The four-year-old Horse Chestnut gelding was just outside the top 20 on the first Summer Cup log, so might have to win the Michaelmas to get in. He has drawn 12 out of a list of 24 entries in the latter event. The Michaelmas meeting will see the first turf racing at Greyville since the spring treatment, but in order not to give the track an early pounding, only two races on the eight-race card will be on the turf and the rest will be on the polytrack.

Bold Inspiration has had seven career starts for five wins, but has won all three of his starts since joining Laird with consummate ease. Laird said the big horse had needed gelding upon arriving in his yard and had given the impression of being a Gold Cup type, so could “only get better” with age. He reckoned that as an up and coming sort this could be the “right Summer Cup” for him. He didn’t view Bold Inspiration as a J&B Met type, so the KZN Champions Season will likely be his next big campaign after the Summer Cup (presuming he gets into the latter race).

Laird’s Australian-bred Rock Of Gibraltar filly Rich Girl is on top of the Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Cup log at the moment, thanks chiefly to her runner up finish in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson over 1200m at Scottsville in May. The R3,85 million race, the richest horseracing event the country will have ever seen, will be run at Turffontein on November 1 over 1400m, a distance she is yet to prove she gets. However, Laird is confident she will stay the trip, provided she is ridden the correctly, and with Anton Marcus likely to be in the irons there is every chance that she will be. Rich Girl has shown outstanding speed in her sprint races, but is likely to be held up off the pace in the Ready To Run Cup, so a lot is likely to depend on how much cover she gets and how well she settles. Laird has won the Ready To Run Cup before with an Australian-bred filly, in 2010 with Hollywoodboulevard, who upset the mighty Igugu.

Laird has some classy sprinters at present and two of them, Viva La Var and Pej,  will be aimed at Johannesburg features, while another two, Normanz and Beloved Country, will be aimed at Cape Town’s big races. Viva La Var, who recently won his debut for Laird to remain unbeaten in four career starts, is being aimed at the Listed Golden Loom Handicap over 1000m at Turffontein and his long term aim will likely be the Gr 1 Computaform Sprint over the same course and distance next Autumn. Pej, a speedy four-year-old filly by Kahal who has won five times in eleven starts, will be aimed at some of the fillies feature sprints in Johannesburg.

Normanz, a four-year-old gelding by Var who won the Gr 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint last season, made his reappearance on Sunday at Greyville on the polytrack. He had a slow start and nothing much else went right for him, so he did well to finish just two lengths back. Laird was pleased with the effort and is aiming him at the Gr 1 R1 million Betting World Cape Flying Championship over 1000m at Kenilworth next January.

Beloved Country, a Trippi filly who has won three out of five starts, will be running on the same day in the R1 million Cape Thoroughbred Sales Book 1 Graduates race over an ideal trip of 1200m. Laird doesn’t believe the latter race will be ultra strong as a lot of the best graduates will be racing in the Cape Summer Of Champions classic events.

Picture: Bold Inspiration and jockey Anton Marcus (Nkosi Hlophe)

This six-year-old Muhtafal gelding has benefitted in his last few runs from a change of tactics in that he has been held up before running on and despite needing the run yesterday he once again took off late to get up and beat the well weighted Pej. The Tote favourite was the Gr 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint winner Normanz, but he didn’t get a good start and proved in need of the run, finishing a 2,05 length fourth at level weights with the winner. Showmetheway should still have plenty of racing in him, as sprinters can blossom in their six-year-old year, and he is being targeted at the Gr 2 Merchants over 1200m at Turffontein at the end of November.

Anton Marcus had a rare blank on Greyville’s Friday night card but he won the second, third and fourth races yesterday, all on favourites, the Dennis Bosch-trained Regardstobroadway, the Greg and Karen Anthony-trained Nottingham Forest and the Glen Kotzen-trained Garden Treasure. It was Bosch’s second Greyville winner of the weekend.

Apprentice Callan Murray made up for his narrow loss on Pej by winning the fifth and sixth races on the Jeff Freedman-trained Royal Denise and the Charles Laird-trained Clipperton Island respectively. Royal Denise was making her polytrack debut and after being backed in from 33/1 to 12/1 she produced a strong finish to get up late. Murray gave Clipperton Island a particularly good front-running ride over 1600m, a fitting way with which to notch up his 20th winner and lose his 4kg claim.

The Michael Roberts-trained Indian Connection won the seventh over 1600m. The Duncan Howells-trained favourite Saratoga Dancer could only manage third after being caught wide and committed early, and this might have cost him his chances of making the R3,85 million Emperor’s Ready To Run Cup field.

Kumaran Naidoo had his second Greyville winner of the weekend when Shivrani, who looked a picture in the parade ring, comfortably won the last over 1900m under Warren Kennedy.

Picture: Showmetheway (right) edges out Pej to win the first at Greyville yesterday (Nkosi Hlophe)

Drier said that the colt would instead run in a forthcoming Graduation Plate over 1200m and added that it still had to be decided whether he would then go the classic route, consisting of the Gr 2 Selangor Cup over 1600m on November 22 and the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas on December 20.

Drier said that there had been a couple of cases of travel sickness among his Cape Town string that had arrived at the Phillippi training centre recently, but Generalissimo had not been one of the horses affected.

Picture: Generalissimo (Nkosi Hlophe)

The English and Irish Derby winner was being prepared for next week’s Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot but it was revealed on Saturday morning that he will not race again and instead will head to Coolmore Stud to start his stallion career.

Kevin Buckley, Coolmore’s UK representative, said: “Unfortunately Australia developed a problem in his right-hind hoof during the week and following consultation between the resident farrier in Ballydoyle, our vet and the respective owners a decision was made to retire him to Coolmore.”

Speaking on the Morning Line, Buckley added: “We were all looking forward to Ascot but, as you can appreciate, any type of setback like that jeopardises the training regime and hence we had to make the decision he would not be ready for Champions Day.”

Explaining the injury that means Australia will be unable to retire on a winning note after suffering a shock defeat in the Irish Champion Stakes on his latest and final run, Ballydoyle farrier Jeff Henderson said: “At the beginning of the week we discovered a bit of soreness in the heel, which makes us suspicious of a hoof abscess.

“So we poulticed away at it and the infection came out and there were no soundness issues at all. Then a couple of days later he pulled out lame and on inspection we realised the infection had blown out through the bottom of the foot as well as the top.

“What happens in most cases it undermines and eats away at the attachment of the hoof wall to the sensory structures and therefore rendering it weak and unstable. At that time he was stopped.

“In a case like this it’s going to take a couple of weeks for the stability to come back and in that time we’re losing fitness and therefore he’s not going to be able to join in on Champions Weekend.”

The winner of five races and three at the highest level, Australia retires having earned £2,090,503 in prize-money and looks set for an illustrious career alongside Galileo at Coolmore.

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Picture: Sportinglife.com

“Book 1 of last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale scaled some enormous heights which makes the record returns at this year’s renewal even more remarkable. A significantly smaller catalogue has produced unprecedented turnover of nearly 80 million guineas.  As well as the highest price in the world for an auction yearling for the third consecutive year,” concluded Tattersalls Chairman Edmund Mahony.

After the Coolmore – Darley bidding wars of the nineties, the two super powers are rarely seen bidding against each other these day yet maintained their stranglehold on the racing industry.  Tattersalls October 2013 however, saw the new boys on the block, Qatar’s ruling al Thani family, throw down the gauntlet with two staggering yearling purchases of 3.6 million guineas and 5 million guineas respectively. It seemed as if a shift in the power struggle was imminent but order was restored this week with Coolmore’s John Magnier and John Ferguson for Darley snapping up the majority of the top lots.  Ferguson topped the buyer’s list with 38 purchases totalling 17,465,000gns, while Magnier, second on the list, bought nine yearlings for 6,885,000gns.

Spectators were treated to a now rare bidding war between Magnier and Ferguson over Lot 214, a Shamardal (USA) colt out of the King’s Stand Stakes winner Cassandra Go (IRE). The colt was eventually knocked down to Ferguson for 1.7 million guineas, a new record price for a yearling in 2014.  Late on the last day of the sale however, Lot 442, a Galileo (IRE) half brother to European Champion and sire Harbinger, was knocked down to Magnier for 2.6 million guineas.  This despite a low start at 5000gns and a lengthy stall at 60,000gns.

Jehan Malherbe’s Form Bloodstock managed to buy two lots after being under bidder to Ferguson on more than one occasion.  Form Bloodstock signed for Lot 27 (120,000gns), an Elusive Quality (USA) filly on behalf of Mary Slack, while Lot 378, a striking Sea The Stars colt was bought for 350,000gns on behalf of Mayfair Speculators.  Racing manager, Derek Brugman, confirmed that the colt will remain in the UK to be trained by Mike de Kock.

Picture: Liesl King