Scottsville for the second time. The latter race was her swansong. Her stablemate Bull Valley also won two Grade 1 sprints, the Tsogo Sun Sprint over 1200m at Scottsville, in which he carried third topweight and won comfortably, and the wfa Mercury Sprint over 1200m at Greyville. He also won a Listed sprint, so headed Carry On Alice in stakes successes. Tarry’s other Grade 1 victory was in the SA Derby with Al Sahem.

Mike De Kock

Tarry’s best day of the season was likely on SA Classic day in which he won the first six races and his haul from 23 runners on the day was seven wins, five seconds, one third, two fourths and a fifth, and the wins included one Grade 1 and three Grade 3s.

De Kock finished fifth on the National log with earnings of R16,879,625. His overseas operations mean his best horses usually leave the country during or after their two-year-old or three-year-old years and he also closed his Summerveld yard during the season. De Kock had five individual Grade 1 winners. He won the SA Fillies Classic with Orchid Island, the Grade 1 SA Classic with Heavenly Blue, the Grade 1 HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes with Nother Russia and two full brothers, Mustaaqeem and Rafeef, won the SA Nursery and Computaform Sprint respectively for him on the same day. Mustaaqeem, an Australian-bred son of Redoute’s Choice, looks to be a particularly exciting prospect. De Kock also won three Grade 2s, two Grade 3s and three Listed races.

Geoff Woodruff won the Grade 1 Sansui Summer Cup for the fourth year in succession as Master Sabina retained his crown. Woodruff’s first and third in the Summer Cup was actually his worst recent return in Johannesburg’s biggest race, which emphasises his dominance. Woodruff also won the Grade 1 Champions Challenge with Deo Juvente. He also won one Grade 2, one Grade 3 and three Listed races. His R12,505,038 earnings put him in sixth place on the log.

Lucky Houdalakis’ Vaal-based yard continued their steady climb up the national log and finished in 13^th place. His 68 winners included a Grade 2 win and two Non-Black Type victories.

Johan Janse van Vuuren also achieved his highest position on the log in 14^th place and his 53 wins included two Grade 2s. He won five Grade 3s, including three at one meeting, two Listed events and three Non-Black Types.

Geoff Woodruff

Mike Azzie finished in 16^th place on the log and at the end of the season re-registered his yard in both his and his son Adam’s name. His 69 wins included a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 victory.

Paul Peter, 17^th on the log, also had 69 winners and a Grade 2 and Grade 3 victory, as well as a Listed win.

Gary Alexander was in 18^th place on the log and had two Grade 2s, one Grade 3 and two Listed wins.

Paul Matchett won the Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championships with Brave Mary and also had a Listed win.

Weiho Marwing did the stayers “Gold” treble with Hermoso Mundo, who won the Grade 3 Gold Bowl, the Grade 3 Gold Vase and the Grade 3 Gold Cup. Marwing  also won two Non-Black type races.

Alec Laird won two Grade 2s and a Listed race.

Joey Soma won the Grade 2 SA Oaks with Wind Chill and he also won a Grade 3.

Candice Dawson won Kimberley’s biggest race, the Non-Black Type RA Mile with Sundari.

Corne Spies won a Grade 3 and two Non-Black Types; Ormond Ferraris won a Grade 3 and a Non-Black Type; Roy Magner, Grant Maroun and Robbie Sage each won a Grade 3 apiece; Louis Goosen and Barend Botes each won a Listed race apiece; Stephen Moffat won a Non-Black Type event.

By David Thiselton

Expensive yearling buy Silva’s Bullet can go a long way to recouping some of his R2.1 million purchase price when he lines up in the BSA August Million Colts & Geldings at Scottsville on Sunday.

This race, along with the filly’s equivalent, the BSA August Million Fillies, is weighted according to purchase price so it’s no surprise that Dean Kannemeyer’s runner shares top weight with the unraced Louis Goosen runner Zen Arcade who went through the ring at R550k, with Broadway Trip getting 2kg relief for the R300k that secured him for Peter White and Mickey Gerber.

Dean Kannemeyer

But big price tags don’t guarantee that a horse can run and the history of the sport is littered with record priced yearlings that battled to get out of their own way let alone win a race. But in the case of Silva’s Bullet, the signs are promising. A son of champion sire Silvano, he was a late starter, only making his debut in the first week of the new season over the Scottsville 1400m, but is a really smart, well-balanced individual who promises much.

His victims on debut will not get their names on jam tins with third-placed War Demon, also in Sunday’s line-up, making major improvement and beaten less than a length. However, it was the manner of victory that stamped Silva’s Bullet as a horse to follow.

Anthony Delpech was ‘at him’ from the jump and the top of the straight the favourite looked to have blown any chance of winning.

“He was lost halfway down the straight, I thought we weren’t going to get there, but he got going in the last 50m. He is smart, he needs further but he wanted to win. He’s got every little thing about him that tells me he’s going to be a decent horse,” commented Delpech post-race.

It is a little surprising that a race with a R1 million stake has a field littered with unraced horse and maidens and it was enough to tempted Alan Greeff up from Port Elizabeth with Kimberley Star. The colt has twice won over the distance and yet to finish further back than second.

He is obviously a smart colt but there is no collateral form to go on and the opposition is likely to prove stronger than what he has met in his home town, so his ability must be taken on trust.

The fillies event could well rest between Spring Breeze and Mind Your Business. Spring Breeze is the first semi-feature event to be saddled jointly by the father and son combination of Michael and Adam Azzie and it may well prove to be a winning debut. The daughter of Querari has been racing in strong feature company, finishing two lengths of Desert Rhythm in the Golden Slipper and a similar distance behind Princess Peach and Neptune’s Rain in the Debutante Stakes on the last day of the season.

Newly crowned KZN Champion Trainer Duncan Howells will have a line on Spring Breeze through Neptune’s Rain and is fairly confident of his chances with Mind Your Business. “I think I only have one horse to beat; that one of Azzie’s,” he said.

Mind Your Business landed an inspired gamble second time at the races, getting going late to beat Dame Commander and giving the impression that Sunday’s trip will be more to her liking.

However, Pearl Glow and Make Me Happy, come from powerful yards in Mike de Kock and Kannemeyer respectively and both showed up well on debut. They both have to give weight to fillies with a relatively proven track record that may prove difficult but it would be foolish to write off their chances.

By Andrew Harrison

Turffontein Standside stages a nine race meeting on Saturday and there will be some good quality horses appearing in three of the events.

The third race is a Conditions Plate for fillies and mares over 1160m. The best in at the weights here is Queen Laurie. She hasn’t run since April but being a sprinter could get away with it. She is very speedy and would prefer 1000m. However, the Turffontein 1160m is a fast course-and-distance and the going conditions on the Highveld are fast at present. Carrying just 53,5kg she might be able to run them off their feet.

The topweight Secret Star has earned her 100 merit rating. She has a tough task on paper with Queen Laurie, whom she has to give 6.5kg instead of what would be just 2,5kg in a handicap. However, she has excellent cruising speed and a telling kick, so it would be no surprise to see her catching Queen Laurie close to home. Biblical Susan is officially 6kg under sufferance with Queen Laurie, but has always struck as a decent type. In the maidens she beat Secret Star over 1200m in October last year and is now 8kg better off with her from that run. Her last start suggests she is starting to come into her own and she should make her presence felt.

Will Pays (Nkosi Hlophe)

Myfunnyvalentine is returning from a six month layoff after disappointing in Cape Town. She finished a close fourth in the Grade 1 Allan Robertson over 1200m as a two-year-old. The form of that race has been muddled, but she did win quite a strong Non-Black type event over 1200m subsequently which proved she might be up to her current merit rating. She is second best in at the weights and is only 0,5kg under sufferance with Queen Laurie so has to be respected. Spring Wonder beat Biblical Susan by 1,1 lengths last time, but is now 3,5kg worse off, so there is not much in it.

The fourth is a MR 104 Handicap over 1160m. Pure Blonde showed good cruising speed over 1200m on the Inside track last time out when leading from start to finish and winning comfortably. He has come into his own and could follow up here despite being given an eight point raise. Will Pays has some class and bounced back to form last time when winning over 1400m. He is equally effective over this trip and is capable of carrying topweight to victory. However, Captain Aldo can reverse the form at the weights, especially considering he went close to the classy Rivarine the last time he tried the course and distance. Unagi has class and some speed, so is interesting dropped in trip. Finchatton should be finishing strongly.

The sixth is a MR 92 Handicap over 2000m. Top Shot is six-year-old now but has decent form if his last run at Greyville is ignored. He enjoys the Standside track and the last time he ran here he jumped from pole position over 1600m and led all the way to beat the decent Irish Pride. He is equally effective over this trip and is the one to beat if bouncing back after that failed Durban raid. He could get a good lead from the front-running Stonehenge.

However, the latter looks to be enjoying the current fast conditions and might keep them all at bay. Amsterdam is ideally distance suited and proved last time over 1800m he is up to his current merit rating. He is 1,5kg better off with Happy Pills for a half-a-length beating over 1800m. The latter is in good form and being by Trippi can continue to progress. He should stay the trip. Lee’s Pick is 1kg under sufferance but there is not much between him and Amsterdam over this trip. Wild Horizon has run in staying trips in his last three but before that won easily over 1800m, so also has a shout from a good draw at a course he enjoys.

By David Thiselton

Anton Marcus – Head Honcho (Middle Stakes)

Bernard Fayd’Herbe – Marinaresco (Vodacom Durban July)

Weichong Marwing – Hermoso Mundo (eLAN Gold Cup).

Eric Ngwane – Matador Man (KZN Breeders Million Mile)

Sean Veale – Lady In Black (Thekwini Stakes)

I fielded an irate phone-call from a concerned punter this week, the caller complaining about the number of odds-on favourites that are getting beaten in KZN. “They should be absolute certainties,” was his opinion, and what were the Stipendiary Stewards doing about it?

Firstly, just because a horse is odds-on in the betting doesn’t guarantee success. There are a host of reasons why an odds-on favourite doesn’t arrive – top jockey aboard often the root cause of most complaints. But physical short-comings of the horse are up to the punter to sort. Horseracing is not branded the ‘brain game’ for nothing.

I cannot defend the stipes who were accused of being the ‘three blind mice’ but I do know that the drop-off in class of horse contesting South Africa’s Champion Season and the next level a mere three days later, is like falling off a cliff. One cannot compare.

Tom Collins (Candiese Marnewick)

The first two races at Greyville yesterday were possibly an illustration of the vagaries of the sport and what may lead to many unfounded conclusions. Top jockey Anton Marcus was one of the riders in the sights of my caller and he was aboard the odds-on favourite On The Bounce in the first.

Marcus has been aboard the filly in all six of her starts, a beaten favourite one three occasions, the last time ahead of subsequent Gr1 winner Lady In Black. But there are some that still feel skulduggery is at play.

The simple fact is that On The Bounce is not very fast and will be beaten more often than not even if she ever manages to win a race in the first place. Just because she is owned by the country’s top owner, trained by one of the country’s top trainers and ridden by one of the country’s top jockeys, does not necessarily make her a “good thing” no matter her 6-10 price.

Enough of the preaching to a race that had all guessing.

The Bird Cage Maiden Plate was a concoction that may have been stirred by the four witches in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth.

There were no clear tactics at play and it was obvious that any instruction given in the paddock had come to naught as all the riders sat back waiting for someone – anyone – to make the play.

It was a jamboree of tactics but for punters at least the result was favourable. Tom Collins, that had been touted as more than useful in his previous three sprint outings, justified market support in getting home in a race that was ‘all over the place’.

“It was tactically befuddling,” confirmed winning rider Ian Sturgeon. No early pace and with all fighting for their head, Marcus on outsider King’s Music and no form to back his claims, made an early move on the turn.

The opposition panicked and as King’s Music played his last chord when disappearing out of the back door it was up to the best horse in the race. “His little bit of ability pulled him through,” confirmed Stuart Ferrie, long-time assistant to Dennis Drier who is enjoying the delights of Ibiza in Spain.

By Andrew Harrison

Joey Ramsden believes that Ancestry, a close second in both the Golden Horseshoe and Premiers Champion, will be a classic contender this season – “He is very much a Guineas horse and probably even more of a Derby horse.”

However the Milnerton trainer is narked that Bernard Fayd’Herbe did not employ more gamesmanship when Ancestry was beaten half a length by Eyes Wide Open (Richard Fourie) in the Premiers.

He said: “Bernard had the opportunity to keep him out and he let him in. I could have accepted it if he had quickened a bit and kept Richard three wide but this is racing. I don’t get an inch from Brett Crawford or Justin Snaith and nor do I expect it.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe (Liesl King)

Ramsden’s annoyance is easy to understand. There is a huge difference between first and second in a Grade 1 – several times the stake money involved in the case of a colt or a filly – and often it’s also the difference between ending up with a satisfied owner and a dissatisfied one. Both owner and trainer are entitled to expect their jockey to pull out all the stops.

However there is a certain camaraderie in the jockeys’ room, borne out of both respect for fellow riders and an acknowledgement of the dangers they all face travelling at over 50kph on animals whose steering and controllability are often suspect. The accepted creed is that, while you do everything in your power to win when the race is on in earnest, you don’t endanger your opponents by attempting to stitch them up coming out of the pens.

If you do that, you can expect to be taught a painful lesson in the very near future – and both Andrew Harrison’s report and the Tellytrack replay suggest that Fayd’Herbe’s act of sportsmanship came at the very beginning of the race.

On a less contentious note, Brett Crawford confirms that Champions Cup first and second, Sail South and Captain America, will both stay in training for at least another season. Objectives will include the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate in which they filled the minor placings behind Legal Eagle in January.

Last year’s Cape Derby winner It’s My Turn, only eighth in the Durban July, has been sent to a farm for a rest and Justin Snaith said: “All my Durban horses are having a break. They went from a hard summer to a hard winter and they are tired.”

Last year’s Scottsville Grade 1 winner Always In Charge is on the way back after pulling a muscle behind in early April and being forced to miss the Tsogo Sun Sprint.

Vaughan Marshall said: “He is back in work and coming right but we are not going to rush him.”

Stable companion The Secret Is Out, who has not been seen since her third to Carry On Alice in the SA Fillies Sprint, stays in training as a four-year-old.

Marshall said: “There were no further races for her in Durban but she will go for the good sprints in Cape Town.”

By Michael Clower