DEVONNE GOVENDER
GLEN Kotzen takes Coral Bay and Je Ne Sais Quoi to PE for the Jockey Club Stakes (Listed) at Fairview on Friday. Coral Bay could be the value bet of the day at ante-post odds of 11-1. She has run in strong company, finishing third in her penultimate run behind Myabi Gold.
Her las run can be ignored as Kotzen said, ‘’she over raced, but she is eating up well and I expect a decent performance with a big run .”
Je Ne Sais Quoi will probably prefer this 2000m and could be on her way to stud after this run.
Others to watch are Elusive Heart, who should be involved if she stays the trip. Another to keep an eye on is American Princess who tops the betting boards at 3-1. She does have solid form to recommend in an open betting race where there could be healthy dividends all round.
Modakhar in Race 2 is the best bet of the day with current odds of 22-10. The son of Flower Alley will love the step up in trip and will take a power of beating on current form with jockey Wayne Agrella aboard.

GLEN Kotzen takes Coral Bay and Je Ne Sais Quoi to PE for the Jockey Club Stakes (Listed) at Fairview on Friday. Coral Bay could be the value bet of the day at ante-post odds of 11-1. She has run in strong company, finishing third in her penultimate run behind Myabi Gold.
Her las run can be ignored as Kotzen said, ‘’she over raced, but she is eating up well and I expect a decent performance with a big run .”
Je Ne Sais Quoi will probably prefer this 2000m and could be on her way to stud after this run.
Others to watch are Elusive Heart, who should be involved if she stays the trip. Another to keep an eye on is American Princess who tops the betting boards at 3-1. She does have solid form to recommend in an open betting race where there could be healthy dividends all round.
Modakhar in Race 2 is the best bet of the day with current odds of 22-10. The son of Flower Alley will love the step up in trip and will take a power of beating on current form with jockey Wayne Agrella aboard.

DAVID THISELTON

ANDREW Fortune, assistant trainer to his wife Ashley, brought down a couple of horses to gallop on the Hollywoodbets Greyville polytrack before the racemeeting yesterday including Grade 1 contenders Invidia, Chantyman and Validus.

Fortune learnt a lot from the trainer he regarded as the best he had ever worked with, Joey Ramsden, and believes it is important for the lungs to be cleaned out properly in a hard workout ten days before a big event.

Therefore Invidia and Chantyman were galloped together and Validus was worked hard with a companion.

Invidia and Chantyman both put in good workouts and will be ridden by S’Manga Khumalo and Ant Mgudlwa respectively in the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m. They were drawn eleven and four respectively among the 15 who were still standing their ground at time of writing.

Invidia won the CTS 1200 on Sun Met day and in his reappearance after lockdown finished a half-a-length second to Eden Roc in the Grade 2 Post Merchants over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville. In the Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint over that same course and distance he was shifted continually outward from a seemingly good low draw and finished a 1,85 length sixth. He was carrying only 52kg that day so now faces a much tougher task under weight for age conditions.

Chantyman had to give Invidia 4kg in the Post Merchants and was beaten 3,65 lengths by him. He subsequently won a Pinnacle Stakes event over 1100m on the poly on Vodacom Durban July day. However, under weight for age conditions he also has it all to do. 

Invidia will be 8,5kg under sufferance in the Mercury with the highest rated horse Kasimir and Chantyman will be 4,5kg under sufferance.

Validus did nothing wrong under Anton Marcus in yesterday’s workout but the companion he worked with, a first-timer, was particularly eyecatching.

Dynasty colt Validus made his debut in the Grade 1 Golden Horse Medallion over 1200m and finished a not disgraced 8,50 length eighth after opening at 13-2 and drifting out to 14-1. He followed that up with a 1,90 length win over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville at odds of 9-10. He was ridden by Craig Zackey on both occasions but Anton Marcus has been booked for the ride in the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes over 1600m on WSB Gold Cup day. Validus was drawn 12 out of the 15 horses still standing their ground at the time of writing.  

DAVID THISELTON

ADAM Marcus sent the Grade 1 Thekwini contender Princess Calla to Hollywoodbets Greyville today for a gallop on the polytrack and the classy looking daughter of Flower Alley strode out well on her own under Anton Marcus.

Marcus also spoke about some of the other big guns in his yard.

The chief reason for Princess Calla’s move to the Adam Marcus yard is that she will be targeted at the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas.

The Mario Ferreira-owned filly made a fine debut for Dennis Bosch over 1200m on the poly and, using her big action, pulled away from them in the closing stages to win by 3,20 lengths.

She is rated a 14-1 chance by Track And Ball for the Thekwini.

However, Anton Marcus commented after today’s gallop that she was still very green.

She is drawn nine of the 18 entries. The field will be cut to a maximum of 14 at the declaration stage tomorrow.

She is also entered in the Grade 2 Debutante Stakes over 1200m.

She will be the Adam Marcus yard’s only runner on Gold Cup day.

However, he is looking after two WSB Gold Cup contenders from the Geoff Woodruff yard, Dharma and Sunshine Silk, who have both landed good draws.

He said they had both been doing well.    

Marcus explained the reason for Vardy to return home to Cape Town and thus miss the Champions Cup.

He said Hollywodbets Greyville in fast going had not suited the big 17 hands horse especially when the race was turned into a canter and sprint for home. He also said shortly after the July that it had now been confirmed he did not stay that sort of trip.

He added, “The Champions Cup would have been the best race for him but I spoke to the owners and told them by the time he gets home after that race and then has his African Horse Sickness Vaccinations there would not be enough time for him to prepare for the Cape Summer Season so we opted to skip the race and send him home.”

He said Twist Of Fate’s disappointing KZN campaign this season could be put down to increasingly problematic haemoconcentrating. He has duly been gelded.

DAVID THISELTON

DONOVAN Dillon was at Hollywoodbets Greyville well before today’s meeting to ride the Kumaran Naidoo-trained Grade 1 Thekwini contender Vihaan’s Pie in a gallop on the poly.

He will have some other good rides on Gold Cup day including the Vodacom Durban July-trained Golden Ducat in the Grade 1 Champions Cup and he spoke at length about the potential of this Eric Sands-trained stalwart.

Vihaan’s Pie put up a good workout and Dillon said she was a lot better than the form of her last run suggested.

In that race, the Grade 2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m, she was caught wide early from a high draw and although she did eventually find cover her finishing effort was not strong enough and she passed the line in ninth place, 5,35 lengths behind the winner. 

The good looking chestnut is by Futura and is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Cape Guineas third-placed MacThief (Time Thief), so should enjoy this trip. Her mother, Yellow Card by Trippi, only had seven starts and won two of the first four of them over distances of 1200m and 1400m respectively.

Vihaan’s Pie is drawn ten out of 18 entries and is rated a 36-1 shot by Track And Ball. The field will be cut down to a maximum of 14 at the declaration stage tomorrow and this race will undoubtedly have one of the strongest fields on the day. 

Meanwhile, Golden Ducat has drawn nine out of eleven entries in the Champions Cup and Track And Ball have him as the 10-1 fourth favourite.

Dillon said this Philanthropist half-brother to Hawwaam and Rainbow Bridge did not yet know how good he was and reckoned he would win next year’s July.

Golden Ducat’s performance in the July this year was incredible considering he raced handy behind a blistering pace and had no cover virtually the whole way around and yet still managed to stay on for a 1,90 length fourth. 

Dillon said the strong pace had suited the big galloper as he was a horse who liked to use his action. 

Golden Ducat’s July run suggests he has oodles of stamina and Dillon agreed he would have been a big runner in the Gold Cup, a race he might be aimed at in time to come. However, Sands is wisely sticking to the classic distance Grade 1 races at present considering he has been showing enough speed to be a contender and is improving all the time. The Cape Derby winner did not handle Hollywoodbets Greyville in his first two starts this season but the fitting of a new noseband did the trick for the July.

Dillon’s successful effort in slimming down to 53kg to make the weight for Golden Ducat in the July did not receive the accolades it deserved. Although his official riding weight is 56,5kg the tall youngster had been walking around at 59kg in some stages of this season. He said he had taken advice from experienced jockeys and formulated a three meal a day routine with a limited number of calories and the pounds had come off. He said he had not felt any weaker for it but had fallen ill a couple of weeks after the July, so his body had obviously felt the effects. Today’s meeting was his first since August 5.

Dillon felt Golden Ducat had a tough task at the weights in the Champions Cup against the like of Rainbow Bridge and Do It Again but he was confident this horse would have a fine season and he was obviously hoping to keep the ride for his Cape campaign.

PHUMELELA’s Business Rescue Practitioner, John Evans, has published his long-awaited Business Plan, in which it has been established that MOD (Mary Oppenheimer Daughters), has provisionally acquired the horse racing assets and business from the embattled company following a head-to-head contest with UK Bookmaker, Betfred.

In effect this means that, on approval of the Business Plan by Phumelela’s creditors and regulatory authorities, MOD will take control of Phumelela’s racing assets and establish its vision and own management for the business of racing thereafter.

Approval of the plan, with or without modification, will depend on the outcome of a creditors meeting to be held electronically on the Zoom platform on Tuesday, 1 September 2020 at 11am.

ANDREW HARRISON

A top stable, a top jockey, an international owner, a blue-blood pedigree and a R2 million price tag do not necessarily make for a racing certainty but Blue School Baby ticks all those boxes and the gentlemen of the crossbar – named when they stood out in the weather under an umbrella – have taken no chances and 14-10 was about the best price on offer ante-post yesterday.

The opposition in the second at Hollywoodbets Greyville today does not look particularly strong although Lucy Lu has the benefit of a run and the experience. Slow out but finishing strongly, Lezeanne Forbes’s filly is sure to have made some improvement from that outing and should give Blue School Baby a run for her money.

Most punters took a pounding a Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday and they could be in for further punishment on what looks to be a decidedly difficult card where obvious bankers are in short supply.

There should not be much between Ticket To Cairo and Precious Love in the opening leg of the PA with just over a length separating the pair when last they met. The former is a short-priced joint favourite while Precious Love, who was making her local debut and having her first run in five months, is 14-1.

However, Johan Janse van Vuuren saddles two debutants in On A High Note and Wildeye, both short in the market.

Celtic Voyager, a smart winner on VDJ Day can back up that win in the first leg of the jackpot. With apprentice Jabu Jacobs claiming 2.5kg, his handicap penalty has been nullified. He is a possible banker but once you look past him, the field in this Pick 6 leg becomes an option.

Punters face a similar dilemma in the fifth although this time around there does not appear to be an obvious standout. The books are offering 5-1 the field which just about sums the race up.

Whizz Of Odds is slowly coming down in the handicap and gets 4kg off her back. Extravagant was narrowly beaten by Dice Captain last time out but the latter has a tougher draw while Clock Stopper took to the poly last run and can go one better.

Donald McDonald is unbeaten since being put over ground and will be a popular banker in the sixth but Pollard will be a threat after being touched off by the useful Christopher Robin in the KZN Breeders 1900 and the Rivalland stable is coming good.

Santa Vittoria is a tentative choice in the seventh but she is a little too short in the ante-post market at 2-1 as there are plenty among the opposition that will make her gallop, including Super Fluke and Pina Colada although both are hamstrung by a wide gate.

Corvette Captain is a weak favourite for the seventh, another open race, but he is lightly raced and may be looking for the extra furlong now that he is older.

Cliffie Miller has led the way for his fellow former Kimberley-based colleagues with three successes so far but it could be the turn of Sarel Von Willingh Smit in the last where he saddles Rock To The Music with Miller’s Mambo Lyric a likely threat.

Warren Kennedy is one of many jockeys that are able to travel interprovincially to ride.

FOLLOWING the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday evening (15 August 2020) that the Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa being relaxed to Lockdown level 2 regulations effective 18 August 2020, which in essence indicates a moderate Covid-19 spread with a high health system readiness. Our racing districts are no longer classified as “hot spots”.   The NHA is pleased to announce further amendments to its current protocols.

• Riders travel restrictions will be lifted. (Interprovincial travel allowed).

• The Racing Operators can determine the time of the last race, but the carded time of the final event should NOT be later than 21h30.

• The field sizes can revert back to normal as per the Racing Operator conditions.

The status quo as per the following rules remain effective:

• Owners are permitted to enter the racecourse subject to the strict protocols as issued by the Racing Operators and the Racing Association.
• Any persons with comorbidities shall NOT be able to attend a race meeting.

Further relaxations may be implemented in conjunction with the status of the Coronavirus pandemic, together with any positive changes to the Government’s adjusted risk strategy.

The NHA is again pleading to all participants to continue to self-regulate regarding prevention and hygiene practices.  Although the Covid-19 pandemic has now reached its peak in South Africa, the scientific and worldwide statistics, have also shown a resurgence of the virus after same has been achieved in other countries. Therefore, we cannot become complacent or abandon any of our health precautions that we know are necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.  Individual responsibility will go a long way in assisting the South African Horseracing Industry to be in the position to be able to continue racing and to create value and the ultimate sustainability of the sport.

ANDREW HARRISON

BY their high standards, the Dennis Drier stable has been quiet since racing resumed after lockdown but it was business as usual at Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday with three winners lifting the gloom.

Most impressive was maiden winner Hail Columbia and given Drier’s high praise for the Irish import, the gelding is definitely a horse for the notebook.

Although bred to northern hemisphere time which puts him six months behind others of his generation, he has been a late starter mainly due to his aversion to the starting stalls.

“He has been a bit of a nightmare at the pens,” revealed stable rider Sean Veale. “Many thanks to (horse  behaviouralist) Mike Shaw.” The starters assistants were given some work to do before taking up his gate but there were no serious issues.

Hail Columbia was hard into the bit for the first few furlongs but still had plenty to come when Veale eventually released the handbrake.

Well fancied on debut, he came up against the highly rated Captain Fontane, but both Drier and Veale were disappointed that they got beaten. “I thought he would win,” said Drier, “but he bumped a bloody good horse and Garth’s horse is going somewhere.”

“If people were watching closely, my horse slipped coming out of the pens. We could have finished a lot closer,” said Veal.

“I think (mine) is a progressive little horse,” concluded Drier.

Earlier the stable sent out Spring High who also let the side down on debut. “He was so green,” said Veale. “The boss was clever and put on the blinkers.”

“We though he would win and were disappointed but we put on a little pair of blinkers,” confirmed Drier.

Three runs later Dieci completed the Drier treble as the mare backed up her last win with a stout effort to get the better of favourite Georgina Rose.

Solid Gold has always had potential but has never been the easiest to catch ‘right’. He was in a galloping mood yesterday and in spite of stretching Serino Moodley’s arms in the early exchanges, he quickened smartly in the straight to hold a fast-finishing Brass Bell and give Michael Roberts a double with Rachel Venniker doing the honours on Enjoy The View in the Workriders Conditional Plate.

A seasoned punter once opined that when the weather changes suddenly before a racemeeting one needs to be wary of upset results. His prophecy rang true yesterday, with berg wind to freezing overnight. Solid Gold (10-1) started the Pick 6 rot and after the last leg was run the pay-out was to 0.05 tickets with R1093554.50 carried over to another day.

Andrew Harrison

The Dennis Drier-trained Golden Chance can put her last run behind her and record the third success of her career when she lines up in the sixth at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday.

She pulled up last of the 13 runners in the Pointsetia Stakes but was going along sweetly before shortening her stride and Sean Veale easing her out of the race, looking both sides for the problem.

A post-race vet check reported not striding out off-fore which accounted for the disappointing showing.

Prior to that she had matched strides with the best including a third behind Celtic Sea in the Sceptre Stakes and beaten less than two lengths by Front And Centre in her warm-up to that race. That form sees her rated way higher than her opposition, hence the steadier of 63.5 kg on her back but that has been countered by the presence of 4kg claimer Kyle Strydom in the saddle. Strydom is way more accomplished than most four-claimers and Golden Chance should get a solid ride.

Sorting out the balance is a little tricky. Georgina Rose has been trying further but her last win was over this trip and that form did hold up. A further plus is that Anton Marcus stays aboard. Jack’s Bird and Queen Of Alamo are two others to consider.

In the opening leg of the Pick 6, Stoptheclocks was well beaten by Via Salaria last time the two met but is now 2 kg better off. They are both having their second run after a break and are drawn alongside each other which could make for a match race. But there are a couple that could put a spoke in the works. One is Mark Dixon’s runner Admiral’s Guest. The gelding is under sufferance but has done well when stepped up in this company before and has a light weight. Solid Gold is smart on his day but is not always reliable while Duc D’Orange found his best form last start and is one to keep an eye on in the betting.

What A Thrill will be a popular banker for many exotic bet punters in the opening leg o the jackpot even though she has done most of her recent racing over further than the 1400m of the fifth race. However, she has hit top form since returning from a break and meets modest opposition. 

Joyful Winter had the worst of the draw last start and her form before that was consistent. From a better gate she should improve on her last effort and along with Ms Rosa Parks could provide the sternest test for What A Thrill.

Lezeanne Forbes is never afraid to toss her charges in at the deep end and after her maiden win on debut, Sofia Erin was tested in two features including the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship where she finished last but ran below the form of her previous start in the Strelitzia Stakes.

She meets a lot weaker here and given that Forbes thought enough of her to take on feature company speaks volumes. Of the balance, 

Bella Bellarina has been consistent of late and goes well this course and distance. Royal View was a close-up second over course and distance last time out and is at her peak while somewhere In Time has had one outing since a break and is likely to improve. She may be worth following in the betting.

The last two races are difficult low-rated handicaps and it could pay handsomely to load up in these two legs of the exotics.

Rite Of Passage and Hail Columbia look to dominate the opening leg of the PA. The younger Rite Of Passage made good improvement at his second start finishing a close-up third at relatively long odds for a Justin Snaith-trained charge but should strip cherry-ripe. The imported Hail Columbia is a late starter but made a smart debut and is sure to come on from that effort and looks the biggest threat to Rite Of Passage.

The card opener is a work rider’s race where at best, Drunken Sailor should be hard to beat. However, he has lost some form of late which is a concern. The filly Bindi will have her supporters as she has gone close at her last two and has an accomplished rider aboard. 

TELLYTRACK, South African horseracing’s exclusive channel on DStv, will be moving from channel 239 to channel 249 from Monday 24 August.

DStv will be streamlining their channels to sports themed channels on SuperSport as of 1 September.

Tellytrack is currently positioned after the Máximo channel and these two channels will move by several slots to allow for additional SuperSport channels.