Summerveld based trainer Mark Dixon might need to use his Google Maps App on his phone to help him get to Scottsville later today as he has not had any runners for the past two months.

Dixon backed off his whole string recently and has not had any runners due to a virus going through the yard. Dixon says the virus was related to liver enzyme problems.

He has three runners at the Pietermaritzburg track today, his first runners since the set back.

“I am a bit in the dark as to how they will run,” commented Dixon, “but I suspect they might just need this run. In saying that, they all now seem well and are working very well. I am hoping they run big races. I have three nice runners and am hoping they will finish in the money.”

Quite a few yards countrywide have recently suffered from various virus infections and the horses recover at different rates depending on the severity of the infections.

Speaking to trainers, they say that it is tough to assess how horses will perform as they look good and work well but only once they race can you assess where you are with the virus.

Recently trainers Dennis Drier, Louis Goosen and Duncan Howells have been along the rough road and Dixon is hoping to see the end of it today.

By Warren Lenferna

Harold Crawford, in Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital since suffering a stroke 16 days ago, is making such a good recovery  that he is expected to be able to leave  his present ward by the weekend.

His daughter Michelle Rix said yesterday: “My father is doing well and the doctors are very happy with his progress. He will spend another couple of days in hospital and then he has to do a mandatory six weeks’ rehab before going back home.”

There were initial fears about the paralysis in his left arm and left side, and there was concern that he might need a second operation. The first was to ease the pressure on his brain following the carotid artery clot that caused the stroke.

But his daughter said: “Everything is good and all clear, and he is walking and talking once more. The movement has all come back and he now has full function of his entire body.”

She was always confident that he would pull through, pointing out that he is a strong individual, and she confirmed this yesterday, adding: “They don’t make them like they used to in his day!”

By Michael Clower

Owning, breeding and training doyen George Rowles passed away last week much to the sadness of the racing community who reminisced about his enormous contribution to and achievements in the sport.

Racing owner and Gold Circle ambassador Bill Lambert said, “George and I were lifelong friends as we had a family cottage when I was growing up at Isipingo where the Rowles family lived. We also used to race together and had successful partnerships in horses. Wave Blaster was the best of them. His father was a trainer and while at school George used to help mucking out, grooming and riding work. He was tall but thin and became a leading amateur rider at the Gymkhana meetings. Later he had stables and a training track on his farm in Waterfall and after owning a lot of horses he also began breeding. He eventually had a big breeding operation, Ivanhoe Stud, in the KZN Midlands.

He also made commercial developments on his land at Waterfall and this was hugely successful and includes the present day Watercrest Mall. He achieved all this from humble beginnings. A few years ago he led the successful campaign to save Clairwood racecourse from being sold but was supportive of the sale this decade at a much greater price. I was invited to present him with his lifelong achievement award at the KZN Breeders Awards in 2014 and that was a great honour. We have lost a real stalwart. George was a real maverick and a wonderful gentleman.”

Vodacom Durban July-winning owner Nick Jonsson, part-owner of Do It Again, also paid tribute, “My father Ben and George were great, lifelong friends and we became family friends. George was legendary and we loved him. He had a wonderful training facility in Waterfall. We had great fun at the races and also at the amateur races in which both he and my father used to ride.  He also pulled off some interesting betting coups. Dennis Durant was his trainer at Waterfall but George was very hands on and I remember on one occasion he had a runner called Ring The Changes who he fancied strongly. We were all sitting in Des Scott’s box that day and George sent us youngsters down to the bookmaker area armed with cash. We waited until we saw the planned signal from the box, George’s waving of the white handkerchief, and then all moved in and backed her simultaneously. She won easing up by three lengths and we made a fortune. George loved sport and he and my Dad played tennis every week. He was a great character and a wonderful storyteller. But he would often collapse in so much laughter he was unable to finish the story!”

George was in fact greatly sought after as a rider in the Gymkhana meetings and on more than one occasion rode six winners in a nine race meeting. He also represented Natal southern districts at both rugby and cricket.

The Rowles family had a dairy at Isipingo and after school George moved to the Transvaal to open a dairy there. However, racing was in his blood and he had soon purchased two mares. He bred one of them to Black Cap and the progeny Shanghai gave him his first winner as an owner-trainer at Newmarket ridden by Charlie Barends.

He moved to Waterfall in 1959 where he bought a tract of land in what is known today as Linkhills. He developed his training facility, complete with starting stalls and swimming pool, and also established Ivanhoe Stud in the KZN Midlands.

He was one of the first in the country to bring in imported mares of any quantity.

In 1973 he imported a successful English-bred stallion called Caerdon, who became the leading Natal-based stallion for a number of years.

He also stood probably the best horse he owned and bred, The Eileen Bestel-trained Sabre, a classic winner of 12 races who established an 1800m world record time of 106 seconds flat when winning the Grade 1 Clairwood Winter Handicap in 1974.

He later stood another successful sire in Rocky Marriage, whose reach was felt beyond racing and this stallion once had a representative in the Olympic Games eventing competition.

Ivanhoe at one stage occupied fifth spot on the national log, an incredible achievement considering the competition in those days.

From his El Dorado yard in Waterfall, George campaigned a lot of his Ivanhoe home-breds in his familiar red and grey colours.

In recent times he bred the winner of the inaugural KZN Breeders Million Mile run at Greyville in 2012, the Ormond Ferraris-trained Muhtafal gelding Knock On Wood.

He was a Natal Owners and Trainers committee member for 15 years and a steward at Clairwood Turf Club.

He was a regional representative of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association council and was instrumental in starting the Newmarket yearling sales in “the stables” near today’s Jonsson Kings Park rugby stadium. Today this sale is known as the KZN Yearling Sales and is held at Sibaya Casino.

George was always guided by the belief that the best course of action is that which will be of ultimate benefit to the game as a whole and he cared about the small man.

He is going to be sorely missed by the racing community.

His funeral will be held at Highbury school in Hillcrest on Thursday 31 January at 15h00 and family have requested no flowers and instead, in lieu thereof, have suggested a donation to the Coastal Horse Care Unit in Cato Ridge ((031)7821434 or 0735503061).

By David Thiselton

Three times in the past 15 years the winner of the Cape Derby has gone on to land the Vodacom Durban July so the obvious question now is whether Atyaab can put his name on the same page as Dynasty, Big City Life and Legislate.

Mick de Kock, who also won the Cape Derby with Ertijaal four years ago, did not answer the question with a direct yes or no after Atyaab’s success in the GBets-sponsored Grade 1 last Saturday but said: “Off a certain mark he would be competitive in a good handicap.”

Angus Gold, Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s long-serving racing manager, added: “Atyaab is a tough horse and a real fighter. Hopefully he can go on.”

Most punters went for Bunker Hunt (fourth) and the Australian-bred winner was only nibbled at from 15-1 to 13-1. “It was no surprise to us,” said De Kock, adding pointedly: “We don’t come 1 800 kilometres down here just to use a bucket and spade.”

The colt may have officially only beaten Charles by a fifth of a length but he suffered serious interference from long-time leader Helen’s Ideal who hung badly right in the final 300m. He was well handled by Diego de Gouveia whose only previous experience of the Cape Town course was when fourth on Walter Smoothie in the Chairman’s Cup on Queen’s Plate day.

The 22-year-old said: “Helen’s Ideal hampered me a lot and had Atyaab been a nervous type I could have had problems. But this is a gutsy little bugger and he fought his way past.”

De Gouvier ended his apprenticeship earlier this month and this was his first Grade 1 win and his 82^nd success in all. As his name suggests, he has a cosmopolitan background despite growing up in Johannesburg. His mother comes from Italy and his father, although born in South Africa, is of Portuguese descent.

When Kasimir was beaten in a pinnacle a month ago Justin Snaith said that 1 000m was really too short for the horse “but we will make it work for the Cape Flying.” He did so to such effect that Richard Fourie was able to take it up over 100m out in the Betting World Grade 1 and win going away.

So how did Snaith manage it? “We sharpened him up by being a bit harder on him at home than before,” the champion trainer explained, adding: “Richard was a big help in advising me what to do.”

Clouds Unfold gave Candice Bass- Robinson her second Bidvest Majorca in three seasons and the Drakenstein homebred was the first Grade 1 winner for What A Winter who stands at Gaynor Rupert’s stud. Aldo Domeyer’s mount is now bound for Durban.

She emphatically reversed the Fillies Guineas form with Front And Centre and her trainer explained: “Clouds Unfold was a bit above herself in the Guineas, pulling a lot, and she galloped over a guinea fowl which didn’t help.”

Mrs Bass-Robinson has her own satellite yard adjoined Summerveld but she may not make use of it for her 16-1 Tattersalls Summer Juvenile winner Miss Honey who had her conqueror of three weeks earlier, 2-1 stable companion Vandah’s Spirit, nearly four lengths back sixth.

The trainer explained: “She is a little bit hot. She will have a break and then I will play it by ear but I might run her in the Nursery here and then decide.”

Anton Marcus had the biggest South African pay day of any jockey after preceding his Sun Met success with both the CTS R5 million races. He earned a gross R8 million plus for the owners concerned.

The CTS races certainly franked the Cape Guineas form in no uncertain manner. Fourth-placed Cirillo ran out an emphatic winner of the 1200 and One World (third) made most in the 1600.

Sean Tarry is far from convinced that Cirillo is a sprinter, saying: “He is versatile. It was a very strong field in the Guineas and we followed the wrong horse.” Vaughan Marshall said earlier this season that he would not take horses to Durban this time and he confirmed this in the winner’s circle. He still believes that One World ran below form in the Guineas and said: “We can’t explain it but it wasn’t his day. Now, though, he has bounced back to what we thought.”

By Michael Clower 

Marinaresco could have his next Dubai race as early as three weeks on Thursday after pleasing connections on his reappearance in the Al Fahidi Fort at Meydan last Thursday.

This seven furlong Group 2 was the 2017 July winner’s first race since his third in last year’s Sun Met and he was a little considered 33-1 shot. Bernard Fayd-Herbe, who won the July on him, tucked him in at the back and the horse made some progress in the straight – without being hard ridden – to finish ninth of 13 some  five and three-quarters of a length behind the winner, the Charlie Appleby-trained D’bai.

Mike de Kock said: “I thought it was a good run, only five and three-quarters of a length off the winner after a year off. He will come on by at least the amount he was beaten. He will run in the Zabeel Mile (Group 2 on Feb 21) or the Jebel Hatta (1 800m Group 1 on March 9), or in both races.”

By Michael Clower