South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Kempton and Hexham (UK) – 10 December 2025.

David Thiselton

Tienie Prinsloo has said Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas heroine Quickstepgal would not be considered for the Gr 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes and would be coming home to Summerveld. Her future program would be decided from there.

Tienie recalled going to the KZN Yearling Sale venue last year to inspect the horses and starting on Lot 1, but after inspecting Lot 5 he said to his wife, “Let’s turn around and go home. She said, ‘Why?’, I said I’ve found my horse.”

Lot 5 was the Vercingetorix filly Quickstepgal, bred by Marsh Shirtliff’s Greenacres Trust, and she was destined to give him his first Gr 1 win.

He recalled going back to the Sale ground the next day and looking at a few more horses, while  noticing nobody else was looking at Lot 5.

He said, “I took Rakesh Singh to look at her and said to him, ‘Rakesh this is the horse you must buy for me, please.’ He said, ‘You want her I am going to buy her for you, it doesn’t matter what she goes for.’ We sat together for the bidding and he just kept on putting his hand up and we got her.”

The price of R450,000 is a lot before a horse has raced, but she soon proved to be a bargain and Rakesh would have profited handsomely when selling her in training to prolific owners, the Laurence Wernars family and Harry Wilsson.

Tienie is still feeling on top of the world after Saturday’s big win.

He said, “It still feels like my heart is sitting outside my body, it is still not totally there yet.  But just to stand on that podium, where you have won a Gr 1 and Laurence Wernars is looking at you and then you start getting that something in your throat like you want to cry. It is just unbelievable, I can’t even describe how nice it is. A normal winner is nice, but to have a winner for big owners like them and it is a Gr 1 and you standing there waiting to go on the stage, it touches you. You overflow with happiness, it is just  amazing and then everybody just comes to you and says, ‘Well done, well done, well done,’ I mean even Eric Sands had tears in his eyes and I could see too that Laurence was emotional. It meant a lot to him. It was a nice day. Very nice.”

Many would have liked to have trained Quickstepgal but Laurence was adamant that the filly would stay with the small yard of Tienie Prinsloo and the latter has proved it to be not just a gentlemanly decision but a beneficial one for the owners too.

Tienie revealed that Quickstepgal had endured a tough journey down from KZN, which made her run in the Gr 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship, where she finished a 1,75 length fourth, most commendable.

He said, “With all the roadworks she spent 36-and-a-half hours on the float. It took a lot out of her and she was very tired. She almost didn’t want to eat. She was nibbling here and there but we thought we are going to have to go for the Gr 2, because she must see the track. Gavin was not hard on her and I think just gave her one smack in the last 100m and she just stayed on. She was slowly running at them. She had lost 25kg before that race from the journey down and she gained about 13 to 14kg after that race. She regained her weight and she looked so much more happy.”

Tienie had nothing but high praise for caretaker trainer Eric Sands.

He said, “We left her there with Eric. What a great horseman. I couldn’t be more happy for Eric to help me, he is a master of note. He is an unbelievable guy. He has become one of my best friends. He will always be in my good books. He is a guy who will help you with anything and he won’t even blink an eyelid. He looked after her very well. We went down there and I looked at her and I said to Eric ‘Gee whiz this filly is looking very well, hey’.”

He continued, “And she won the race. Once she turned for home and she quickened I said to my wife, ‘Listen here, I don’t think they will catch her.’ Richard came up to her and Eric’s other horse Stormwatch came on the inside. That was 300m out but we just kept on rolling to win the race. She won a very, very nice race.”

Tienie said he had left the tactics to Gavin Lerena and praised him for fine ride and a clever one.

Lerena wanted the filly to use her fine action so was happy to dictate and she was always going to be a hard one to catch once she had relaxed in front.

Tienie and Gavin go back a long way and he remembered him once phoning him when he was training in Kimberley and said, “Tienie I need some winners to win the championship and I said, ‘Come down.'”

On Saturday Gavin leant off his horse as he was being led in and gave Tienie a hug and said, “I am so happy for you.”

The winning trainer described that as the most special moment of all coming from a man he described as the finest of gentleman.

Tienie did reserve some praise for himself too.

He said, “I don’t want to race her too much. She is a special filly. I would rather go for the races which are perfect for her than taking on the big guns, because she is still a three-year-old. She doesn’t have anything to prove anymore. She’s very lighly raced, eight runs for five wins and two places. I really think I have planned it very nicely for her.”

He is going to stick to 1400m to a mile for her for the time being.

Tienie reserved the last word for his wife and was amazed and grateful by how she had been able to stand by him through all of the many pressurised times that happen in the toughest of professions, training racehorses.

Warren Lenferna

The mid-week meeting takes place in glorious Cape Town at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Wednesday, 10 December and Christmas is fast approaching. Soon 2025 will be done and dusted, but before that there is plenty of racing to entertain us. This mid-week card is headed by a Class 2 with a Benchmark of 112. It is the eighth race on the programme, set to get underway at 16:44 over 1500m, and is called the Woodruff Racing Syndicate Class 2. Syndication in Race Coast land is absolutely flying at present, and interest in the various ownership groups is growing weekly. It is a wonderful way to get involved in owning a share in a racehorse, whether big or small.

Let us go through the runners for this intriguing contest. At first glance, it looked as though there might be a possible banker for all bets, but on closer consideration, two runners should be sufficient for the exotics. We begin with Justin Snaith’s powerful hand, as he saddles four of the eight runners — exactly half of the field. Ardabil has drawn gate 1 and benefits from the claim of Nicola Yuen. He was not persevered with in the Betway Algoa Cup six weeks ago and can be forgiven for that effort, especially when judged on his earlier fair form. Legal Council is an exciting prospect who continues to improve with every outing. He has had just ten starts, has already won half of them, and is clearly on an upward trajectory. Entered for the Grade 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate, he might prove very hard to beat. Callan Murray retains the ride and enjoys a much kinder draw this time.

Get Impressed was in solid form before his most recent below-par run and is certainly capable of better, though his tendency to fluff the start and race fiercely can make life difficult for his jockey. Scottish Kiss failed to fire in a Listed race last time but had produced sparkling winning form prior to that. If Callan Murray had the choice, it is evident that he has opted for Legal Council over Scottish Kiss, though the 55kg carried by the latter may have swayed him.

Gallic Dream was far from disgraced when returning from a 24-week layoff and should have tightened up significantly from that outing. He has ability, has run close to Garrix, and must be included on any shortlist. His Majesty is another runner who brings intrigue to the race, having caught the eye in his local debut three weeks ago. He is a handsome son of No Nay Never out of the Sixties Icon mare Czabo — a pedigree to admire — and he is evidently in South Africa with a future at stud in mind. He ran on strongly to finish fifth, only 3.05 lengths behind It Is My Time over 1400m at this course. He would have needed that run and is sure to have come on markedly. With an entry in the Grade 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate, the hopes and aspirations surrounding this entire are clear. Richard Fourie unsurprisingly keeps the ride, and His Majesty may improve so dramatically that he puts this field to bed with ease.

Captain West showed good determination when setting the pace last time and hanging on for second behind a useful sort. With Keagan De Melo aboard, he commands respect. I Salute You, meanwhile, would have needed his first run back from gelding and is capable of better. He is a talented individual and can never be ignored.

In conclusion, this looks very much like a two-horse contest between the hugely exciting Legal Council and the imposing His Majesty. These two should suffice for the exotics, and the race promises to be a thriller. If forced to choose a first pick, the nod would go to His Majesty, but the suggested bet is a boxed exacta, taken as many times as the budget allows.

 

Soccer10 Friday 12 December 2025. ADD-IN R200 000. Estimated Pool: R2 Million. Pool Closes at 21h00.Sport 8 and Pool 1.

Soccer6 Saturday 13 December 2025. ADD-IN R100 000. Estimated Pool: R600 000. Pool Closes at 17h00.Sport 3 and Pool 2.

Soccer10 Saturday 13 December 2025. ADD-IN R200 000. Estimated Pool: R2 Million. Pool Closes at 14h30.Sport 12 and Pool 1.

Soccer Any 13Xtra Saturday 13 December 2025. C/Over: R100 000. Estimated Pool: R500 000. Pool Closes at 15h00. Sport 13 and Pool 1

Soccer SCORES C/Over: R 99 911. Saturday 13 December 2025. Pool Closes at 15h00. Sport 73.

Soccer CORNERS C/Over: R 7 479. Saturday 13 December 2025. Pool Closes at 16h30. Sport 74.

David Thiselton

Following the shocking incident in the Betway Summer Cup in which two horses fell the two jockeys involved, Serino Moodley and Jarryd Penny, are on the mend and have estimated their dates of return.

In Serino Moodley’s case the incident illustrated the highs and lows of the game because the race before he had won the Gr 2 Jackpot City Dingaans on the exciting Candice Dawson-trained Trust.

He said about the unbeaten son of Heavenly Blue, “I don’t know how he is winning these races, because he is not mature and is still a big puppy. He has got a lot of improving to do, which just shows the quality of horse he is. He is a phenomenal horse.”

Serino said one of Trust’s best assets at present was “he is very economical in a race.”

That allows him to utilise his fine turn of foot as well as his most noteworthy characteristic to date of being able to find a late gear change when other horses are just trying to stay on.

Serino remembered there being room for his mount On My Honour in the Summer Cup incident and there was then suddenly no room. As he was trying to get out of it his horse  clipped heels and went down, meaning Serino hit the ground hard, although he does not know what position he was in as it all happened so quickly.

He was found to have a fracture to the C6 vertebrae, which was probably why he felt pain in his arm while lying on the track.

Fortunately, the fracture is not a serious one and does not require surgery.

However, he has to wear a neck brace for three weeks and has to rest and be cautious.

He said about a possible return date to race-riding, “Hopefully by the middle of January, but it all depends on the second X-ray to see how fast everything is healing up.”

Serino is still lying third on the national jockeys log with 61 wins, despite having been out for over a week already.

He is almost certainly the most improved jockey in the country and this is partly down to his professional approach.

He said, “I have always been one who is trying to improve. No matter how well you have been riding, my main objective has always been to try and improve at every meeting I go to. I have had a lot of people helping me like Anton Marcus and Anthony Delpech and I get a lot of help from my agent Deez Dayanand and I have a big support base, my wife and kids and My Mom and Dad.”

Jarryd Penny was riding Solar Sail and he said he saw On My Honour at the last minute, “lying beneath my legs and I could not avoid him in any way.”

He recalled being surrounded by people and not being able to breath while lying on the track, but he calmed after being administered oxygen, although he had a painful sternum.

He was found to have a fractured rib, but of more concern was a cut to the liver.

He said, “Fortunately, it was not a bad cut. It is about three to four centimetres long but is classified as a Grade 3. I was discharged and don’t have to go for an operation or follow up, they just want me to rest for six weeks.”

He said about a return to riding, “They have booked me back for the 5th of January, but I will have to get some fitness back into me and ride some work, so maybe I could take a ride or two by  the 10^th or 12^th of January.”

Jarryd is an underrated jockey who is also on the up and he gets a lot of support from Mark Khan and is the chief rider for Bridget Stidolph in Zimbabwe and rides for her in South Africa too, whilst he picks up a fair amount of rides from bigger yards.

Meanwhile, the Candice Dawson yard who train Trust have undergone a change as it will now be a joint operation, Candice and Tammy Dawson, who are reportedly the first ever sister partnership to train in South Africa.

Muzi Yeni looks to be the jockey who will be first call for the sisters while Serino is out.