Commingling of the Saftote with France’s government-controlled betting agency, the Paris Mutuel Urbain (PMU), also saw the Tote win and place pools at last Friday night’s meeting being given a massive boost.

In its heyday, racing virtually marketed itself as it was the only form of gambling in the country and every meeting attracted huge crowds. Friday night’s crowd for an eight race meeting featuring the Gr 3 Flamboyant Stakes was reminiscent of those days and newcomers, who were initially attracted by the many activities laid on, have clearly started taking an interest in this most exciting of sports as the outside rail was lined with spectators for every race.

The horse is what it should be all about and the magnificence of the thoroughbred can only but impress anybody who has never been close up to one before, especially when they are in full flight. The atmosphere on course at Greyville recently has been brimful of excitement and enjoyment and being close up to these amazing animals is one of the reasons.

The Greyville turf has been presented in fine condition since its comeback on Boxing Day, while the polytrack continues to be a fair track as virtually every race has a true pace which, more often than not, leads to a true result.

The average win and place pool at Greyville’s well attended Boxing Day meeting was R144,175.40 and R73,409.43 respectively and the total combined amount for nine races was R1,958,263.45. These pools increased dramatically at Greyville’s meeting last Friday night due to the money wagered in France and the win and place pools averaged R1,078,277.92 and R822,034.24 respectively, while the combined total was R15,202,497.27. The total injected by France’s Parimutuel was R12,509,322.

Earlier in the day the Parimutuel injected R3,589,236 into the Fairview pools. The boost in pool money led to one or two surprising dividends for those having a flutter, including the hot favourite National Approval, who looked difficult to oppose in Greyville’s second race, paying R2,60 for a win.

De Kock’s decision to scratch Majmu comes despite the lifting of the recent movement restriction ban on horses stabled at Randjesfontein. He commented: “Under current AHS conditions it has been recommended that we move horses we intend to race in Cape Town to another centre or to Cape Town as soon as possible in case the movement ban is re-instituted, but I don’t want to prepare Majmu elsewhere.

“There are other overriding factors too. Majmu lost weight when she travelled to the Cape and back for the Fillies Guineas last December and had not put it back on after having had a month to do so. Taking another trip to Cape Town for a major race like the Met will be a bit hard on a young filly like her and could affect her Triple Tiara aspirations.

“We’d rather bide our time, the Highveld feature season is around the corner in Gauteng and it makes sense to keep Majmu stabled here in view of the Triple Tiara series. We had to make a decision whether Majmu would travel to Cape Town on Wednesday along with Pine Princess and Alboran Sea and after discussions with Sheikh Hamdan’s Racing Manager, Angus Gold, this evening we considered it to be in Majmu’s best interest to take her out of the J&B Met.”

Pine Princess has been accepted to race in the Gr1 Paddock Stakes at Kenilworth on Saturday (Jan 10).  Alboran Sea will be running in the Cape Flying Championship on January 24.

www.mikedekockracing.com

Brett Crawford explained: “He had only just stopped coughing and so he wouldn’t have been ready for a racecourse gallop. I gave him a spin on the sand instead. He is a very athletic type so he doesn’t need a lot.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount has, understandably perhaps, eased slightly in the betting and is now 9-2 third favourite (from 4-1). Legislate has hardened to 1-2 with Betting World but Geoff Woodruff’s Sansui Summer Cup and Triple Crown winner Louis The King remains second favourite at 4-1.

Grand Parade Cape Guineas third Kingvoldt, the only three-year-old in the race, continues to drift and is now 12-1 after opening at 8-1.

Outsider Ashton Park (40-1) sprained a joint when nearly brought down in the Diadem Stakes nine days ago but Mike Bass, looking for a seventh Queen’s Plate triumph, is now a little more optimistic. He said: “I wasn’t hopeful of running him at the beginning of last week but I am now. The joint was swollen for most of the last week and I haven’t worked him. He has just been walking. Hopefully I will be able to this week.”

Justin Snaith, successful with Gimmethegreenlight three years ago, said at the weekend that he doesn’t fear any of the opposition, just bad luck in running. He added: “We won’t mind if the gallop is fast or slow. I just want him to have every opportunity and after that, may the best horse win. Indeed I hope they all get a fair chance so that there are no excuses afterwards.

“Legislate was very impressive in his Kenilworth gallop on Wednesday. Obviously it is hard to work out exactly how good he was as he went on his own, but I thought he was super impressive.”

The champion trainer, speaking of the Vodacom Durban July winner’s chance on Saturday, referred back to the four-year-old’s winning return in the Lanzerac Green Point Stakes and said: “He wasn’t fully tuned, just ready enough to run a good race. Yet to blow away a field like that and break the course record was scary.”

Snaith is also expecting a good show from 25-1 shot Jet Explorer and said: “He could be a dark horse for the placings. He will be given a chance and he will be running on at the end. He will do well.”

Joey Ramsden has undertaken to “let everyone know” if any change is made to the provisional plan to run Cape Guineas winner Act Of War in the Julius Baer Politician Stakes and said: “That’s still the plan but I will know more during the week.”

In the J&B Met betting Legislate has shorted from 22-10 to 18-10 and Futura has eased from 7-2 to 4-1. There has been significant support for the Bass-trained Premier Trophy runner-up Helderberg Blue who is now a 16-1 chance after being as big as 40-1 at one stage.

Meanwhile, Justin Snaith is on target to beat his own fastest century and needs just 16 winners in the next 32 days to do it. He landed a treble at Fairview on Friday and, although overshadowed by triple scorer Mike Bass at Kenilworth on Saturday, he had two more to take his total to 84. But the champion trainer is only third – behind Mike de Kock and Sean Tarry – in the trainers’ log and needs to win at least one of Saturday’s two Grade 1 races to regain his early season lead.

Randjesfontein horses have been subjected to a 40 day travel ban as it falls within a 30km radius of a recent positive case of African Horse Sickness (AHS). Sean Tarry is also affected by the ban as he plans to run Carry On Alice in the Cape Flying Championship and Trip To Heaven in the R1 million Cape Thoroughbred Sales Stakes, both on January 24.

Both De Kock and Tarry said today that the efforts to provide the best possible solution for the horses’ transport to the Cape included “legal wrangles.”

According to De Kock the state veterinary authority will grant permission for the horses to be moved to a training centre outside of the 30km radius, in this case The Vaal, where they will only have to stay for 14 days before being allowed to travel to Cape Town. This will enable runners for the Cape Flying Championship and J&B Met to reach Cape Town in time.

However, De Kock added that this alternative would mean a change of training tracks and environment, which was not ideal for a horse, and would also be subject to boxes being available, so he wondered whether it would be worthwhile.

Tarry said that everything was still “up in the air”, but that it was paramount that there was some sort of development “within the next 48 hours”, so that The Vaal option could at least be considered.

Pine Princess’s travel will obviously depend entirely on a solution being found within those 48 hours.

Tarry said there was a “lot going on” in the efforts to find a solution, including the case being “with the lawyers”. The connections of the horses are also awaiting a reply from a letter sent to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF). Tarry said that it was “alarming” that this letter, sent as a matter of urgency on December 28, had still not been replied to.

The travel ban was made by the state veterinary authority in order to protect the AHS Controlled Area in the Western Cape in line with the export protocol negotiated with the European Union (EU) in 1997.

De Kock, who spoke yesterday from his training centre in Dubai, admitted recently to having become increasingly demoralised by the AHS saga, which has had a severe impact on the racing and trading prospects of the South African thoroughbred as a whole and also on his own international ambitions.

He said recently that South Africa should “stop pandering” to the EU and instead concentrate their efforts on alternative solutions, and he said yesterday that it sent “a poor message” to the rest of the world that “we can’t travel our own horses around our own country.”

The Drakenstein Stud stallion Trippi sired the first three past the post, a continuation of the unstoppable form his progeny have been in this season. Trip Tease was purchased for a mere R70,000 at Bloodstock South Africa’s Emperor’s Palace National Two-Year-Old sale and has now earned R879,575 in stakes.

He won on debut over 1000m on the sand by 8,25 lengths as a young three-year-old, but took four runs to win on the turf. His first win on the turf over 1000m was off a merit rating of 82 and he followed up by winning the Gr 3 Man ‘O War Sprint for three-year-olds over 1100m, also on the turf. After that he rattled off three wins in succession on the sand. A second place on the sand then preceded his win in the Listed Hampton Handicap over 1000m on the sand.

His merit rating had by now rocketed up and he looked to have a mountain to climb returning to turf as the handicapper accorded him a 107 merit rating despite his last win on that surface having been off an 86.

However, he continues to defy the handicapper as he started off his turf campaign on November 1 by winning the Listed Golden Loom Handicap over 1000m. The victory was an emotional one for Goosen as he was a colleague and close friend of the late great Buddy Maroun, trainer of the famously tough and prolific Golden Loom.

On Saturday Trip Tease had to race off a merit rating of 112 under handicap conditions, but such is his reputation now that he was sent off as 5/2 favourite. The classy Sean Tarry-trained three-year-old Trippi colt Trip To Heaven was a 3/1 chance and looked the main danger. Trip To Heaven was slowly away again, just as he was when winning the Gr 2 Merchants over 1160m on Sansui Summer Cup day.

Therefore, Strydom was able to get Trip Tease up against the outside rail, which is usually of help to a horse. The four-year-old Mike de Kock-trained Trippi gelding Tiger Territory was meanwhile making a bold bid from the front and when Trip To Heaven appeared on the scene it looked like those two would fight it out. However, Strydom extracted a withering late burst from Trip Tease to get up by 0,25 lengths. Tiger Territory and Trip To heaven shared second place.

The big weight for age events like the Computaform Sprint look to be the future for Trip Tease and as a horse with the winning habit combined with Goosen’s expertise in priming him for a race he will always be a tough nut to crack.

Picture: Louis Goosen (JC Photos)