The Vaal straight course has a nine race card tomorrow which should provide a few opportunities for punters.

The highest rated race is a MR86 Handicap over 2400m and Snorting Bull is made the value bet of the day.

Last time out over this trip he moved up strongly but perhaps went to early and it was also his second run after a layoff, so he could not maintain it. He did still finish a good 1,75 length third and should have come on from the run. He is drawn two and is 1,5kg better off with Top Shot, who beat him by 1,25 lengths in that last start. Top Shot must be respected on that effort although Tirzan is preferred for the runner up spot. Tirzan was beaten three lengths into second by the exciting staying prospect Horace last time he tried this trip and that was no disgrace. It was the second time he had finished runner up over this trip this year.

Bondiblu will be near the top of the boards following her 2,70 length fifth in the Grade 3 Track And Ball Oaks over this trip. However, the handicapper gave her six points for that effort and she will now have a hard task with Top Shot. She beat the latter by three lengths when they last met but even if her apprentice claim is included she is now 4,5kg worse off. Furthermore, for a mare to carry 59,5kg and give come decent males weight is not going to be easy. The other two runners, Earth Sky and Hands Of Man, are 3kg and 6,5kg under sufferance respectively so are up against it. 

The fourth over 1600m is the first of two fillies and mares MR 84 handicaps. I Like It looks the one to beat although with the lightweight jockey Ryan Munger up she is going to be carrying a lot of deadweight with 62kg on her back. Last time out she was just 2,25 lengths behind Vistula when receiving only 2kg and the latter went on to finish fifth in the Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes. One reason she is chosen is because there are question marks about most of the other runners. Eightfolds Lass won well last time over this trip and is consistent but she was given a seven point raise. Elusive Butterfly could be a threat as she will likely find this trip ideal and is only two points higher than her last win. Both Scent Of Evening and State Star are talented but they have both had breathing issues so are not ones to rely on. Soul Of Wit has been disappointing over sprints lately and tries 1600m again. In her only previous attempt at this trip she finished fifth but she is by Ideal World so should have a chance of getting it. 

The other MR84 for fillies and mares is the fifth over 1000m. Elbi is a pacey and consistent sort who was beaten by a firecracker in What A Red last time. However, if recapturing the form which saw her going close to Ulla in her previous start then she is the one to beat. Nawaasi disappointed in two runs in June but last time out was full of running when winning over this trip. She was given a six point raise and is half-a-kilogram under sufferance here but has the same 1,5kg claimer Nathan Klink aboard and if carrying that form into this race has a chance. The topweight Winter Watch is talented but a touch enigmatic. She has a shout with a 4kg claimer up if having a running day.

In the first leg of the PA the hard knocker Orchid Street is interesting dropped in trip to 1200m as she had some decent earlier form over that distance. She looks likely to fight it out with Pidgeon Rock who has had four seconds in succession from 1000-1200m.

In the sixth race over 1000m Boundless Deep might have chased too hard too early last time as she had no extra in the final 200m. She is now three points lower in the merit ratings and has a 4kg claimer up so can afford to be a bit more patient and is selected to win. Phillydelphia could be in the shake up for the in form Paul Peter yard if reproducing her penultimate start. However, Queen Of War, Claremorris and Moggie Brown also warrant consideration.

The eighth is a difficult 1600m handicap event. Sovereign Reign finished strongly last time over 1500m and is off an attractive mark so is the selection. However, all of Changing Seasons, Winter Crusade, Sammi Moosa, Hidden Agenda, Don Pierro, Movie Magic and In The Game must be included in the Pick 6.

In the last race over 1600m Mr Cuddles has a good opportunity to get off the mark in an uninspiring event as she has two seconds to her name over this trip. She is taken to beat Free Deal, who is improving and should enjoy the step up in trip, and Blanco, who has been disappointing but should go close here.  

The best bet of the day is taken to be Afrostar in the second as he has class and should now be coming into his own.

By David Thiselton

“I will stay in Hong Kong as long as I am doing well but, if I find myself in a position where I have to fight for rides and winners, I will probably come back to South Africa or try somewhere else.”

Grant van Niekerk has found himself in both positions during his first season out there, starting off with a bang and then having to make the best of 20-1 shots for weeks before really motoring in the last couple of months. “I got a few chances and got the winners home. I then started to get more support and better rides and by the end of the season I was doing really well.”

He found it something of a culture shock to begin with, starting with the way the morning work is organised. “There the trainers book you to ride work and they can book you from 4.35am to around 7.30am.” Not the easiest for man who has long since admitted to not being much of a morning person!

And there was more. “Everything there is precise and has to be done according to the clock. The trainer will give you a distance and time for the work and you have to go the speed to do it in that. I found this difficult but you get used to it and it makes you a good judge of pace.”

That’s an important attribute in any country but particularly so there. “The pressure is on from the jump and you need to be quick out of the pens – South African racing is very laid back by comparison – and riding over there has made me a lot sharper.”

But homesickness, never far away, really hit home on the day of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. “I was stable jockey to Drakenstein so I felt I was missing something, and it all looked really good.

“You do get homesick out there – you miss your family and your friends – but you tell yourself you are there to work. Also you are in a racing jurisdiction where it is the best in the world so you want to be out there.

“My family (the couple have two small children, Kiara and Aidan) were with me but Nicole and I are not married so the visa was a bit of an issue and we had to travel (backwards and forwards) all the time which is tricky.”

The money he earns is huge. His 422 rides produced 31 winners and stakes of just over HK$45 million. If you work on the same percentage as jockeys get here (9%), he would have made the equivalent of R7.7 million plus riding fees.

But he is adamant that it’s not money that drives him. “It’s the racing and the environment you race in, the sort of environment you want to be in as a jockey. You get 50,000 people at the course and that makes it all so much more fun. Also I enjoy Hong Kong – it’s vibrant and a great place – but,” he pauses and breaks into a grin, “home will always be best.”

By Michael Clower

Winter Chill made a tardy start to her racing career when sent out a short-priced favourite on debut, blowing the start and finding one better on the day. Ant Mgudlwa is unlikely to let the colt make the same mistake twice and he rates the one to beat in the card opener at Hollywoodbets Scottsville today.

Winter Chill came out of the pens sideways and couldn’t quite get to terms with eventual favourite Candle Cove. Garth Puller’s charge caught the eye in his barrier trial, beating subsequent feature-placed Maiden’s Prayer and he was as short as 11-10 on the books yesterday ahead of the Johan Janse van Vuuren’s debutant Duke Of York.

Puller has strong hands in the first three races where he saddles the ante-post favourites. Miss Charlotte is as short as 17-10 for the Track & Ball Gaming Maiden after her close-up third to Montreal Mist on the Greyville poly. All of her best runs have been on the synthetic track and better value could lie with 5-1 shot Lady Caroline Lamb.

She has her first outing for Gavin van Zyl, after his son Chesney pulled up his stake and moved to Australia, but there was no shortage of support on debut as she started as short as 33-10.

She finished with just one behind her and was the subject of a vet’s examination, but she was just six lengths back to the useful looking Mary O.

The stable is in form as is jockey Warren Kennedy, and Lady Caroline Lamb could be worth a nibble.

Puller saddles even money chance Bay Tibbs in the third and he could be the best bet as a Pick 6 banker for the afternoon. The Bold Silvano colt had his first outing for Ormond Ferraris when friendless in the betting and with Ferraris handing in his trainer’s brief, the colt was moved to Puller He made marked improvement on his debut, coming from well back to finish second to Master Of Fire. With a good draw and an extra furlong, which should suit judged on his pedigree, he could prove more than a match for 2-1 second favourite Al Jazeera.

Kennedy and Van Zyl team up again in the fourth where Zerina has been supported in from an opening call of 1-1 to 7-10 favourite. However, Louis Goosen could have other ideas as he saddles Linnger Longer. The five-year-old has been winless in 22 starts but her last four outings have come against winners, her best recent effort when beaten less than a length by Flaming Desire over course and distance. She could finally get it right today and 7-1 in this line-up looks faire odds.

KZN champion trainer Dennis Drier could help out in the next two heats. He saddles first and second favourites in the fifth, stable rider Sean Veale presumably on the more fancied of the two. Escape Club is a lightly raced five-year-old but has won four of her six starts. She showed up well in her barrier trial, her first trot on a racecourse since November last year, but taking her fitness on trust, she could prove difficult to beat.

Drier goes one better in the sixth where he saddles the first three in the ante-post market, and again Veale appears to be on the ‘right’ one in 16-10 favourite In The Stars. She made a winning return from the Cape, stretching away in the finish to beat Cherry Pop by an extending four lengths and she has beaten stable companion and second favourite Dieci in the past.

The seventh has a wide open look about it with Roy’s Stingray favourite at 28-10 with a further four horses quoted at 5-1 and shorter.

Liquid Irish finally shed her maiden after a string of runner-up berths, and finished second again in her first start in handicap company. Wendy Whitehead’s filly is an 11-10 chance today and was caught late over a mile on the Greyville poly in that outing. Today’s 1400m should be right up her alley.

By Andrew Harrison

Gavin van Zyl clinched his eighth Grade 1 win on eLan Gold Cup day with the Kingsbarns filly Gabor and is now tentatively targeting the Drakenstein Stud homebred at the Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas.

Van Zyl earned small black type with Gabor’s mother Se Agabor, who was by Trippi, and Drakenstein’s loyalty in sending Gabor to him has paid off.

Van Zyl said he and jockey Warren Kennedy knew Gabor was decent after her maiden win over 1000m on the Greyville polytrack on May 29 and this was confirmed when she ran third in the Grade 2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m on Vodacom Durban July day.

Kennedy went into the latter race saying he would have definitely predicted a top three finish for her if it had not been for her wide draw and it was indeed the draw which was her undoing. She was caught wide and yet still stayed on for a fine 2,20 length third.

On Gold Cup day she landed a good draw in the Grade 1 Thekwini over 1600m and duly started favourite.

During the race she had her heels clipped which took off a hind shoe and nicked her coronet band and she also twisted a front shoe.

Yet she still managed to dig down deep to catch the leader Mill Queen and win going away.

“It was a win full of courage,” said Van Zyl, who now knows she is better than just “decent.” 

He added, “Se Agabor wasn’t a champion, she was just decent, but the combination with Kingsbarns has worked. I am glad I have another Kingsbarns in the yard too and we are also very excited about him.”

The other Kingsbarns he was referring to was the gelding Walnut, who finished fourth on debut over 1000m on the Greyville poly on May 1.

Unfortunately Kingsbarns, who won the Grade 1 Racing Post Trophy for two-year-olds in England, passed away in May 2018.

Van Zyl said he would likely use the Grade 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship over 1400m at Kenilworth in late October as Gabor’s springboard into the Cape Fillies Guineas.

His yard have started this season where they left off last and have had three winners with just four runners.

They have feature race hopes too.

He said the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion third-placed Wave had not stayed the mile on Gold Cup day and would be kept to shorter.

The Grade 1 SA Derby third-placed Marchingontogether is a scopey sort who should come in to his own this season and they are expecting a decent campaign from the like of Blackball.

They also have a number of promising youngsters to look forward to.

By David Thiselton

The processes pertaining to jockey suspensions came under scrutiny last week at the conclusion of the South African Jockeys championship and there was criticism from various quarters about a rider’s ability to use these processes to delay a pending suspension.

However, a closer look at our National Horseracing Authority’s system compared to others around the world shows it is like comparing apples to pears and, furthermore, it is not unusual in other parts of the world for cases pertaining to riding fouls to be dragged out for a long time.

Anthony Delpech revealed over the weekend a case of his in Hong Kong involving a serious charge was dragged out for three months.

There has been criticism out here for inconsistencies in the time it takes for an appeal board to sit from case to case.

However, Delpech said when he was riding in Hong Kong the date on which an appeal board sat was dependent on the availability of both representative lawyers. i.e. it was subject to the same delays which happen in South Africa and there was no consistency from case to case. 

It should also be pointed out Lyle Hewitson initially pleaded guilty to the charge of a contravention of Rule 62.2.3 in April.

This arose on 12 April 2019 at Fairview Racecourse, he failed to ride Believethisbeauty out to the end of Race 8, thereby prejudicing his chances of obtaining 3rd position.

However, he appealed the severity of the 14 day sentence and it is this process which did not reach its conclusion before the end of the season.

Likewise, S’Manga Khumalo’s pending 60 day suspension in 2014 stretched even beyond the appeal board process when he took it to the high court.

In Hong Kong the initial inquiry is held on the same day as the race, which speeds the process up.

Over here it is usually only done the following week, but it must be remembered that in Hong Kong all jockeys not only live in Hong Kong but also live in the same apartment block compared to here where a number of them fly in from other cities.

In South Africa after an inquiry the jockey may opt for the Inquiry transcript to be considered by the Inquiry Review Board, that meets from “time to time”.

In Britain the “Disciplinary Panel” sits regularly. It holds inquiries under the Rules of Racing and, where appropriate, imposes penalties where breaches of the Rules have been committed and hears appeals from Stewards’ decisions, A number of cases are done in one sitting. However, it should be seen in the light of there being numerous racemeetings every day in Britain, meaning a number of misdemeanours will happen every week.

In South Africa, with just one or two meetings per day, there could be a week where there are no misdemeanours at all, so it would therefore not be economically viable to have such a panel sitting at regular intervals.

Jockeys are entitled to use the system to their advantage and it would seem the ability to delay pending suspensions in South Africa will continue to be part of the riding playing field.

By David Thiselton