Reigning national Champion trainer Sean Tarry has hit the front in stakes earning for the season but just unofficially as his only feature win at Saturday’s Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile meeting was in a restricted race, whose stakes don’t count towards the championship.

His Visionaire filly Spiritofthegroove stormed home from way off the pace to win the R1 million Emperor’s Palace Ready to Run Cup.

Jockey Marco van Rensburg dropped her out from a wide draw and in the straight he faced a wall of horses on the inside.

However, he somehow managed to weave her through and she won going away by 2,25 lengths.

She is owned by Singapore-based Mark Yong’s Equine Hub SA and was bred by Tmen Stables.

Tarry, whilst mindful Spiritofthegroove had won this 1400m contest in testing conditions, was still concerned about her getting the tough Turffontein Mile of the Grade 3 Fillies Mile on November 23.

He said he would see how she drew in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, which was another option.

Tarry said he had endured an overall disappointing day on Saturday.

He said, “I would have liked In The Dance to have had another run going in to the Charity Mile, but she travelled well in the race and still finished well. She could have got closer with a better draw. Tilbury Fort needed the run and the soft ground made it more testing. So they will both come on from the run. Zillzaal looked a picture before his last run and a picture in the parade ring on Saturday but he then went into a complete sweat behind the starting stalls, so something went wrong between the parade ring and the start, so it was disappointing. He and Tilbury Fort will still be going for the Summer Cup and there is a nice four week gap for In The Dance into the Ipi Tombe so hopefully she can fluke a draw.”

He continued, “Eden Roc ran a good race at the weights in the Graham Beck and should be cherry ripe for the Dingaans. Putontheredlight had a complete no show and the rider stood up at the 300m mark, it was a nothing run, so I don’t know what to read into it. Sidonie did at least stay on so that was a result you can live with. “

In the official championship standings Tarry is in third place on earnings of R3,410,838. Justin Snaith leads on earnings of R3,603,163 and Paul Peter is in second place on R3,486,675. Mike de Kock’s halcyon day on Saturday took him into fourth place on R3,197,750. Alan Greeff and Brett Crawford are in 5th and 6th place respectively on R3,183,638 and R3,030,963. Yvette Bremner is in 7th on R2,389,600. Glen Kotzen, Gavin Smith and Garth Puller fill the final three places in the top ten on the log.

By David Thiselton

The David Nieuwenhuizen-trained Mill Queen was victorious in the Grade 3 HSH Princess Charlene Starling Stakes over 1400m despite not enjoying a smooth preparation.

This Digteby Stud-bred Querari filly was bought for R140,000 at the National Yearling Sale session 2 and has already earned R423,375 in gross stakes for her owners S Poriazi, WG de Koker and W Volschenk.

Nieuwenhuizen said, “She still has to mature mentally and physically, she is a late maturer who is still furnishing, so hopefully she will get a lot better. She is doing extremely well despite being backwards and that is just down to her ability, so we have to look after her. She is a filly who gives her all, so we also have to be careful with her in work.”

Nieuwenhuizen lamented the lack of a preparation race for her going into the Starling Stakes, which he said was due to the benchmark for any suitable handicap races not being high enough to include his 110 merit rated horse and there were also no suitable plate races. 

He did not want to put her up against older horses at this stage.

He said the lack of a preparation race might have worked in her favour to some degree due to the conditions of the Starling Stakes, which penalises horses for having more than two wins. He questioned the logic of this condition, i.e. why should good horses be penalised for feature preparation events, when there is already a condition which penalises Graded wins.

Furthermore, the Querari filly had a setback in training, tweaking her back, and they were forced to only walk her for a few days.

He added, “Thank goodness Gavin (Lerena) has a good feel for a horse. He rode her with a bit in reserve and it looked like she did need it.”

She won by 0,30 lengths from the persistent Wisteria Walk.  

Nieuwenhuizen said another disadvantage she had endured was the difficulty of getting one jockey to stay aboard her.

He feared losing Lerena for her next intended target, the Grade 3 Fillies Mile, due to the latter’s retainer with Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Stud.

Lerena had ridden her before Saturday, which was an advantage.

Mill Queen ended her campaign as a two-year-old with a 0,80 length second in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes. However, Nieuwenhuizen pointed out she had come from a wide draw that day and did not know the track, which was unlike the winner Gabor on both counts.

He would have preferred her next race, which will be her second after a layoff, to be on Gauteng Summer Cup day, November 30, but they had moved the Fillies Mile forward to the 23rd. 

However, he said she had come out of Saturday’s race well.

He added he always went in to races positively, so would be able to adjust her work accordingly.

He concluded, “It’s all about the stable working together and management.”

By David Thiselton

Joey Ramsden has decided against moving to Singapore to train. He will now presumably stay put at his Milnerton base and concentrate on trying to build up the stable to its former glories.

Ramsden, who has gone out of his way to be helpful to this writer in the past, has not answered my calls or text messages in recent weeks and yesterday was no exception. But Singapore Turf Club executive Zenna Teo emailed: “We would like to inform you that Mr Joey Ramsden has decided not to train in Singapore.”

In April the Singapore Turf Club took Ramsden and the rest of South African racing by surprise when it issued a press release to say that he was one of three new trainers being allocated boxes. Apparently he had only made inquiries and had not told his owners but he said he would fly over and have a look. He was soon singing the country’s praises and pointing to the advantages of its racing compared to that in South Africa, although he did say what a complex process it was to set up there.

With the possible exception of Charles Laird (who retired), Ramsden was the trainer who suffered most when Markus Jooste decided to quit racing in the immediate aftermath of the Steinhoff financial scandal. His numbers slumped from well over 100 to the extent that he moved to a smaller yard and the majority of his horses were not of the same class as the Jooste ones. He has really battled in the first few months of this season and has had only two winners.

But Singapore’s loss is South Africa’s gain. Ramsden is one of the few trainers in this country to have won Group 1 races overseas and at home he was won more than 1 750 races including 26 Grade 1s, notably the 2016 Vodacom Durban July with The Conglomerate. He also has the personality to attract owners and a world-wide reputation that is likely to attract further patronage from overseas.

He has recently updated his website to publicise an attacking policy that extends countrywide, saying: “The yard regularly raids Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. With the recent success of the Johannesburg stable we are looking to make that yard a permanent fixture and, with a 10% stakes winners to winners strike rate, we believe our results speak for themselves.”

By Michael Clower

Al Bragga, something of a bookmakers’ benefit so far, just might be worth another chance in the opening maiden at Kenilworth today.

The Mike Stewart-trained three-year-old was backed as if he couldn’t lose on debut here in August yet he finished with only one behind him and over 20 lengths off the winner. He was found to be lame afterwards. He then went on a recovery mission at Durbanville and, although only fifth, he ran a great deal better. He would, though, have finished a lot closer had things gone according to plan but he had to be eased 600m out in order to get a clear run.

“He also gave himself a nasty over-reach,” says Mike Stewart who said of the debut disappointment: “When he got home he came out of the box on three legs. Either he knocked himself in the pens or he got kicked and nobody noticed.”

Al Bragga was gelded between the two races and this time Greg Cheyne takes over from Donovan Dillon and is fitted with cheek pieces.  Stewart, who doesn’t bet, is determined not to tempt fate by making predictions but his horse was only a length and a quarter behind Cape Of Storms (33-10 favourite here) at Durbanville despite that interference.

Empire Glory, cut from 6-1 to 9-2 and the only four-year-old in the field, was hampered when he had Capkuta (4-1) a neck behind over 1 250m at Durbanville last month.

Happy Wanderer (15-2) is the highest rated but disappointed at Durbanville and Mike Robinson says: “I don’t think he really enjoyed the course but also he needed gelding. This was done immediately afterwards but he might just need this run as I haven’t galloped him.”

The Andre Nel newcomer King Cyrus (15-2) has to be respected, particularly with Bernard Fayd’Herbe riding, but Al Bragga at 4-1 looks a worthwhile prospect to make it third time lucky.

Dennis Drier only brings maidens to Cape Town if he is convinced they are good enough to win so it is no surprise to see newcomer Croisette favourite for race two, particularly as she has already finished second in a Scottsville barrier trail. But 5-10 against a couple of provenly useful local fillies looks too short. I prefer to take a chance with Ryanair at 5-1.

Looks Like Magic, 2-1 for the Betting World Maiden (race three), is a pretty apt description of the Glen Kotzen/Morne Winnaar combination at the moment and she has a big chance. However slight preference is for Fayd’Herbe’s mount Springisintheair.

By Michael Clower

Ryan Munger has been granted a 12-month licence for Singapore starting January 1.

Munger, who chose this career path after he was inspired to follow into the footsteps of his jockey-uncle Stuart Randolph, enrolled at the South African Jockey Academy in 2011 and after rapidly rising through the ranks, now figures among the leading jockeys on the national log.

Crowned Zimbabwe champion jockey in the 2017-2018 season, the Durban-born Munger was first based in Johannesburg. He moved to Cape Town in October 2018 to briefly join trainer Glen Kotzen as his stable jockey before going freelance shortly after.

Last year, Munger finished eighth on the national log on 127 winners. He currently sits in eighth place on 31 winners.

He has racked up around 570 winners, including four at Grade 3 level and six in Listed races. His first Grade 3 wins came in the Caradoc Gold Cup with Ilitshe at Turffontein in 2017, while other notable feature wins at Turffontein include the Grade 3 Graham Beck Stakes with National Park last November and the Grade 3 Pretty Polly Stakes with Palace Of Dreams in March.

In terms of overseas experience, Munger took part in an apprentice jockeys’ challenge in Abu Dhabi back in 2014.

– Singapore Turf Club