David Thiselton

The Candice Dawson-trained Just Be Lekker booked herself a place in the Hollywoodbets Scottsville Festival Of Speed meeting with an emphatic victory in a MR 103 fillies and mares handicap over 1160m at Turffontein Standside on Saturday.

Her merit rating of 103 was raised to 109, which would have seen her carrying a nice galloping weight of 53,5kg under handicap conditions in the Gr 2 R1 million Golden Horsse Sprint if that had been the choice of race, but the connections look to have opted for a seemingly harder task in the Gr 1 R1 million SA Fillies Sprint, where she is under  sufferance with seven of the other entries and 6,5kg under sufferance with the two highest rated entries Double Grand Slam and Rascova.

On the other hand she is on the up and could prove to be better than her 109 merit rating.

On Saturday Just Be Lekker was drawn five under Serino Moodley in a ten horse field and was carrying topweight of 60kg. 

The visiting KZN jockey has been seen to ride some fine faces over that course and distance and he delivered again. The big four-year-old daughter of William Longsword was jostled slightly early and found herself in last position. However, Moodley did not panic and bided his time and sat behind a train of horses who were going down the middle inside of the course. She began to pick them off one by one while still in the hands. He had to switch her slightly inward off the heels of the leader Komati River who was hanging outward, which closed a possible gap. However, a nice gap then opened and Just Be Lekker galloped through full of running and outsprinted the well regarded Irish-bred Fastnet Rock mare Fastnet Filly, who started favourite and to whom Just Be Lekker was giving 4,5kg. Fastnet filly finished a well beaten 2,40 length second and was followed home by her Brett and James Crawford-trained 20/1 shot stablemate Artiste. Ceuta and Komati River were next best respectively.

Candice said the filly showed a lot at home, so was pleased to see her back to her best in her fifth run following a six month layoff for a setback.

Just Be A Lekker is a Ralphs family homebred. 

The win saw the completion of a double for the Dawson/Moodley combination, who had won with the promising Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein homebred Buffalo Bill Cody gelding Pumpkin Pie over 1600m earlier. Pumpkin Pie has now won two of his first two starts and Moodley extracted an impressive late surge from him after he had weaved his way through the field having been dropped out to last from a wide draw of eleven.

 Moodley completed a treble when winning the last race over 1160m on the Tony Peter-trained Erupt filly Blizzard Snow and his timing was once again impeccable as he came from a handy position and did just enough to hold off a late charge from Roaming Spirit.

Please note: South African Quartet Pools with fractional betting offered at Carlisle, Windsor and Wolverhampton (UK) – 19 May 2025.

David Thiselton
Dave The King bounced back to his best at Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday when winning the same 1500m event he had won last year on his way to winning the Gr 1 wfa Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and Gr 1 wfa World Pool Champions Cup, the two races that landed him the Equus Horse Of The Year Award.
Callan Murray took him to the front in the Class A Stakes event and played to his strength, i.e. his long run in, by letting out some rein around the turn. He entered the straight three lengths clear and if close to his best following a layoff of close to six months they were not going to catch him. So it proved and it was left to Hollywoodbets Durban July hopeful, the Nathan Kotzen-trained Royal Victory, to run on for a pleasing 3,20 length second with the former East Cape stalwart Cherry Ano, now trained by Wendy Whitehead, in third. De Kock’s first move after the big Global View gelding’s two well below par runs in Jo’Burg last November was to move him to Summerveld, which he prefers, and he then consulted with a top trainer and veterinarian in the USA, on the recommendation of Gary Barber, about his breathing issue. They worked it out and took it from there. Owners Larry Nestadt, Gary Player and the Ralphs Family can now look forward to another Gr 1 Champions Season campaign.
The first race over 1000m saw another victory for the leading freshman sire, Erik The Red, as his Peter Muscutt-trained son Little Boy Blue ran out the winner under Jabu Jacobs in a field of seven first-timers, beating the second favourite Trajanus (Danon Platina) by 0,40 lengths with favourite African Pride (Rafeef) next best.
In the second, a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1000m, the Duncan Howells-trained Erupt filly Hierarchy built on her good debut to run out an easy 4,30 length winner under Kabelo Matsunyane.
There was a long delay to the third due to some fractious horses. Dean Kannemeyer would not have been pleased as his fancied first-timer Aristocratic loaded fine but eventually became restless when another horse, Indigo Ice, refused to load, leading to his scratching. Aristotle was unloaded and then refused to load a second time and was also scratched. The race was won by the hard-knocking Glen Kotzen-trained Tripping Thunder (Trippi) under Chad Little. The three-year-old gelding was yet another horse to convert decent Cape Town form into an imediate win in another centre.
The fourth saw a narrow win over 1200m for the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Marsh Shirtliff homebred first-timer Princess Averni, who is by Vercingetorix out of Gr 1 Mercury Sprint winner Fly By Night (Jet Master).
In the fifth the Mike Miller-trained two-year-old One World gelding Brand New World had never placed in three runs against his own age group, but he improved with the step up to 1600m and beat older rivals by 0,30 lengths under Tristan Godden at 14/1 odds with Apache Ag running on strongly for second at 40/1 odds.
In the seventh over 1400m the Stuart Ferrie-trained Oratorio gelding Run To Rio showed tremedous resolve unnder Sean Veale to just get up in a blanket finish.
In the eighth over 1400m the Gareth van Zyl-trained Stars In Heaven (Danon Platina) was taken to the front from a wide draw by Athandiwe Mgudlwa and stayed on well down the inside to just hold on.
In the ninth over 1000m the Glen Kotzen-trained Connery (What A Winter) won five in a row between April and November last year and having dropped three points in five subsequent unplaced runs he got back to winning ways under Jacey Botes with a 1,50 length victory.
The last race over 1000m the Paul Gadsby-trained Vision To Achieve beat the boys under Gavin Lerena in an ultra competitive event. 

David Thiselton
Alec Laird has had a fine Highveld season and the cherry on the top happened on Saturday night when his three-year-old Fire Away colt Fire Attack walked away with three awards at the Highveld Feature Season Awards, including the coveted Horse Of The Season award.
Fire Away, who won the Gr 2 SA Nursery last season, started off his season with a 1,50 sixth place finish in the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m in which he was giving 2kg to the rest of the field. 
He then ran a 3,20 length fifth in a Graduation Plate over 1400m, so was not looking like a Horse Of The Season at that stage.
However, he then ran three seconds in a row in the Gr 2 Betway Dingaans over 1600m, the Gr 3 Betway Got The Geenlight Stakes over 1400m and the Gr 1 TAB SA Classic over 1800m.
There was still no inkling of him being a Horse Of The Season.
However, his season culminated in a magnificent win in an open Gr 1 weight for age event, the HKJC World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m, in which he just pipped the dual Gr 1 winner Royal Victory under a fine ride by Richard Fourie.
Fire Attack was bred by Applewood Trading (Pty) Ltd T/A Ndoro Stud and is owned by Messrs Gary A Basel, Grant C Cornwall, Lance Clark & Canine Solutions CC (Nom: Mr D C O’Driscoll).
He was purchased for R450,000 at the BSA National Yearling Sale.
KZN-based Grant Cornwall made the speech on behalf of the connections and spoke of how “incredible” it was to him to have won such an award having been an owner for some twenty years, who had become used to minimal success such as winning the odd Maiden Plate or low grade handicap. The turning point came when Gary Basel sat down with himself and Lance Clark and formed a buying strategy aimed at landing bigger races and this saw Grant replacing punting with becoming a more serious owner. Alec Laird was central to their plans and it has culminated in a dream season for the three aforementioned owners as they also are part-owners in the Laird-trained Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup winner Atticus Finch. That means they landed both of Johannesburg’s biggest races.  Atticus Finch will also give Grant a probable first runner in South Africas biggest race, the Hollywoodbets Durban July, so that will be another momentous “pinch me” kind of day, especially considering he has a box at Hollywoodbets Greyville. There are more horses to follow for the partners with the like of Laird-trained two-year-old Erik The Red gelding Tenjiku looking promising, among others. It is dream times for “Big Guy”,whom Grant is popularly known as in KZN golfing, business and sporting circles and it is also wonderful to see the Laird name back in lights. Grant spoke highly of Alec in his speech saying, “He learnt from the best and is the best.”
All The Highveld Feature Season Award winners:Equine Award Winners:
Champion 2yo FillyGreen Diamond
Champion 2yo Colt/GeldingEsteemed
Champion 3yo FillyFiery Pegasus
Champion 3yo Colt/GeldingFire Attack
Champion Older Filly/MareWhite Pearl
Champion Older HorseWilliam Robertson
Champion SprinterWilliam Robertson
Champion 1400-1600Cosmic Speed
Champion Middle Distance 1800-2000Fire Attack
Champion Stayer 2400+Legend Of Arthur
2025 Horse Of The SeasonFire Attack
Human Award Winners:
Champion Work RiderPhenisile Mongqawa
Champion ApprenticeTrent Mayhew
Champion Breeder of the SeasonVarsfontein Stud
Champion Owner of the SeasonDrakenstein Stud (Nom: Mrs G A Rupert)
Champion Jockey of the SeasonGavin Lerena
Champion Trainer of the SeasonSean Tarry

Eight On Eighteen has earned top spot on the Hollywoodbets Durban July Log as published by the Racing Operator earlier today. There were eleven scratchings at the time of first declarations on Monday 12 May, including Grade 1 winner Fire Attack and Gold Bracelet (Gr 2) winner Red Palace – both due to setbacks in training – while Musical Score and WSB East Cape Derby winner, My Best Shot, were supplemented on Tuesday, 13 May by their respective trainers Lucky Houdalakis and Alan Greeff.

The panel comprising Justin Vermaak, Raf Sheik, Graeme Hawkins and senior handicapper, Lennon Maharaj, have positioned My Best Shot on the fringes of the top twenty, which reflects exactly what the final field would look like if the Hollywoodbets Durban July was run today.

The Log will be updated on 10 June, following the second declaration stage on Monday, 9 June. By then, the Daily News 2000 (Gr 1); Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge (Gr 1); the Woolavington 2000 (Gr 2) and Cup Trial (Gr 3) will have been run, the outcomes of which could impact the status of HDJ contenders.

The Hollywoodbets Durban July will be run on Saturday 5 July.