David Thiselton

Frank Robinson’s patience with the Mauritzfontein-homebred Ideal World filly Mocha Blend has ultimately paid a big dividend as he landed his first career Gr 1 and it happened in a major race, the R6 million Betway Summer Cup, Johannesburg’s biggest race and the richest race in the country.

The win also gave Tristan Godden his first Gr 1 win and it was thoroughly deserved as he gave the 100/1 chance a magnificent ride.

Patience can only happen with understanding owners and Frank described Jessica and Steven Jell as the best owners he had ever trained for as they allow the trainer the time to do what he or she believes is best for the horse.

Frank gave Mocha Blend three runs during the Champions Season, but was easy on her and actually didn’t gallop her at all in that period.

He said she did not have the best conformation as she turned in slightly and last winter everything about her was still a bit too soft to put her under any pressure.

He therefore took his time with her to allow her to become harder and stronger.

He said lately when feeling her legs in the morning they were ice cold and he thus knew they had improved strength wise and he could prepare her properly.

He said before her participation in the Listed Betway Summer Pudding Handicap over 1600m at Turffontein Standside on Sunday November 9, “The fittest I have ever had her is going to be Sunday. She comes in with a proper preparation.”

She ran a 0,30 length second in that race, off a 104 merit rating, to joint topweight Kisshoten, who was also running off a 104.

Frank said afterwards she had only lost because she had walked out the pens.

She had done that in her previous start too, so the last thing he did with her before she departed for the Summer Cup was to school her at the pens.

She said the slow starts were likely due to her being very relaxed and almost asleep, or what he described as her having “an unbelievable temperament.”

He knew that would stand her in good stead for the journey up to Johannesburg and for the big race buzz.

 Frank told Tristan to just leave her to jump out and be placed wherever she was comfortable and then he could ride his race from there.

Tristan duly left her alone after she had jumped well and she was shuffled back to near last.

This ultimately played in her favour as Tristan was able to take her across and claim the rail.

He must have been 15 lengths behind the good pace set by Navajo Nation.

However, she then turned it on in devastating style in the straight, which showed she had come on from her previous run.

Both trainer and jockey had been confident she would finish in the first four, but were more expectant of a backend of quartet finish.

However, even Fank could scarcely believe what he was seeing when she swept along the rail to be on top of the handy horses in matter of strides and was still hard on the bit.

The Ultimate King and The Equator shifted in and the gap on the rail closed, momentarily inconveniencing Mocha Blend.

However, Godden was able to switch her inward into a gap and she burst through on the inside.

Meanwhile, the 40/1 outsider Olivia’s Way, one of two other females in the field, had run on strongly on the outside, although she was running a bit in and out. Mocha Blend went over to join her and scythed her down to win by half-a-length.

Mocha Blend was 5,5kg under sufferance, so her 100/1 odds were not surprising.

It was a boil over result as the next three past the post, Olivia’s Way, The Ultimate King and Busstopinhounslow were 2kg, 2,5kg and 2kg under sufferance respectively and started at odds of 40/1, 8/1 and 100/1 respectively.

The fancied The Equator finished a 4,80 length fifth and was not able to quicken effectively enough to be a threat.

The favourite King Pelles was caught wide from draw eleven and never found good cover and his run petered out at the 400m mark.

The quartet paid a massive R355,689.60.

it would be a surprise if this ride by Gooden did not boost his career to a new level as he has for a long time been underrated and that was also shown in his Hollywoodbets Durban July ride on the 100/1 shot Native Ruler from draw 18 of 18, where he could have done better than sixth place were it not for some traffic problems.

Frank described the feeling after the big win, saying, “It is surreal, it is the wierdest feeling. I am funny with things like that though, I don’t let them get to me and don’t start jumping around. I just want to go home and see my dog!”

He did have some difficulty staying out of the limelight because on the aeroplane home the pilot announced that the airline was lucky to have the Summer Cup’s winning trainer traveling with them tonight to which all of the passengers burst into applause. To that Frank sunk further into his seat with Sean Veale laughing alongside him.

Frank also mentioned the Gold pendant all Summer Cup winners receive which basically gives them the freedom of Turffontein on Summer Cup day – having received it he noticed former winning trainers Mike de Kock and Joe Soma wearing theirs.

Frank said Mocha Blend was back home at Summerveld and had pulled up well.

She is the second Mauritzfontein homebred filly to win the Summer Cup this decade, the other being the Paul Peter-trained Summer Pudding in 2020.

Coincidentally Frank had just been sent Summer Pudding’s first foal, a Rafeef filly.

Mocha Blend became the second Summerveld raider to win the Summer Cup in the last three years and she jumped from the same draw of 13 that Royal Victory jumped from two years ago.

The race was marred by a fall and although the two horses involved were reported to be fine the jockeys, Serino Moodley and Jarryd Penny, sustained injuries. Moodley has a cracked vertebrae in his neck that will not require surgery but he will have to wear a brace, while Penny has a fractured rib and a small puncture to his liver but the good news is that the prognosis is better than was initially thought.

Moodley had just won the Gr 2 Betway Dingaans on the impressive Candice Dawson-trained Heavenly Blue colt Trust, who downed the Equus Champion Two-year-old from last season, Jan Van Goyen.

Robinson ended a fine raid with a 9,50 length victory by Shoot The Rapids under Craig Zackey in the ROA Stayers over 3200m.

Andrew Harrison

The bookmakers enjoyed an early Christmas bonus this weekend with results not going according to the horses at the top end of their boards but it was also a lucrative payday for those punters fortunate enough to get it right.

It is always easy to be an ‘after-the-race’ merchant, one of the most annoying people in racing, but just how Mocha Blend was allowed to start at 100-1 in the Gr1 Betway Summer Cup on Saturday is beyond me. For those of us who followed her career closely, she had plenty in her favour except her lowly merit rating.

Frank Robinson learnt his early trade under Herman Brown Jnr and when Junior left for Dubai, Herman Brown Snr, so there was always going to be a big one in the tank given the right horse and the opportunity.

Robinson admitted that Mocha Blend was the second string to his bow behind Madison Valley on Saturday but, after celebrating his first Grade 1 victory he said; “I was quietly confident she would run into a place because I rate her. I knew 2000m is what she wanted and I think the conditions were ideal for her.”

 “It doesn’t feel real, it still doesn’t feel real,” said a delighted Tristan Godden, who was also celebrating his first Grade 1 victory. “I know a lot of people didn’t like her, but I did. People asked me what I was backing in the Summer Cup and I said I’m backing myself. You’ve got to come into races like this thinking you’ve got a chance. Realistically I thought she would run in the first four, but at the back of the Quartet.”

Yesterday’s Hollywoodbets Greyville meeting was a low-key event but King Of The Gauls finally got his act together, streaking home in the Conditions Plate over 1000m that headed the card. Tony Rivalland’s gelding looked to be the real deal early in his career but lost his way over the past two seasons. He looked to be back on track when showing good pace and staying on well in the Gr2 Golden Horse Sprint back in June but his subsequent form was disappointing. Most recently he set a blistering gallop in the Golden Loom at Turffontein before folding quickly over the final furlong.

Yesterday was his poly debut and Tony Rivalland may well have finally found the key.

He was quickly to the front under Rachel Venniker and this time there was no stopping, making short work of his opposition. There are no major features on the synthetic surface which will limit his opportunities but now that he has got his head in front, he could finally live up to his early potential.

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David Thiselton

Luke Ferraris is within grasping distance of getting a berth in the world’s most famous jockeys competition, the International Jockeys Challenge at Happy Valley, which will take place on December 10.

The three berths given to locally based jockeys are for champion jockey, leading jockey of the current season and leading homegrown jockey.

Zac Purton is well clear in the current championship, but had already earned a berth as champion jockey, so the berth for leading jockey goes to the second-placed jockey.

The contenders are Ferraris, who is in second place with 15 wins, Bowman who is on 14 wins, Alexis Badel on 12 wins and Lyle Hewitson and Karis Teetan who are both on elevens wins.

The Happy Valley meeting on Wednesday (26 November) is the last meeting which counts towards the choice of local IJC riders.

Hewitson won the last race at Sha Tin on Sunday to give himself a mathematical chance of still winning a berth, although it is highly unlikely he will do so and it looks to be a straight fight between Ferraris and Bowman.

The fight for a place among the homegrown jockeys has also developed into a two horse race after Vincent Ho and Jerry Chau both struck at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Ho leads Chau with 11 wins to 10.

Ho is the only homegrown jockey to have ever won the IJC, winning it in 2023 and earning the fist prize of HK$600,000.

Gavin Lerena was the last South African to have won the IJC in 2015. He won the last two races of the four-race competition that year.

Douglas Whyte has also been a previous winner of the challenge.

The ten jockeys who are already in the IJ are Zac Purton, defending champion Mickael Barzalona, James McDonald, Christophe Lemaire, Umberto Rispoli, Hollie Doyle, Rachel King, Joao Moreira, William Buick and Ryan Moore (subject to fitness).

Meanwhile, the world’s best sprinter, Ka Ying Rising extended his unbeaten run to 15 races on Sunday at Sha Tin when romping home in the HK$5.35 million Gr 2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint over 1200m.

He obliterated nine rivals in clocking the second-fastest time in history over 1200m at Sha Tin, 1m 07.33s, marginally outside his own track record of 1m 07.20s, despite being eased down over the last 100m by jockey Zac Purton.

Conceding five pounds to the rest of the field, the world’s highest-rated sprinter jumped cleanly to lead from barrier ten before settling in second place behind Beauty Waves and, such was his superiority, Purton said the tempo was still not fast enough, despite a blistering sectional of 21.93s from the 800m to the 400m.

Purton quickly put the issue beyond doubt on straightening as Ka Ying Rising surged clear inside the last 200m before being allowed to saunter to the line.

The winning margin of two-and-three-quarter lengths flattered runner-up Fast Network (123lb) with Helios Express third, a further length-and-three-quarters away.

Ka Ying Rising’s 15th consecutive win leaves him third overall for the most wins in a row by a Hong Kong-trained horse behind Silent Witness (17) and Golden Sixty (16).

The world’s highest earning racehorse in history, Romantic Warrior, made his comeback from a layoff at the same meeting on Sunday.

Resuming after 232 days between races after surgery to his left fore fetlock, Romantic Warrior lifted his world record earnings to HK$217.7 million as he became the first horse to win a third Gr 2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup after victories in 2022 and 2024.