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

The merit rating system in this country has been jerrymandered to a point where it hardly makes sense anymore. As one trainer put it, races have become a handicap within a handicap and far to complicated for the average punter to unravel. Little wonder turnovers are down.

There are a myriad of examples but just one played out at Turffontein on Saturday. Camphoratus had no right winning the wfa Gr1 Empress Club Stakes given the ratings. Gr1 Sun Met winner Oh Susanna is rated 119, Camphoratus a lowly 95, a full 12kg inferior if you believe the handicap. Oh Susanna may not have been at her best but she was only beaten two lengths in a race where she was rated at least 10 lengths superior to the winner.

We can all say yes, “that’s racing” but try and explain that to the layman who will wander off to the casino where all that they are required to do is push a button.

So tomorrow’s handicapping meeting should be interesting and thanks to National Horseracing Authority CEO Vee Moodley’s efforts at transparency, we should get a full explanation.

But the ratings do sometimes work out as they did at Scottsville yesterday where the filly Twice As Smart proved too good for a host of promising three-year-old males. Wendy Whitehead’s charge was rated 4kg superior to another filly, Sweet Mary Lou, and 6.5kg superior to her nearest male rival Vikram but she proved a little too good for the opposition as she should have.

Stuart Randolph was confident enough to take his mount to the front early in the straight and scrubbed her to the line, only resorting to a couple of reminders as Captain Of Tortuga kept her honest.

‘Patience’ is Shane Humby’s second name. His horses arrive at work in the morning as if they are in a coma but they sure know what to do when they get onto the racetrack.

Mr Fitz is a late maturing son of Bold Silvano and he gave notice that he is a horse with a future as he scored a comfortable win in the fourth. Mr Fitz was in a useful field where pre-race commentator Sheldon Peters was hesitant to commit, not so Warren Kennedy who was hunting a gap a long way out with plenty of horse under him. Once in the clear Mr Fitz accelerated through to hold off the year older Dyno Man, Anton Marcus possibly wishing that he could have shed an extra 2kg to make the weight on Mr Fitz who he had steered to his maiden win.

The title chaser did not go home empty handed however, as he brought home the first two on the card.

Justin Snaith opened his winter season account in KZN with Somewhere In Time scoring a bloodless victory in the card opener but it was not all plain sailing for Marcus. Somewhere In Time is obviously a filly with a few temperament issues and went down to the start with a lead pony and ear-muffs and Marcus had his job cut out to keeping her focussed in the race.

“She was not supposed to run here,” commented Snaith, “but when the field cut up to five or six runners, I thought this would be a good R60k gallop.”

Tony Rivalland’s good form continued with the well-supported Fiorano storming home in the second. Great Stohvanen set the pace and was going great guns approaching the two furlong marker, but once Marcus released the brake Fiorano won with plenty of daylight to spare.

Barring accidents, Luke Ferraris should be something of a shoo-in for the apprentice championship. He is a polished rider and all his skills were on display as he produced Tripple Z with a telling late run to deny Marcus a hat-trick, Spring Fling edging out long-time leader Astral Flight.

Alderman Rob Haswell was one of the umpteen thousands in the crowd watching the US Masters at Augusta and Cumulus will have paid for some of his travel expenses as Natie Kotzen’s runner took full toll of the absence of ante-post favourite Woodstock Festival.

By Andrew Harrison