Justin Snaith introduces a pair of potentially high class two-year-olds at Kenilworth today and, despite certain reservations on the part of their trainer, it just might be worth siding with both of them.

General Franco, a R4 million CTS sale topper by wonder horse Frankel out of a Kingmambo mare from the family of Pilsudksi, has already been backed from 22-10 to 14-10 for the opening Maiden Juvenile Plate while the dogs have been barking about the Captain Al filly Amy Johnson who appeals at 9-2 for the fillies race 35 minutes later.

“They are both exciting babies but they have got to go out there and prove it,” says Snaith. “I don’t think General Franco is a 1 000m horse and whether Amy Johnson can win over the trip first time up is also a hard ask.

“General Franco is a beautiful individual and is everything I hoped he would turn into. We will give him a little bit of a chance early on – I want him to settle and train on to go round the turn – but if he fires up at the end I think he will be in the shake-up. Indeed I will be disappointed if he isn’t.”

Snaith also runs the more experienced Shinnecock  (22-10) – “He has had two decent runs and is very quick.” However he was beaten at odds-on on both his starts so punters may fight shy of him.

Fighter (8-1) showed promise first time and Paul Reeves says: “He has his work cut out but he will run a nice race.”

S’Manga Khumalo rides in the first three races for Joey Ramsden and 9-1 chance Stormin Norman (a R550 000 Var colt from the family of Horse Chesnut) can be expected to go well. Riding arrangements suggest that 7-1 newcomer Chaac (a R250 000 Soft Falling Rain) is preferred to fellow newcomer Three Two Charlie – “Chaac is a nice horse but he might be run off his feet over 1 000m,” fears Candice Bass-Robinson.

Most of the money so far in the fillies race has been for the Vaughan Marshall R500 000 Captain Al Mirage (backed from 7-2 to 18-10 with WSB) but Amy Johnson might just be good enough. “There is something about her and she could have that X factor,” says her trainer. “She is going to go close and, if she is as good as we think she is, she will be impressive.”

But don’t ignore Sailing Ship despite her 10-1 price. Candice Bass-Robinson says she could be ready enough “if the 1 000m does not prove too quick.” The betting also points to Ibra (33-10) even though she made a noise first time and was scratched with a dirty trach wash 17 days ago.

Drama Queen appeals in the fillies winners’ race (2.40pm) and the fact that 5-2 favourite Heaven’s Embrace (race six) is Anton Marcus’s only ride of the day is a tip in itself.

By Michael Clower

After discussion between Handicappers, Camphoratus had her rating increased from 95 to 105 following her last-stride win in the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes over 1600m at Turffontein (standside) on Saturday.  There is no reason to doubt Camphoratus’s performance as she did win the Grade 3 Flamboyant Stakes at Greyville in December and she has now won in her first attempt at Grade 1 level.

In assessing the race, it was agreed that the right key horse to use was third placed Nafaayes to the 103 she actually achieved when she won the Grade 2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas (over the same course-and-distance as the Empress Club Stakes) and again when she finished second in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic. Nafaayes has been highly consistent and seems to be a logical choice of line horse.

Running Brave goes up from 99 to 104 after she finished a close second in the Empress Club.  She had finished behind Nafaayes in both the Gauteng Fillies Guineas and in the SA Fillies Classic and it seems obvious enough that she must have run a better race here.  Nafaayes was dropped from 107 to 106 and is now the equal of fifth placed Celtic Sea (whom she also beat in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas).

In other changes, Oh Susanna was dropped from 119 to 118 and so remains higher than Lady In Black (117), who finished second behind Oh Susanna in the Grade 1 Paddock Stakes during the Cape summer season.  Fiorella drops from 102 to 100, Fresnaye was dropped from 110 to 108 following two below-par efforts since she arrived on the Highveld.  Ghaalla has been dropped from 102 to 100, Cascapedia goes from 109 to 107, and Al Danza has had her rating cut from 104 to 102.

NHA

A third successive Langerman winner for Vaughan Marshall? And could this be yet another Captain Al-sired Cape Guineas winner for him?

Doubtless the Milnerton trainer will be throwing up his hands in horror at such chicken-counting predictions but Captain Of Stealth again delivered the goods like Pegasus incarnate in the opener at Durbanville on Saturday.

Starting almost unbackable at 1-3, he was nudged into the lead almost from the off and 400m out he was asked to quicken. He was then shown the whip to make sure he got the message and, when MJ Byleveld looked back it was almost as if he himself couldn’t believe it. Twice more he turned his head round while his mount coasted home six lengths to the good.

“He was giving weight to two of the others and you are always seeing horses getting beaten when they do this,” he said, explaining why he kept looking round. “I know it’s early days yet but I think this horse is special. He is very good and his big asset is his speed.”

Marshall added: “You are always a bit worried that the first run might have been a fluke but his work at home has been phenomenal and this is what I expected. He is very good. We will see how he comes out of this but the Langerman is at the end of June and we will see how we go.”

The winner’s task was undoubtedly made a bit easier by the enforced withdrawal of Minnesota Dream but beating two previous winners by six lengths easing up takes some doing, and this is an exciting prospect even if he does not look the most straightforward of rides. On the way to the start he veered right instead of left at the bend past the stands and refused to stop until he had taken his jockey almost back into the parade ring.

Owner Pat Firestone sported a tie in his yellow and blue colours and his partner in the horse, John Habib, took things a colourful stage further with a shirt to match! “We are thrilled that the Captain came back and won so easily again,” said Firestone. “We have a lot to look forward to and we are very excited.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s enforced absence cost him a winner on Celestial Storm in the next (Corne Orffer deputised) and possibly another on Lip Service. Keagan de Melo replaced him in the fillies maiden, had trouble securing a clear run and was only beaten a fast-dwindling three-quarters of a length by Bella Summer.

De Melo had some compensation on the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Var’s Boy while Justin Snaith, out of luck with Oh Susanna at Turffontein, struck with Jailhouse Rock and What A Red.

By Michael Clower

Bernard Fayd’Herbe was lucky to escape serious injury when Minnesota Dream took fright in the pens for the opening juvenile plate at Durbanville on Saturday.

Viewers, both on TV and at the racecourse, looked on in horror as the gelding repeatedly bounced himself from one side to the other, crashing violently against the metal framework, before Fayd’Herbe reached up to the stanchions above him and pulled himself clear of danger.

The jockey, who had arrived back from Dubai less than two hours before the race, was stood down on medical advice for one race after another before going off to hospital for x-rays with a suspected broken foot.

However he reported yesterday: “Fortunately there is nothing broken. I am badly bruised on both feet, my knee and my neck but it’s nothing serious. I will try to be back riding by Tuesday and, if not, I will be back by Friday.

“The damage happened when he went back and I got caught between the horse and the back gate. Then I hit my head on top of the gates when he flipped up. I managed to grab onto the top bar and pull myself up. I was lucky.”

Minnesota Dream somehow got his right front leg over the partition in the process and was withdrawn by the vet. However Joey Ramsden’s assistant Ricardo Sobotker said that the horse was OK afterwards. He has had his starting stall certificate withdrawn.

Eric Sands is to work Rainbow Bridge at Greyville for the first time next week as he prepares the Sun Met winner for his bid to achieve a lifetime’s ambition for new owner Mike Rattray in the Vodacom Durban July.

The four-year-old, who sweats buckets every time he goes into a float, travelled to Summerveld from Milnerton last Tuesday and took the journey surprisingly well. “I was pleased with how he travelled,” said Sands. “Anton Marcus has already cantered him at Summerveld, we show him the track next week and his first race there will be the Independent on Saturday Drill Hall on May 3.”

By Michael Clower

A long held plan came to fruition at Turffontein Standside on Saturday when the Robbie and Shannon Hill-trained Camphoratus upset some big fish in the wfa HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes over 1600m and thus the stallion Byword, who now serves as a teaser, gained a first Grade 1 winner.

Robbie Hill is based at Summerveld but has been up at Randjesfontein since March 2 training just two horses, Camphoratus and Red Chesnut Road, for target races in Johannesburg.

He said, “When Camphoratus won the Flamboyant Stakes (on December 26 over 1600m at Greyville) we felt she was good enough to compete in the Empress Club and the plan was put in place.”

She was a 36/1 shot in the Flamboyant but Hill pointed out her previous bare form had not told the whole story.

He said, “She had a bad habit earlier in her career of messing around in the starting stalls. They have now begun accommodating her but prior to that she was not getting away on terms.”

After the Flamboyant the four-year-old filly ran a 2,80 length fifth in a Pinnacle event over 1500m at Scottsville on February 10. 

She arrived in Johannesburg on the morning of the Grade 3 Acacia Handicap over 1600m at Turffontein Standside on March 2.

Hill said, “She ran not a bad race there.”

Then when she finished second in the Listed Jacaranda Handicap over 1800m at Turffontein Standside on March 30, carrying joint topweight of 57,5kg, it confirmed the Empress Club Stakes plan should go ahead.

Hill does not believe 1800m stretches her and said, “Gareth (Wright) sent her for home too soon in the Jacaranda, he made a mistake. My only instruction on Saturday was to sit and wait and not go too early.”

Wright followed the instruction to a tee. Camphoratus clearly had a ton in hand in the straight when held together in midfield. He pressed the button at the 400m mark and she then showed what Hill describes as her “unbelievable acceleration”. Wright had to switch her inward and she then became involved in a stirring dual with the narrow Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas runner up Running Brave. Camphoratus surged in the final strides to win by a neck.

She had been the third lowest rated horse in the field off a merit rating of 95 and had not surprising started at odds of 66/1.

Among the defeated in a star-studded field was the 119 merit rated reigning Equus Horse Of The Year Oh Susanna. The trip was short of her optimum and she could only stay on at one pace from a handy position to finish a 2,20 length fourth. 

The Gauteng Fillies Guineas and Ipi Tombe winner Nafaayes, merit rated 107, was third and other beaten horses were the Graded-winning stars Celtic Sea, Fiorella, Fresnaye, Ghaalla, Cascapedia and Redberry Lane as well as last year’s narrow Empress Club runner up Al Danza.    

Hill, who stood on the stands and said he had remained surprisingly calm as the drama unfolded, added, “She obviously relished the soft conditions and some others might not have liked it, but it was nice that the plan came together.”

In contradiction, Byword’s sire Peintre Celbre had relished fast ground when winning the 1997 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by five lengths. However, he did also win a heavy ground Group 1. Byword’s only Group 1 win, in the Prince Of Wales Stakes over a mile and two furlongs at the Royal Ascot meeting, also came on fast ground, although he did manage two stakes wins on good to soft going.

Byword defeated none other than Twice Over in the Prince Of Wales but at stud in South Africa, starting in the same 2013/2014 season, their respective paths have followed divergent courses. Byword was originally with Rob Pickering’s Middlefield stud in the KZN Midlands but after one season he was transferred to Mauritzfontein Stud. Pickering felt that was the right move and still had high hopes for him. However, with just one decent horse in his first two crops it was soon apparent he was not going to make it in an ultra competitive environment where buyers expect early results. He was thus demoted to a role of teaser stallion at Wilgerbosdrift Stud. However, stud manager Guy Murdoch of Mauritzfontein said, “After yesterday’s Grade 1 we might have to reconsider.”

Camphoratus was bred by Pickering. She is out of the unraced Horse Chestnut mare Wild Camphor, whose only other foal, Scent Of The Tiger (Tiger Ridge), was a four-time winner.

Hill picked Camphoratus out at the BSA KZN Yearling Sale at Sibaya and said, “The chief reason I liked her was her beautifully big girth and she was also very well balanced.”

He bought her up for what has proved a bargain R50,000.

Camphoratus travelled home to Summerveld on Saturday night. Her obvious target SA Champions Season target is the Grade 1 wfa Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes. Her fine turn of foot is an asset at the tight Greyville circuit. 

Meanwhile, Hill is preparing Red Chesnut Road for a crack at the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m at Turffontein on May 4.

This horse was a top prospect as a two-year-old but has been plagued by injury since developing a bone sequestrem beneath the hock. A bone sequestrem is when a piece of dead bone detaches itself from the healthy bone.

“He is a hard horse to train,” admitted Hill.

However, the five-year-old Pathfork gelding proved he stays middle distances when “settling beautifully” and running second in the Listed Michael Roberts Handicap over 1750m last year and he later finished a decent fourth to Head Honcho in the umThombothi Stakes over 1950m.

Hill concluded, “If I can get him 100% right on the day he is a proper horse and will have a shout.”

By David Thiselton