Being a ‘small’ trainer doesn’t necessary mean that you don’t know your way around a racehorse. There is often a simple reason behind the empty boxes in the yard, and quite often it boils down to personality. There are plenty of moderate trainers with full yards, but what they mostly have in common is the gift of the gab.

Gary Rich has been around horses all of his life, his father Des one of the best trainers of his era, his most famous victory being Lightning Shot in the Durban July – before the advent of cell phones.

So Rich is no mug when it comes to horses, his main fault – if you can call it a fault – being that he is a bit slow in coming forward. With owners at a premium these days it is a character trait that tends to see him overlooked in favour of the louder and more high profile. But give him a horse with some ability and he’s as good as any.

The filly Connect Me is a case in point as she got home at Scottsville yesterday under a tremendous ride from Stuart Randolph.

A narrow winner over course and distance at her previous start, she looked to have pulled a coffin draw on the extreme outside of the 15-horse field and was hence easy to back at 14-1. Those odds looked decidedly skinny as Randolph rousted her along four wide up the back straight. Prospects didn’t look much better heading for home with her rider still pumping away and Song Of The Forest seemingly singing the right tune.

But when all got tired, Connect Me kept on relentlessly to run them out of it.

Horses can be difficult to fathom, the worst are what as know in the trade as ‘morning glories’ – horses that show any amount of ability on the training track but run below expectations when in a race proper.

First race winner Candy Apple is a recent example. The stipendiary stewards had him tagged after a particularly disappointing second start but Duncan Howells had always rated the colt and was equally puzzled when Candy Apple trailed home, beaten seven lengths.

Given that showing he was relatively easy to back yesterday but after tucking him in behind early, Bernard Fayde’herbe switched the colt clear and let him loose two furlongs out; the race was over in a matter of strides.

J&B Met winning trainer Yogas Govender was once master of the powerful Plattner Racing yard in Cape Town but since going it alone and moving to KZN he has found things a lot more difficult. But like Rich, give him a horse with some ability and he will get it to perform as Deer Park showed in Track & Ball Gaming Maiden Juvenile Plate.

Alert punters will have picked up the connecting thread between Deer Park and Candy Apple, the common denominator Master Of Illusion. The step up to a mile was just what the doctor ordered and the son of Bold Silvano finished too strongly for hot favourite Knight Warrior.

In stark contrast to Gary Rich and Yogas Govender, Brett Crawford has a conveyer belt of good horses and with Peter Muscutt his able assistant in KZN his horses are always to be reckoned with.

There is not too much to GG’s Dynasty in stature but he is game as the three-year-old finished with a rattle under Corne Orffer to edge out his older rivals Tommy Grand and favourite Collabro.

Lyle Hewitson’s bid for a second national jockey’s title is on the back burner as he cried off all of his mounts yesterday – kidney stones are an extremely painful malady.

By Andrew Harrison

Glen Kotzen was pleased Eyes Wide Open had been dropped three points by the handicapper for his 8,65 length fourth in the Listed Sledgehammer over 1800m on the poly as this has put him at the top of one of the merit rated bands for the WSB 1900 on Saturday.

He is carrying topweight of 60kg but according to official merit ratings is the best weighted male horse in the race, although he is 2kg under sufferance with the best weighted female Fresnaye. 

Kotzen said the four-year-old Dynasty colt had come on from that last run.

He said Eyes Wide Open would need to win to get into the Vodacom Durban July and he was expecting a big run.

Eyes Wide Open was just outside the top 20 on the first July log. The former Grade 1 Cape Derby winner was found to have been haemo-concentrating during his disappointing Cape Summer campaign.

However, this issue has been addressed and Kotzen believes he will now be back to his best. 

He was certainly looking well at Summerveld yesterday. He has a tricky draw of nine and in form Warren Kennedy is aboard. Kotzen runs three fillies in the Listed East Coast Cup over 2000m.

He pointed out how good Snapscan’s form was looking after Just Chaos, whom she beat by 3,25 in the Listed East Cape Oaks over 2000m, had come out and finished third against the boys in Saturday’s Listed East Cape Derby over 2400m.

Kotzen described Expedite as a “smart filly” and she proved it when finishing a close third in the Listed Jamaica Handicap over 2000m back in January. He said she had not enjoyed the rain effected going in her last start in the Scarlet Lady at Scottsville, so a line could be drawn through that run.

His other runner Luna Child will be ridden by the Mauritzfontein Stud-retained Gavin Lerena and Kotzen said this was always an advantage. She was eighth in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000, beaten seven lengths, when last trying this course and distance. However, she is certainly bred to go the trip being by Ideal World out of Rambo Dancer mare Cast A Spell, who won twice over 1800m. Furthermore, the progeny of Ideal World improve continuously so she should be coming into her own. She finished a 7,2 length fifth in the Scarlet Lady over 1750m in her last start and should have benefited from the outing, her first for two months.

By David Thiselton

“The last of the great owners,” said Chris Snaith yesterday as he paid tribute to Jack Mitchell who finally lost his long battle with leukaemia on Sunday night. He was 72.

The flags at Kenilworth flew at half mast, the jockeys wore black armbands and at the racecourse on Friday there will be a celebration of his life at 3.30pm.

Mitchell was the owner, or part-owner, of a string of stars that included Horse of the Years Legislate and Futura as well as last year’s Durban July winner Do It Again, Snowdance, Jackson and Ivory Trail.

But his contribution to the South African turf went way beyond that. In the days when the National Horseracing Authority was the Jockey Club he served as a steward for some 21 years. “There were stipes but we on the local executive would make the decisions,” he later recalled. “I did it for nothing and I felt very privileged to do so.”

Educated at Bishops, William Jack Campbell Mitchell was a stockbroker before joining the Old Mutual and for two decades he was an investment manager with Allan Grey. He inherited his passion for racing from his father Wally and his uncle Jack Winshaw who between them owned the 1968 Met winner William Penn.

He was extremely successful in picking the right horses at the sales and this was the result of careful planning. “I tried to buy horses that had the potential to win big races and I tended to pay quite a lot of money for them.”

Asked what excited him about racing, he replied: “When it’s a big race you are always on edge and that is half the fun of it but, that apart, it’s the unknown that appeals – and that it is an extremely competitive game. “

But breeding held relatively little appeal: “I found it too difficult and it is not one of my missions in life. Also you put yourself in a horrible situation – nobody wants the bad ones so you can only sell the good ones that you would like to race yourself. You have to sell them otherwise breeding is meaningless. I would much rather go to the sales and buy one.”

Betting was not for him either: “I might have R20 on if I am bored but I never bet on my own horses. I can’t really see the point. If I have R100 on what difference is it going to make?”

Most of his horses he bought after taking the advice of John Freeman (“a confidant and a good friend”) and the bloodstock agent has returned the compliment with a lengthy tribute emailed to clients and friends speaking of Mitchell’s “straight talk, good manners, generosity and friendliness.”

It was these characteristics that impressed everyone he had anything to do with on the racecourse and it was typical of him that he made a point of shaking hands with owners of rival horses when he was beaten into second. The fact that he had only one arm – the result of a motor accident – fazed him not one iota.

Mitchell and wife Helga had two children, commercial property developer Jerome and Nancy who followed her father into investment management and racehorse ownership. She owned many horses in partnership with her father including their latest star General Franco who runs on Saturday. There won’t be a dry eye in the house if, as expected, he wins.

By Michael Clower

Handicaps are difficult for punters at the best of times and they face another tricky card and race in the sixth at Scottsville this afternoon, a MR 90 Handicap.

The field is loaded with potential winners so the list is long one, but it may prove prudent to stick with the still improving three-year-olds headed by Rip It Up.

Justin Snaith’s gelding is on top of the handicap as far as his young rivals are concerned and comes into the race with some useful Cape Town form to back his claims.

He made his local debut in the Byerley Turk where he was never in contention but that outing should have done him the world of good and given his past record and first time blnkers he should prove a better proposition this afternoon.

The Paul Lafferty-trained Buckleberry has not been out of the money in his eight stats and finished a close-up third in a tough Pinnacle Stakes behind the smart Wynkelder. He was getting a massive 9.5kg from the winner but it was still a creditable effort considering the opposition and should be a contender.

Duncan Howells had a double at the same venue on Sunday and bottom weight Ruby Spirit must have an undeniable chance. He made nearly all the running before being caught late by the useful Cabo Da Cruz last time out and with useful apprentice Jason Gates claiming 2.5kg he could be difficult to peg back.

The Snaith-trained Pinkerton looked to be one of the better bets on the card in the second but was coughing in work and will be on the side-lines. His defection could possibly leave the way clear for Knight Warrior although current ante-post odds of 2-1 about Dennis Bosch’s runner don’t inspire too much confidence with Deer Park and Al Jazeera close-up in the market.

Brett Crawford is a master trainer in his own right and together with assistant Peter Muscutt running his KZN satellite yard, they are a lethal combination.

From a dozen or so horses after leaving the employ of Plattner Racing some years back, Crawford has built up one of the most powerful strings in the country in a relatively short time.

Crawford’s results speak for themselves and the stable has enjoyed a cracking run of late and can add to that run with GG’S Dynasty in the opening leg of the Pick 6.

Beaten favourite on his KZN debut, GG’s Dynasty is sure to have come on from that effort and with a good draw and a handy galloping weight may be the right one in a tricky field.

Joint top weight Collabro is at the top of the boards. Seldom out of the money and in good form of late, he will give Dennis Bosch hope of a fifth win for his charge but a better option could be Mr Greenlight, a 25-1 chance yesterday.

It is seldom that a Howells-trained winner starts at 55-1, but that was the case on Sunday when all were blind to favourite Sovereign Spirit. Howells has admitted that all went pear-shaped in his trip to Cape Town for Met day and Mr Greenlight’s two subsequent outings after his no-show in the CTS 1600 do not inspire much confidence.

However, he was drawn in Woodhouse Road over a course and distance last time out and with a better draw and two outings under his girth after his disastrous trip to the Cape, Mr Greenlight could prove full value with Bernard Fady’herbe aboard.

Maiden races over 2400m are often more difficult to call than MR60 Handicaps and the fourth is such a race.

Every stat points to a different possible winner so the advice is to load up in this leg of the exotics.

Cassius Colt and World Cruise have been in good form on the poly track while Keelan Dynasty, Sun On Sand and the front-running Excessive Grace are all in with a shout.

By Andrew Harrison

Head Honcho will have his first race since his third to Rainbow Bridge and Do It Again in the Sun Met in the mile pinnacle at Greyville on Saturday.

Andre Nel said yesterday: “He has been at Summerveld for the past two months and he is doing pretty well. He is not quite at full race sharpness but he is going to run a good race. I am hoping he will be able to go straight into the July after this but we will see how Saturday goes and then decide.”

Keagan de Melo, who has a good record on the five-year-old, again has the mount. Head Honcho, winner of six of his last eight starts, is a 20-1 chance for the Vodacom Durban July.

Joey Ramsden returned from a week’s prospecting in Singapore yesterday but without having made a final decision on whether his future lies there.

He said: “We met with everyone and we got to see everything and we now have an idea of the enormity of the task that lies ahead should we go. But we haven’t made up our minds yet and I have many things to think about including the children.”

However he was taken aback to find that the two-year-old fillies race at Kenilworth on Saturday had failed to fill and that the colts’ race has attracted a field of only six – “Two of them are mine and I only have 30 horses in training in Cape Town at the moment. I thought it a sad greeting.”

Clouds Unfold has met with a setback and will miss the rest of the Natal season. Candice Bass-Robinson reported yesterday that the Sceptre and Majorca winner has injured herself, adding: “We will give her the time she needs – her wellbeing is paramount – and I am sure she will be back for the summer season.”

Stable companion Dutch Philip, who returned to form to take second to Clouds Unfold in the 1 000m pinnacle at Kenilworth nine days ago, goes for the Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville on May 25.

In other Bass-Robinson news Drama Queen is being aimed at the Irridescence on June 29 after she was caught on the line by the talented Amy Johnson in the Perfect Promise, with her trainer saying: “It was only the penalty that beat her but she wants a lot further.”

Sailing Ship started favourite but dropped away in the final furlong – “We couldn’t find anything wrong but she over-raced early.”  

Brett Crawford has decided against sending recent Somerset 1200 winner Armando to Scottsville for the Gold Medallion after discussing plans with the colt’s future trainer Tony Millard. Instead the dual winner will run in the Cape Of Good Hope Nursery on June 8.

Anthony Andrews has the unenviable distinction of being the first jockey in Cape Town to be penalised under the new guideline forbidding hitting a horse more than 12 times in the course of a race. Andrews is rarely a whip offender but he was fined R750 for the offence on Photocopy at Durbanville on Sunday.

The stipes report for that day contains the new guideline and specifically states that the 12-strike limit excludes slaps down the shoulder. This is the opposite of what I was told by the Kenilworth stipes when I was preparing last Wednesday’s whip article.

Hopefully racing control executive Arnold Hyde will do what he suggested in the Alistair Cohen Tellytrack interview and lower the limit during the course of this year. The very idea of hitting a horse 12 times in a race will have the animal rights people up in arms and does little for racing’s image in the eyes of the general public.

By Michael Clower