Paul Lafferty makes Toreador colt Unbelievable Chad a “massive” runner in Saturday’s Gr 2 Investec Dingaans over 1600m at Turffontein, a race in which the Summerveld yard’s colt Harry’s Son finished second last year.
Swimming legend Chad Le Clos and his ebullient father Bert will be at Turffontein along with the rest of the syndicate of owners to cheer the handsome bay on.
Lafferty said, “Piere Strydom didn’t know the horse before the Graham Beck Stakes and the horse grabbed the bit and took off with him. Striker said afterwards he is still a big baby and has a lot of improving to do and if ridden more patiently he would have done much better. He added that you can’t go up the Turffontein hill like that and still place but this horse did still place (finished a 3,6 length fourth to Muwaary).”
Unbelievable Chad (Nkosi Hlophe)
Andrew Fortune watched the Graham Beck and phoned for the ride in the Dingaans. Lafferty and Fortune have discussed the race and Fortune has passed on the message to the connections that he would be “a jockey strike.”
Lafferty is confident the colt will not repeat his antics and said, “He is not a stupid horse. He had never seen Turffontein and was fresh, so just bolted. He is a very laid back horse and there is no ways he will be boring to the front again.”
Fortune’s fine hands and excellent positioning of a horse will make him a perfectly suitable jockey for the horse too.
Lafferty was not concerned about his wide draw of ten and said, “We will cover him up.”
Unbelievable Chad will travel at midnight on Friday.
Lafferty regards the likely favourite, Lineker, as well as Noah From Goa as the horses to beat, but as always has respect for the whole field.
Ironically, Lafferty was the initial buyer of Star Witness colt Lineker, picking him out at an Australia Sale on behalf of Mcihael Leaf for Aus $50,000.
Leaf then decided to put him on the Bloodstock South Africa Ready To Run Sale, with the idea that it would either qualify him for the expensive Sales race or might fetch a big price.
Bloodstock agent John Freeman approached him at the Sale saying he really liked the colt, so would be attempting to buy him for the Justin Snaith yard, and asked whether he would he be interested in taking a share if they secured him.
The colt went for R1,1 million and ultimately Leaf ended owning the whole horse again.
Lafferty, Leaf and Freeman’s intuition was spot on as Lineker won last month’s R2,015,000 BSA Ready To Run Cup.
Another interesting aspect to Saturday’s Dingaans is that rejuvenated sire Toreador will have no fewer than four runners in the twelve horse field and two of the other three, Bull Valley and Rikitikitana, will have just as much confidence behind them as Unbelievable Chad has.
In further Lafferty yard news, Harry’s Son is doing exceptionally well under the care of assistant trainer Roy Waugh at Epsom in the UK and will be departing for Dubai at the end of the first week of December together with the yard’s other Dubai Carnival campaigner Royal Navy Ship. Followers of Harry’s Son can catch up with his progress on www.laffertyracing.co.za
By David Thiselton
