Liverpool Football Club got off to the best possible start in the British Premier League on the weekend and Liverpool Champ could prove an omen for last year’s runner-up in the BPL.

Gavin van Zyl saddles Liverpool Champ in the fourth on the turf at Hollywoodbets Greyville today and along with Velvet Season, these two could provide for an ‘anchor’ in the exotics.

Gelded and blinkered, Liverpool Champ made an inauspicious start to his racing career, finishing a distant fourth behind Silva’s Fling.

But stretched an extra furlong at his second outing, he made marked improvement, beaten less than a length by Justfortheepenny, coming from well back.

The winner is highly rated and with the extra ground unlikely to pose a problem, Liverpool Champ looks a fair bet.

However, Velvet Season has yet to finish out of the money since being fitted with blinkers and was beaten a whisker last time out. His best recent form has been on the ploy track but he has also done well on the turf and looks the most likely ‘Manchester City’ threat to Liverpool Champ’s chances.

Quant Master and Matterhorn have the obvious form to back their claims in the opening leg of the Pick 6, Quant Master possibly the pick of the pair. Robbie and Shannon Hill’s runner was all at sea first time around the Scottsville bend. His race was run as he compounded behind Loosen Your Tie but the latter has franked that form with some forward showings in feature race company. Quant Master putting up some useful sprint form down the straight and although he goes the turn again today, he now has the experience and from the best draw and a top rider in Donovan Dillon aboard, he should be right there.

Matterhorn made a smart debut when weakening late on debut when fourth behind Alibi Guy and third-placed Liberty Hall subsequently finished runner-up in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes.

It is difficult to argue against that form and with the pair drawn alongside each other, tactics will play a big role.

Hill Street Blues may be pick of the balance but these two look set to dominate.

The handicappers have been slow to reduce the rating of Techno Captain, much to the chagrin of Paul Gadsby, but although he shoulders top weight in the fifth, he now looks to be off a competitive mark and can convert his consistency into a fifth win. He has shown consistent form over shorter which has probably been to his detriment as far as the handicapping goes, but does seems better suited to today’s 1800m trip.

This is not easy race however and amongst others, all of Viento, Sea Sponge and Frozen Tune need to be included in the exotics.

The sixth is another tricky event but Simply Russian has some smart juvenile form in good company. The form of her maiden win has panned out and she could prove too classy. Scarlet Chill has won both starts for her new stable but took a five-point penalty for her last win and has a big weight to shoulder but stable companion Roy’s Pony is knocking at the door and is another that can feature.

The seventh is made difficult in that there are a number of runners who are a touch off form but quite capable should they find their best. Of those in form, Master Keys won well last time out and has a touch of class. Petra is another who is more than capable on her best form. She has not been far back in her last two sprints and with the blinkers off she can do better over this longer trip.

Finally, in the last, Captain Demonami won a strong maiden last run and that form has since been franked. From the best of the draw he should again feature prominently.  Someone Exciting is lightly raced and was a beaten favourite last start and although taking on males she stacks as the most likely threat to the selection.

By Andrew Harrison

TAB is taking all possible steps to ensure customers do not suffer any financial prejudice arising from the official result for the last race at Flamingo Park yesterday being changed.

The National Horseracing Authority (NHRA) mistakenly declared a triple dead heat for third place in Race 9 and only corrected the error some 10 minutes after the official result had been posted.

TAB initially paid out according to the original official result and then had to amend the result and payouts in terms of the corrected official result, which was 2 Poster Girl first, 6 Crown Charka second, dead heat for third 3 What A Sarah and 13 Meet The Logans.

The corrected official result obviously caused significant changes to winning combinations and payouts initially declared for the Place, Swinger, Trifecta, Quartet and Place Accumulator pools.

Although in no way to blame for the change to the official result, TAB is taking the following steps to ensure that customers are not disadvantaged:

* The Quartet pool is being refunded to satisfy international commingling partners, but anybody with a winning Quartet ticket can submit a claim and TAB will pay them what the correct official dividend would have been. All losing tickets will be refunded in full.

* Any TAB cash customer who was paid out before the corrected official result and received a lower payout than should have been the case can submit a claim for the difference. This applies to Place, Swinger, Trifecta, Quartet, and Place Accumulator bets.

* TAB account customers’ balances will be adjusted automatically in terms of the above.

* In-store TAB customers who cashed what later proved losing bets can treat their payouts as a windfall. *Gold Circle customers wishing to submit claims must do so at a TAB Gold Outlet and the Supervisor will then email the claim to CSC. Customers can call CSC on 031 314 1901 for more information.

Nash Rawiller is back in action in Australia after serving his 15-month disqualification and he wasted no time returning to the winner’s circle.

The Australian, who was found guilty of receiving gifts or money in exchange for tips in Hong Kong last year, had two winners in his first meeting back at Kembla Grange. It was probably fitting the name of the horse he rode to victory was Escaped.

In the lead-up to his return, Rawiller broke his silence on the ordeal which saw him interrogated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption as well as being prevented from leaving Hong Kong for five months.

“I guess it wasn’t just the shock of getting the 15 months at first, but obviously what came after that,” Rawiller told Australian radio station RSN.

“Getting to the airport and about to get on a plane and being told I’m not going anywhere and having my passport suspended. I had one foot in the door. It was a bit of a shock.

“They investigated me for the next five months and I was held there with my passport taken off me.”

Rawiller admitted one of his first thoughts was the Chris Munce situation – the jockey served 20 months in jail over the “tips for bets affair” last decade.

“It is the first thing that comes to mind,” Rawiller said. “I knew what I’d done and knew I probably shouldn’t be in the position I was in, but I still had to go through the process.

“And you have that unknown little factor that you don’t know what someone else has said or done.

“I kept confident the whole way through that everything would be OK but they were very trying times obviously. I just had to let it all play out. It’s probably made me a better person.”

New trainer Douglas Whyte is wasting no time building his team for the start of the season with 38 horses already on his books.

The highest-rated horse is California Fortune (104), who comes across from the Tony Cruz yard, while he also has Uncle Steve – the last horse he rode in a race.

In total, Whyte has 23 stable transfers this off-season – 19 more than any other trainer. It looks like he’s got plenty of support from owners and will hit the ground running.

– southchinamonringpost.com

Stephanie Miller claims that she was framed by a rival trainer when Bongo Dance tested positive to testosterone when he ran second at Flamingo Park last November and when needles with traces of the same prohibited substance were seized by National Horseracing Authority officials at her stables a month later.

The Kimberley trainer also maintains that the cattle prodder found at her training premises in June was there innocently and that she would never use it on a horse.

She has been fined R238 000 for these two offences and for a third – an out-of-competition specimen taken from Cape Rebel in May being found to contain traces of the banned anti-inflammatory Flunixin. In addition, she has had her trainer’s licence withdrawn for three months for the cattle prodder case, the withdrawal suspended for 12 months provided she is not found guilty of a similar offence in the meantime.

Mrs Miller said: “There has been an absolute hate relationship between us (my brother and I) and another trainer for a few years now and we had threats from him saying that he would make sure that our horses tested positive.”

When asked if she was implying that this trainer was responsible for the gelding Bongo Dance testing positive to the male hormone testosterone (which would have jazzed up the horse) she replied: “Definitely and in my bakkie they found five needles, and one of these was on the floor without a cap.

“I train for my brother (Francois du Toit) and I opened both his and my betting accounts to the NHA to show that we put not a cent on Bongo Dance that day. But under the rules the trainer is responsible for everything connected with the horse under his or her care.”

Mrs Miller admits giving Flunixin to Cape Rebel. “The horse pulled a tendon, was in terrible pain and I couldn’t get a vet at the time. I admitted my guilt to the NHA and said that this is what I did because I cannot see a horse in pain.”

But it is the cattle prodder that has really brought down the NHA’s wrath and seen Mrs Miller vilified on social media and in the correspondence pages of the Sporting Post website. Cattle prodders, whose tips can produce an electric shock, are real Dick Francis stuff so far as racing is concerned.

The work rider is instructed to carry one instead of a whip and towards the end of the gallop he gives a loud shout, touches the horse with the prodder at the same time as he presses the relevant button and an electric charge shoots through the horse. After receiving this treatment in two or three subsequent gallops he knows exactly what the shout means.

When it comes to the race the jockey is told to shout a furlong or so out and tap the horse with his whip. No electric shock but the horse believes he knows what is coming and takes off like Usain Bolt.

“I am not an animal abuser and I would never do anything like that to a horse but that cattle prodder had been sitting in my office for two years unknown to me,” said Mrs Miller. “My brother and I have a farm and two years ago we sold the cattle and bought game.

“I loaded the cattle onto a truck to take them to the auction. I had a prodder on the farm but that day it wouldn’t work. I took it with me to the stables and asked a trainer friend to have a look at it for me. He didn’t know what was wrong and left it there but my staff put it on the top shelf in my office without my knowing. The NHA raided my office on June 24 and they found the prodder. I have photos of it with the battery acid leaking out of it. But it was in my possession so I am responsible.”

Mrs Miller, 58, is the widow of Peter Miller who was the top trainer in Kimberley for nine seasons on the trot before his death from a heart attack at the age of 60 in April 2011. Their son Sean took over but was killed in a motor accident in June the following year and Mrs Miller, known as Steph to her friends, then assumed control of the training operation.

She has decided not to appeal against the fines and the suspension because of the cost of further legal action. “I had an advocate representing me in the testosterone case and I have received an account for R293 000 for that alone. I have decided that I am going to go out of racing. It has been a terrible time for me this last week although losing my husband and losing my son were far worse.”

By Michael Clower

Hurricane Harry could well have most to fear from Nevil Mu as he bids to lead a potentially profitable day for Snaith Racing followers in the opening maiden at Kenilworth this afternoon.

The Trippi gelding showed plenty of promise on debut when ridden by Aldo Domeyer – and starting joint favourite with more experienced stable companion Go Jewel who won the race – and is sure to have benefitted from that outing. “How much improvement can a horse make in under three weeks?” countered the trainer when the question was put to him. “Probably not a lot but the experience of his first run will be a help.”

The same applies with Nevil Mu who was picked out by Winning Ways (and countless others) when running on like a certain future winner on debut only ten days ago. Admittedly it was in a far from strong field but he was drawn badly and ran very green early. “I’d done nothing with him and he won’t miss next time,” was Peter Wrensch’s post-race verdict.

Hurricane Harry opened favourite at 3-1 with Nevil Mu on 9-2, the same price as Brett Crawford’s Ridgemont colt Bag Of Tricks who has a length and a half to find with Nevil Mu but, as he failed to get a clear run that day, he could well pose a major threat. 

Snaith says he is making a point of getting his three-year-olds into action at the moment and adds: “I am bringing out some nice ones including Halliberry (race two) and Double The Fun in the last.”

Halliberry is 3-1 favourite but she was flattered by her three-length second to Pretty Young Thing against older horses on debut because the winner could have scored by 12 lengths had Anton Marcus not eased her. Furthermore she is untested in the soft.

Howl (33-10) is better than last-time’s six length-plus second to Honey Pie would suggest because she was reported tied-up in her shoulder after that run. However it was only 17 days ago and so it might be better to take a chance with Ryan Munger’s mount Sweet Karma who went quite close last time and is proven in the ground.

The Interbet.co.za Pinnacle is the class race of the day but, as so often in this type of race, it is complicated by those horses coming off a break (their fitness is a matter of guesswork, often on the part of their trainers too) and I prefer to concentrate on the Progress Plate.

Vaughan Marshall runs three of the seven including Binoche who impressed when scoring on debut. Marshall says that he fully expected her to win that day but shares the view of the handicappers that Mirage is the best of the three. She should win.

By Michael Clower