The Durban-based Bloodstock agent Andy Williams and Kotzen’s mother-in-law Judy Wintle have sold their shares in the speedy filly to Team Valor and the Singhs.

However, interestingly, the youthful face of KZN racing, the 3A Racing syndicate, have retained their share.

Kotzen will continue to train Royal Pleasure and said, “She is smart, out of the top drawer. She finished ever so slightly shin sore on one leg after that first start, but she will now be targeted at the Gr 1 Allan Robertson.”

Irwin part-owns the Summerhill Stud-based Visionaire and Royal Pleasure was this USA-bred Grand Slam sire’s first South African-bred winner.

Royal Pleasure was sold for a mere R30,000 at last year’s Suncoast KZN Yearling Sale.

Irwin obviously can’t keep all of his mares out here, so apart from his elite band, he often has an agreement with Summerhill Stud whereby the latter are responsible for the first cover of the mare as well as the readying of the foal for the sales, and then Irwin receives the sales amount for the foal and Summerhill keep the mare.

Royal Pleasure (Nkosi Hlophe)

Therefore, the Royal Pleasure deal is one of the few transactions in which Irwin, renowned for his outstanding record in the bloodstock industry, has to date ended on the wrong side of as Team Valor and the Singhs would have had to splash out a lot more than the original purchase price for their share in Royal Pleasure and have also lost her dam to Summerhill. Royal’s Pleasure’s dam is the King Of Kings mare Royal Purse, who ran three times for Team Valor International and the Singhs but failed to find a place.

Mick Goss of Summerhill had expected Royal Pleasure to fetch more at the sale, but pointed out that Irwin is a fair trader and does not put reserves on his sales horses, so there is always the possibility of buying a bargain from his sales draft. Royal Pleasure certainly fits into that bracket and there could not have been more deserving benefactors than 3A Racing, who have done a lot to promote the sport to KZN’s youth. The passionate syndicate, famous for their festive Box 3A at Greyville, are headed by well known Tellytrack presenter Wesley Bowman and the Sportingbet Sports Trader Andrew Harrison.

Irwin bought Visionaire to South Africa because he wanted a stallion out here that he believed would produce “straight-legged” foals and whom he could breed his mares to.

He added, “The reason I chose Visionaire is that he is tall, his front limbs are perfect, he has a lot of bone, he was fast enough to sprint with the best, yet he easily got a middle distance around turns in America. Even though he was not an accomplished runner at 2, he did have the fastest clocking in the 2-year-old breeze-up sale in Ocala, Florida. He has plenty of gas.”

Royal Pleasure therefore looks likely to stay sound and could build on her excellent start.

Visionaire has in fact made a big impression on most trainers around the country, including one of the leading spotters of class at the yearling sales, Joey Ramsden, who was behind the purchase of a Visionaire filly at the National Yearling Sales for R1,4 million.

Kotzen said about Visionaire, “He has been very well received and looks the part. He will be an interesting stallion to follow.”

Visionaire best moment on the racecourse was when winning the stallion producing Gr 1 King’s Bishop Stakes over seven furlongs on dirt. Top sires like More Than Ready (sire of Gimmethegreenlight), Elusive Quality, Distorted Humor, Hardspun (sire of Ertijaal), End Sweep (sire of Trippi), City Zip, Ghostzapper, Successful Appeal and Henny Hughes have won or been placed in the King’s Bishop. Visionaire also won the Gr 3 Gotham Stakes, a race whose winner’s list includes top stallions like Secretariat, Gone West, Seeking The Gold, Gulch and Easy Goer.

Red Flame’s ideal race last season would have been the Gr 2 KRA Fillies Guineas at Greyville, but as she was still an up and coming horse her merit rating was not high enough to make the cut and she then found the 2000m of the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000 too far. She had a perfect preparation into the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m on J&B Met day, but then drew widest of all in the twelve horse field and had to run two wide throughout. She still managed to run on well for a two-length fourth. She now has everything in her favour, as she is drawn well in barrier five under Richard Fourie. Her decent cruising speed coupled with her turn of foot make her just as suited to the 1400m trip as the 1600m.

Red Flame (Nkosi Hlophe)

Hammie’s Hooker was unfortunate that her three and four-year-old careers co-incided with the amazing Beach Beuaty’s prime and otherwise she would likely be a Gr 1 winner by now. She was ridden a touch too aggressively in the Gr 1 Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes over 1800m, a trip that taps her stamina. In the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m she was slightly slow away and turned for home near the back. After running on well she found no extra in the final 100m, suggesting the 1400m trip of the Prix du Cap is still her optimum. Bernard Fayd’Herbe said at the beginning of the season that Hammie’s Hooker was the horse he was most looking forward to riding this term, which is a measure of her class.

She ran way below par in the Gr 2 Diadem over 1200m before those last two starts and although she subsequently had excuses in both the Paddock and the Majorca, she doesn’t quite appear to be in the same place as she was at the end of the Champions Season when running Beach Beauty close in the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes with the rest of the field well beaten. If she comes back to her brilliant best she will be the horse to beat, but on current form Red Flame is given the narrow vote. Watching the preliminaries on Saturday, including how well both horses go down to the start, will be all important.

One that could upset the applecart is the Brett Crawford-trained Gr 2 KRA Fillies Guineas winner Maybe Yes, who could now be cherry-ripe. She is drawn well in two and her excellent turn of foot was at its best this season over the 1500m trip, so she will likely enjoy the step down to 1400m after finishing five lengths back in both the Paddock Stakes and Majorca. However, she does have 2,5 lengths to find on Hammie’s Hooker from last season’s Gr 2 Tibouchina over 1450m at Clairwood.

Lanner Falcon is 2kg worse off with Maybe Yes having beaten her by only 0,75 lengths over 1500m. However, this is likely her optimum trip. She is widely drawn has a fine turn of foot and finishing speed, so won’t mind coming from off the pace.

A horse worth following and who could provide good place value or at least be included in the quartet is the Adam Marcus-trained Crystal Cavern. She created a fine impression when running on strongly from way back after being dropped out from a wide draw over this course and distance in a handicap on J&B Met day. She is only merit rated 82, but looks sure to rise above that mark.

Hammie’s Hooker (Equine Edge)

Marcus regards another contender here Souk as one of the stable stars. She ran on well for a 0,9 length fourth over 1200m on J&B Met day and that race was intended as her preparation for this one. Her best trip looks to be 1600m, so running relatively fresh here over 1400m gives her a chance of earning a cheque although she has a tricky draw of eight.

Supreme Sunset won a Gr 2 over 1450m at Turffontein, beating the like of Athina and an admittedly very unlucky Majmu, but she looks held by Red Flame, Hammie’s Hooker and Lanner Falcon on recent Cape Town form.

Antonia’s Fortress is 4kg better off with Red Flame for a 2,3 length beating over course and distance towards the beginning of January. She is a handy type so her pole positon draw is ideal for her style.

Miss Saigon is only just held by Lanner Falcon and Maybe Yes, but is 1kg better off with Antonia’s Fortress for a 0,4 length beating over course and distance, so she could earn from a draw of three.

Zacharias is only 1,4 lengths off Lanner Falcon on their last meeting over course and distance. However, her last two poor efforts over sprints puts a cloud over her chances.

Lady Ming looks out of her depth here.

The Gr 3 Chairman’s Cup has attracted a disappointing field of only six runners. The Darryl Hodgson-trained Putney Flyer’s last win was in a six-horse field over this distance and having run above his merit rating in the slow run Gr 2 J&B Urban Honey Stayers over 2800m on Met day, he could be the one to beat having just snuck into the handicap with the minimum weight of 52kg.

Etienne Braun, who is well known as a racing owner, is the Managing Director of sponsors Breco Seafoods and said that the Prawn Festival would be more organised this year and there would be no long queues. It should be a fun event, ideal as a family day out, and well worth attending.

They put up Futura 2kg to a merit rating of 120 for his J & B Met win, making the Brett Crawford-trained star officially the best horse in the country and 1.5kg better than Legislate.

Senior handicapper Roger Smith said: “We used Tellina (fourth and rated 109) as our guide. Futura beat him three lengths which is six points (3kg) but we felt that Futura won easier than the margin because he went away from the others at the end.”

The handicappers raised Ertijaal 5.5kg to 107 for his near five-length Investec Cape Derby triumph but left second-placed Act Of War on 117.

Smith explained: “We had to base Ertijaal’s rating on the other horses and take Act Of War out of the equation. He clearly ran below his best. He finished strongly in most of his previous races but on this occasion he moved up for a few strides and then didn’t seem to have any extra.”

Dean Kannemeyer said yesterday: “Last year we felt that he wasn’t ready to travel so we kept him at home for the winter triple crown and he almost pulled it off. I am looking at certain feature races with him in Durban, he is the type of horse that can do it and he leaves the following week.”

Breco Seafoods, whose managing director is passionate racehorse owner Etienne Braun,  sponsor the Prix du Cap and will be providing prawns at special low prices.

Kenilworth marketing manager Jenna Adams said: “We will have more working stations this time so there won’t be the huge queues that we had last year.”

The Cape Carnival minstrels will be at the meeting and there will be draws for R70 000 worth of home appliances (including televisions) and a fridge with a R2 000 seafood voucher.

Kevin Wright said that due to the nature of his injury (tendon) he had been “underworked”, while Alyson added that recent rain co-inciding with his intended hard-working days had also affected his preparation.

Kochka (Nkosi Hlophe)

Kevin said, “There is no way to get him ready for the season in time unless we start him somewhere and after such a long break he will need this run and at least another one before he is back to where he was.”

The yard were therefore not bullish about even his class perhaps bringing him a victory in the Graduation Plate race over 1200m, in which he is well in at the weights.

Alyson added, “Otherwise everything has gone really well in his prep and it will be good to see him back.”

The Wright yard have another interesting runner on the day in the form of the three-year-old Go Deputy filly Alpine Ridge, who runs in the fifth race, a MR 76 Handicap over 1400m for fillies and mares. Alsyon admitted that it was a very competitive field, so hoped Alpine Ridge could run a place. The filly has a tricky draw of nine to overcome, but considering Scottsville is very much a “horses for courses” type of a track, the most interesting statistic in her three run career to date is that she has had one outing at the course for one victory.  She won here on debut over 1200m in “very soft” conditions, despite being palpably outpaced early, so she will definitely prefer the 1400m trip.  Another noticeable detail of her debut was that she had to run around the inside horses that day and finished in the centre of the track. From her draw she will likely have to come down the centre again. A factor in her favour is that the progeny of Go Deputy improve continually with age.

The Wright yard have a colt by Western Winter, Mr Roy owned by Roy Moodley, whom they hope can follow in the footsteps of Kochka. He disappointed after being backed into 28/10 second favourite on Sunday over 1200m up against the promising Mike de Kock-trained winner Baahir and managed only a 7,25 length fourth. However, it was discovered immediately after the race that his nose was streaming mucous. He had shown no sign of ill effects before the race and this virus has apparently been common lately. He should be watched in future starts.