Summerveld trainer Frank Robinson had a triple triumph recently when the Mogok colt Keiko won a maiden as he bred, owns and trains him and he is hopeful this little horse has a bright future.

He put Keiko in a barrier trial on the Greyville poly at the beginning of the season and said Warren Kennedy had got off and said he had given him the feel of a top horse. 

His mother Sheikina (The Sheik) won over 2500m so his instructions to Luke Ferraris on his debut over 1000m on the poly was to drop him out. He was duly outpaced and turned for home tailed off.

Robinson said, “He ran the last 400m in 22,2 seconds and made up an unbelievable amount of ground.”

Robinson then put him in a 1600m event on the poly with the intention of building him up to his right trip of 2000m and beyond.

He said, “I had only cantered him at home into this race and he was drawn 12 out of 12. But he pinged the gate and sat in sixth one off the fence and ran on to win.”

He continued, “He could be anything. He is still a baby and has not actually turned three yet so will have a lot of growth from now until January. I will run him two or three times until then but only if I find nice races.”

Stayers are usually big horses, but Robinson said, “It is the amount of ground they cover that counts. As they say horses don’t run up, they run forwards. It is not the size that matters, it is the size of the heart.”

Robinson recalled Teal, the Durban July winner who was of pony size.

He added Keiko was similar in conformation to the small but strongly built English staying sensation Stradivarius.

Just about every winner has a heartwarming story behind him or her and Keiko is no exception.

Robinson trained his dam Sheikina and described her as an “ATM” as she had four seconds and a third in the maidens before going on to win twice.

However, what impressed him most about her was the size of her girth.

He said, “She had one of the biggest girths and barrels I have seen. This often points to a good producer, so I thought she would make a good broodmare.”

Robinson sent her to Mogok, not surprisingly, as among this successful sire’s progeny was Orbison, who won the Grade 1 Champions Cup for Herman Brown Jnr in the days Robinson was the latter’s assistant trainer. 

He continued, “The first foal of many mares is tiny and this was the case with Sheikina’s first foal Tinkle.”

She was unplaced a number of times and Robinson has given her away as a riding pony.

Keiko, also by Mogok, was her second foal.

Animal-loving Robinson, who has a menagerie of dogs, cats and birds, named him after the famous Orca, Keiko, who starred in the Free Willy movies and who after his release into the wild preferred swimming with children in the fjords of Norway rather than with his own kind.  

Adding to the anticipation after Keiko’s early promise is that Sheikina has three more racehorses on the way. On the ground she has a Mogok two-year-old and a “magnificent yearling” by the former Herman Brown Jnr-trained Linngari. She is in foal to the stallion who matched her best, Mambo In Seattle, as this give a 4×4 cross to the blue hen mare Lassie Dear.

Robinson also has high hopes for the David Ferarris-owned Var gelding Avro Lancaster, who ran in a barrier trial at Greyville yesterday. 

By David Thiselton

General Franco makes his eagerly-awaited reappearance in the Play Soccer 6 MR 94 Handicap over 1 400m at Durbanville on Saturday and, somewhat understandably, he has opened hot favourite.

This is the colt, a son of the great Frankel, who looked a potential superstar when accelerating like a machine to romp away with his debut in April only to finish plumb last when starting a prohibitive 7-20 for his follow-up a month later. He has not raced since.

“He has been doing very well at home, I have galloped him, he is ready and should give his full potential,” said Justin Snaith yesterday. “If he wins on Saturday he is obviously a horse for the future but he will have to prove it here and whether he is mature enough to win against a field like this I’m not sure. It is very hard at this level. Also he has never seen Durbanville although I have galloped him round the turn at Kenilworth.”

Snaith expressed concerns last month about the horse’s high rating of 102 and he did so again yesterday, saying: “I couldn’t run him before off that rating. He is still quite an immature horse and so I had to wait until he matured to a level at which I felt he would be competitive in this type of race.”

The reason for that bitterly disappointing second run remains something of a mystery. The only thing that showed up was slightly sore shins although some racegoers have suggested that, as he was not allowed to bowl along in front in the manner of his sire, he became disappointed and switched himself off.

But Snaith has ruled out racing him from the front on Saturday and he explained why. “I am trying to train him to be a miler-plus so I need him to settle. There are others in the race who are fast front-runners and therefore General Franco will be dropped out and tucked in.”

Richard Fourie has elected to partner the General rather than stable companions Frank Lloyd Wright, who was considered a bit unlucky when managing only fourth behind Icon King last time, and Green Jacket. The last-named is not a certain runner.

Snaith explained: “He was making a slight breathing noise this morning and I am going to give him a good sprint-up in the morning, see how he goes and then make a call.”

Green Jacket (Louis Mxothwa) is the outsider of the Snaith trio at 11-2 with General Franco odds-on at 8-10 and Frank Lloyd Wright (Corne Orffer) on 28-10. The only other runners are the Candice Bass-Robinson trained Meraki (Greg Cheyne) who is a 7-1 chance and the Harold Crawford-Michelle Rix pair Spectra Force (M.J. Byleveld) who is around 9-1 and Pink Floyd (Ossie Noach), the rank outsider of the party at nearly 20-1.

By Michael Clower

It was Padre Pio that put the final nail in the coffin of Muzi Yeni’s bid for the jockey championship last season, Dennis Bosch’s colt putting Lyle Hewitson four clear and in an unassailable position as the season ran down on the last day.

Hewitson made all the running that afternoon and Padre Pio won readily. With Hewitson in Hong Kong, and currently serving out a suspension that he garnered on home turf before trying his luck in the home-ruled Chinses territory, he was replaced by former champion S’Manga Khumalo who is making a comeback after a spell in the doldrums.

Yesterday, Padre Pio again won readily from close-up after surrendering the early lead to Bank Robber, in a tricky Graduation Plate. He was up against older runners with strong form and Pollard, a winner of his last start, chased him home in a futile effort to close down the gap with Bank Robber staying on for the minor money.

Any seasoned punter will tell you that they are wary of reputations garnered through word of mouth rather than performance, but the word was out yesterday that Ultra Magnus would live up to his lofty reputation.

Brett Crawford’s gelding did his reputation no harm as he was given a confident ride by Donovan Dillon and hardly breaking a sweat in the process to hold off the useful Desolate Road.

It was a win full of merit considering the race conditions and Graeme Hawkins and his long-time Zimbabwean friend Brian Makwabarara of Black Diamond Thoroughbreds can be realistically optimistic.

Summerveld-based Frank Robinson has been enjoying a good run of late and the six-year-old mare Komeshans Flight belied her age with a stunning finish to the fifth, getting home late to nail long-time leader Philae in the shadow of the post.

Jacqueline started at cramped odds for the sixth and she duly obliged, Dennis Drier’s charge leaving her opposition strung out like a washing behind her.

Wendy Whitehead is another that has been enjoying a good run of late and one is generally assured of a good price on her winners. Fire Island was a long-time maiden, having drawn a blank in 24 starts, although seldom far off the money. It was a close call yesterday, but Fire Island got home narrowly ahead of Master Vision.

Andre Nel is in the envious position that owner Sabine Plattner appears to let him do what is best for her horses. As a result, many of Plattner’s runners have little mileage on their clock and Twice To Sydney, having only her fifth start in two seasons, came on well from her local debut to round off the meeting in a desperate three-way battle with Dark Moon Down and Ruby Cove.

By Andrew Harrison

The Vaal Classic track has nine races for punters to look forward to tomorrow and there look to be some opportunities although it is generally competitive racing.

In the first race over 1000m May Queen dwelt on debut over 1160m before taking a hefty bump. She then made up ground quickly without too much effort before being run out of it late. She is a solidly built daughter of the promising sire Skit Skizzle and will take some beating if jumping on terms. The Sean Tarry-trained Dark Song makes most appeal of the first-timers. This Drakenstein Stud-bred filly is by the ill-fated Kingsbarns, who produced the Grade 1 winner Gabor in his first crop, and is out of a three-time winning Western Winter mare from 1000m to 1200m who was also Listed placed. She has been priced up as 3/1 favourite ante-post and May Queen is third favourite at 11/2.

In the second over 1000m Anatolio is the form horse of those to have raced but is no great shakes and will be vulnerable to any decent first-timer. Var Aglow is by Var out of Jet Master mare Jet Aglow, the Grade 1 Paddock Stakes runner up who also won a Grade 3 and Listed event, and Kennedy is an eye-catching booking. Bergerac is by Var out of a one-time winning Australian-bred by Dylan Thomas. Those two make most appeal of the first-timers. Bergerac has the Sean Tarry factor and has been priced up as favourite by WSB.

In the third over 1450m Fire To The Rein moved up well on debut over 1200m from some way back to be beaten only a neck. He should relish the step up in trip and is drawn well in two so will be hard to beat. Dads Roots has shown some ability and is well drawn in his return from a rest, gelding and a change of yard, so he could earn. Cairon is the only first-timer and makes some appeal being by Twice Over out of Sue For Peace, a five-time winning Western Winter speedster who has produced a two-time winner.

In the first leg of the Pick 6 over 1450m, Category Four is a progressive sort who would likely prefer further and has a tough draw. However, he has a nice action and is coming into his own so is selected as he is effective over this trip. Stop For Nothing showed good improvement with blinkers on over this trip last time when flying up from last to win his maiden. He has been accorded a reasonable merit rating and has a middle draw so has a chance of following up. Irrevocable Dream looks promising and should relish the step up in trip but he has not raced for 84 days.

In the first leg of the Jackpot over 1450m the improving Kapama could be the one to beat facing an uninspiring field. She has flown home in her last two starts over this category of trip to be beaten half-a-length and a length respectively and the small field should suit her as she will have less ground to make up. By the same token a small field will suit Black Tie, who was transformed last time by a change of headgear to blinkers and new front-running tactics. The other jockeys were caught napping in that race and off a reasonable opening handicap mark Tejash Juglall will try and repeat the tactic.

The sixth race could see a banker in Gemcutter, or it is otherwise wide open. The Var gelding won three out of four in Zimbabwe and on his South African debut he ran on well from an unfavourable low draw. He should have come on from that run and has changed yards to Paul Matchett. He has a fair draw of four and should be right there. Hartleyfour has always been well regarded and after finishing strongly to win comfortably over course and distance last time he can overcome a three-point raise. However, he does have a tougher draw this time so might have to be dropped out and will have to produce an even better finish. Snow In Seattle is also widely drawn but mowed them down from near last down the straight over 1160m in his penultimate start and off a three point higher mark should be able to go close if bouncing back from his below par run over 1000m last time. Hot August will finish close to Hartleyfour on paper being 1,5kg better off for a 1,5 length beating. Baahir is 3kg better off with Hartleyfour for a 2,75 length beating and this honest sort is capable of popping up.

In the seventh race over 1600m Ragoon was a promising sort at one stage and won three races but then lost his way a bit. However, he has now joined the high-flying Paul Peter yard and with Warren Kennedy up appears to be the stable elect. He is off a competitive merit rating and all three of his wins have been over this course and distance, although he does have a tough draw to overcome. Stablemate Defy Gravity has been knocking hard and is well drawn but the only concern is this trip is on the sharp side. I Am Batman has shown promise and put in good work late last time with first time cheek pieces on so could be involved. However, this race is very open and it is best to go as wide as possible.

In the eighth over 2000m topweight Jacko Boy makes plenty of appeal. She had to be switched last time and was making rapid inroads into Jive Express’s lead over this trip and is now half-a-kilogram better off for a head beating. She is progressive and can beat Jive Express with Always Red next best although there is very little between all three on paper.

In the last race over 2400m In For A Penny’s good draw will suit her front running style and she comes out well on form lines too. However, Gold Griffin and Slay The Dragon are must includes too.

By David Thiselton

Trainer Leon Erasmus (Jnr) has been warned-off following an inquiry by the National Horseracing Authority (NHA).

The NHA confirmed that at an Inquiry held in Johannesburg on 6 September, and adjourned to 9 September to allow for further investigation, and concluded on 16 September 2019, trainer Leon Erasmus (Jnr) was charged in that as a licensed trainer, and responsible for the care, treatment and training of horses under his control, he failed to provide a reasonable level of care and treatment to a number of these horses who upon examination, were found to be in poor condition and showing varying degrees of neglect.

Erasmus was also charged for intentionally misleading the stewards by concealing the presence of certain horses and thus failing to provide access at his training establishment. These horses were under his care and concealed at the same time as an official stable investigation conducted at his premises on 28 August 2019.  Subsequent evidence presented during the inquiry, showed these horses to be in a very poor condition.

After considering the evidence the inquiry board took into consideration the severity of neglect, as well as the fact that Erasmus (Jnr) had intentionally concealed these horses which had prevented the stewards from performing their duties. In determining suitable penalties and giving due regard to the serious welfare and integrity breaches of the rules, Erasmus’s trainer’s licence was cancelled on the first charge and was further issued a warning off on the second charge. A waning off notice means that Erasmus will not be able to set foot in another training centre or on a racecourse.

Erasmus (Jnr) was afforded the Right of Appeal against both the findings and penalties.

By Andrew Harrison