Snowdance will get her 1 400m Pinnacle outing at Kenilworth on Saturday after all. There were fears that last season’s Cape Fillies Guineas and Majorca winner might frighten away all the opposition but five have been declared against her – just enough to save the race.

Snowdance

Justin Snaith also decided to run Platinum Class (Greg Cheyne) but it was Glen Kotzen who saved the race, declaring Prix Du Cap winner Elusive Heart (Bernard Fayd’Herbe) as well as Luna Child (Craig Zackey). Michael Robinson runs Goodtime Gal (Sindile Mbhele) and Andre Nel will be represented by his Diana winner Love To Boogie (Aldo Domeyer). Richard Fourie rides Snowdance.

The sponsors make the unbeaten Brett Crawford-trained Front And Centre 5-2 favourite for Saturday week’s World Sports Betting Fillies Guineas with Western Cape Fillies Championship winner Clouds Unfold second favourite at 33-10. Temple Grafin, a length and a quarter second to Candice Bass-Robinson’s filly in that race, is next on 7-1. Mike de Kock’s Ghaalla (8-1) is the only other quoted at less than 15-1.

In the Cape Guineas Vaughan Marshall’s unbeaten One World heads the market at 16-10 with De Kock’s Dingaans scorer Hawwaam (also unbeaten) on 22-10. His stable companion Soqrat is next on 11-2 and then it’s 6-1 Chimichuri Run, 9-1 Twist Of Fate, Cirillo, 16-1 bar.

Oscar Foulkes, who with his mother Veronica runs the Normandy Stud, appears to have picked up a bargain at the WC Equine Trust meeting at Kenilworth last Saturday. He went to R35 000 to outbid all opposition to secure a service to the hugely successful Twice Over whose fee for the current season is billed at R50 000. Foulkes also runs the catering at Kenilworth.

By Michael Clower

Paul Reeves may have been demonstrating his training talents for nine years now but he was still David taking on Goliath in the first Cape Town two-year-old race of the season at Kenilworth on Saturday.

His R250 000 Chilly Winter cost little more than half the Justin Snaith-trained Shinnecock and at 13-1 only one other horse in the field started at a longer price. Yet the more Reeves heard about what a certainty the 9-20 favourite was the more he convinced he became that his single sling shot was going to fell the champion.

Paul Reeves

“She hadn’t been here or Durbanville to gallop, only at home where we can only go 600m. But I had put her against some very fast horses and she hadn’t been beaten by any of them,” Reeves explained as he was toasted by the filly’s eight owners in the hospitality room afterwards. “So I had a lot of confidence in her and I am sure that there is more to come.”

Richard Fourie on Shinnecock determinedly threw down the gauntlet throughout the final furlong but Sandile Mbhele’s mount kept pulling out more to hold on by a fifth of a length. Now Reeves’ sights are set on the Met day Listed race.

It was a tough day for Snaith. He might not have had his head severed with a sword but it certainly felt that way. Three more favourites bit the dust and what really hurt was that arch rival Sean Tarry went R1.8 million clear at the top of the trainer’s log. Not exactly a fitting prelude to the champion’s 44^th birthday today.

Mbhele can talk as well as he rides – a considerable asset for any apprentice – and he followed up on the curiously-spelt Summer Olimpics for Michael Robinson in the Klawervelei Stud Handicap while Xola Tshayisa, 26, rode his second winner when making all on Spring Burst for his boss Glen Kotzen.

You often hear jockeys praising their mounts after winning on them and so it was particularly unusual to hear Fourie and Aldo Domeyer saying how difficult their horses actually were.

Fourie, after getting up close home on Gyre, reported: “He doesn’t like to be in front. If you get there too soon he will throw the anchor. When I pulled him out he went straight back behind the horse ahead of him and he was already pulling himself up when I hit the line.”

Domeyer added about Vikram: “He is not an easy horse to ride. When he hits the front he starts messing around and tries to drop the bit.”

Corne Orffer had no such problems with his Brett Crawford double on Senatla and Princess Irene while Paddy Kruyer went home convinced that Greg Cheyne had stolen the last on Rush Hour Girl – “The track is very fast, Greg got away from them and they couldn’t peg him back.”

Interviewer Fee Ramsden remarked to Piet Steyn that he was looking a bit down before Morne Winnaar just got up on Metorite in the Khaya Stables Handicap. The trainer replied: “Things are not going my way at the moment. But one or two more drinks and I will be a lot better!”

By Michael Clower

Legal Eagle warmed up for his bid to win the Green Point Stakes for the third successive year at Kenilworth on Saturday with a good work-out over 1 100m on the course last Saturday.

The seven-year-old was ridden by usual pilot Anton Marcus and went with Safe Harbour (Anthony Andrews) who was runner-up in the Paddock Stakes, Cape Fillies Guineas and SA Fillies Classic two seasons back. The final stages of the gallop were shown on closed circuit TV during racing and Legal Eagle finished particularly well.

Legal Eagle (Liesl King)

The dual Horse of the Year is 14-10 favourite with World Sports Betting to bring the unbeaten run of Rainbow Bridge (16-10) to an end with Gold Challenge winner Undercover Agent next on 4-1 and Durban July hero Do It Again a 13-2 shot. It will be the smallest Green Point field this century with Copper Force 18-1 and 22-1 outsider Hat Puntano the only others declared.

There were just ten entries in the first place and the most notable not declared are Grade 1 scorers Eyes Wide Open and Tap O’Noth who are both in Saturday week’s Premier Trophy. Eyes Wide Open is 4-1 favourite for this with last season’s Cape Guineas winner on 6-1. The Mike de Kock-trained Buffalo Bill Cody is 9-2 second favourite.

The Green Point market is in marked, and significant, contrast to that of the Sun Met. WSB has Rainbow Bridge 7-2 favourite for the 26 January showpiece and Do It Again second favourite on 6-1. Last year’s winner Oh Susanna and De Kock’s Cape Guineas hope Hawwaam are both 8-1 chances but you can get 10-1 about Legal Eagle. The layers are clearly taking the view that the three-time beaten favourite is not as effective over 2 000m.

The Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Magical Wonderland (Aldo Domeyer) is 18-10 favourite for the Southern Cross Stakes and Strathdon (Justin Snaith/Richard Fourie) heads the market at 22-10 to repeat last year’s win in Saturday’s third feature, the Cape Summer Stayers Handicap.

The huge stakes of the CTS sales races have put the appeal of the traditional Grade 1s firmly in the shade and Adam Marcus has had little hesitation in giving the Cape Guineas a miss in order to have Vardy (impressive winner of both his starts) at his peak for the R5 million CTS 1600 on Met day.

He explained: “We didn’t even enter him for the Guineas – it would have been only two and a half weeks from his last run – and my main aim going into the CTS race is to build his confidence, and I feel that putting him up against hard-knocking horses like One World wouldn’t be the right thing to do. There is a lot to come with him but he showed last Wednesday how mentally immature he still is.”

By Michael Clower

There was plenty to celebrate at the KZN Breeder’s Awards held at Forduin in Nottingham Road on Saturday night but the most heartwarming story was of a new breeder, Nothemba Mlonzi, whose first two runners had both recently won on debut. She attempted to keep her 100% record at Scottsville yesterday but it was not to be.

Nothemba owns a farm in the Midlands where she had been growing tomatoes. A Cedara graduate was managing this operation and thoroughbred breeding doyen Anton Procter, who lives nearby, was also regularly helping out. The manager one day recommended she should do something with the section of empty land she had, where the kikuya grass would provide good grazing. He informed her of Procter’s success in breeding racehorses in the area and advised her to chat to him.

Procter recommended she should first travel to watch the Epsom Derby, where the winner represents the pinnacle of breeding achievement, and this would give her a good idea of what the game was all about.

He had soon organised her a Derby ticket with the help of Larry Nestadt.

Nothemba Mlonzi (Candiese Marnewick)

Nothemba, who works in Johannesburg for the company she herself founded, Econ Oil, had a wonderful time at the Derby, where she was hosted by Bernard Kantor. She came home with no more doubts about starting the new venture. She had soon purchased two mares, On A Wing (a three-time winner over 1200m by Tiger Ridge) and Celestial Cloud (a twice-winner by Toreador and a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Patchit Up Baby). The resulting progeny were the filly Master Keys and the colt Galaxy Tunes. The pair  were sold at the National Yearling Sales and the KZN Yearling Sale for R100,000 and R50,000 respectively through her Mwetwood Stud.

Master Keys gave Nathan Kotzen his first winner as a trainer when scoring on debut and Galaxy Tunes also won on debut for Mark Dixon.

Master Keys had her second start at Scottsville yesterday and finished unplaced.

Procter has advised Nothemba throughout and she could not have asked for a more experienced and passionate mentor.

Procter played cricket for Natal together with his legendary brother Mike. However, he was always destined to be a farmer and horseman. He began following pedigrees in his school days as he was keen to find out why different horses by the same sire kept on winning. Later he became involved in amateur horseracing as an owner and trainer in Donnybrook. He travelled all the way down to Umtata to win his first race, the horse being ridden by a young African who had never ridden in a race before. It felt like winning the July to Procter and his passion grew. His later career in thoroughbreds included being secretary of the Richmond Gymkhana Club; he had a public trainer’s license in Zimbabwe; and he spent nine years working for perennial KZN champion breeders Summerhill Stud. He also had a stint as a bookmaker. He had been unhappy at his place of employ at the time in the late 1960s and when a bookmaker’s license became available in Greytown he purchased it for R1020. On Durban July day in 1970 just about the whole town descended on his premises thinking it was a Tote and he stood to lose a fortune on the favourite Naval Escort. Fortunately the latter ran unplaced and an outsider his wife had dreamed vividly about winning the race, Court Day, duly won. An exhausted Procter arrived home on the Saturday evening and asked his children to count the contents of his satchel. It came to a princely R34,000, which was three times more than it had cost him to buy the property and build the house where they were staying.

Procter’s influence is still felt in SA breeding as he was instrumental in bringing Rakeen over to South Africa. This son of the great Northern Dancer went on to sire the phenomenal champion racehorse and seven-times South African National Champion Sire, Jet Master. It was Nestadt who had given Procter an instruction to find a horse good enough to win a stakes race in South Africa and have a pedigree good enough to stand at stud. The buying team’s first option was on Mark Of Distinction, but the deal fell through. Then, Procter, with the help of pedigree fundi Robin Bruss, identified all of the Northern Dancers left in the world and they found Rakeen, a four-year-old trained by John Gosden who had not yet raced but who had a superb pedigree. They approached Sheik Mohammed’s manager Anthony Stroud and he agreed to sell for £100,000. However, a few days later Rakeen won comfortably on debut over nine furlongs and the deal was off. Three days later he ran over a mile and was beaten as odds on favourite. Stroud did an about turn and said he would sell for £125,000 and the deal was done. Procter went to watch Rakeen’s next race a few days later at Doncaster with Henry Cecil’s assistant and a Sheik Mohammed representative. Under Walter Swinburn he won the ten furlong event by five lengths. Rakeen won four races in South Africa and finished third in the July of 1991, the same year the celebrated import Al Mufti ran second.

Procter was working for Aldora Stud in the KZN Midlands when Rakeen stood there. He recalled the late Hugh Jonsson wanting to send his mare Jet Lightning to him but stalling as he was convinced R5,000 for a live foal was too much. Procter, in a session of bartering which lasted about two hours one morning, eventually convinced Jonsson the fee was worth it for such a well bred stallion and the resulting progeny was Jet Master.

Procter, with the help of veterinarian John McVeigh, also identified the successful stallion Toreador on a visit to Coolmore and he was also instrumental in bringing over Crusade, who was announced as the KZN Stallion of the Year at Saturday night’s awards.

Nothemba currently owns six mares and has also bought a share in the exciting new Maine Chance Farms-based Dubawi stallion, Erupt.

Her enthusiasm will surely rub off on others so her importance to an industry which needs new participants can not be underestimated.

By David Thiselton

Mike Miller is not one to let the grass grow too long when it comes to two-year-olds and his runners made up most of the field in a recent barrier trial for juveniles. Bound By Duty was one of the first contestants and had already had two warm-up trials before yesterday’s first 800m scurry of the season at Scottsville, finishing at the head of affairs both occasions.

At his second trial, Bound By Duty was pressed to the line by the filly Enterthedebutante and yesterday Kom Naidoo was quietly confident that his filly could turn the tables.

It was not to be for both Enterthedebutante and apprentice Xola Jacobs hunting the first winner of his career. The more experienced colt and rider proved too much for their rivals although there was only a half-length in it at the line with the balance left gasping for air.

Wealthy (Candiese Marnewick)

Naidoo had better luck in the third when the aptly named outsider Innocently Naughty caused a major boil-over in the results and at the start.

Twice Over Satin had her starting stall certificate withdrawn as she played up in the gate after being loaded, injuring Warren Kennedy who was laid off the for the balance of the afternoon with an injured foot. To add to the starter’s problems, Twice Over Satin got away from the starter’s assistants and bolted the course.

All the commotion triggered Innocently Naughty who reared up and came within a degree or two of tipping onto her back.

“I got all unbalanced,” recalled Jarred Samuel, who has had his fair share of bad luck with falls. “I thought to myself that I was not going to be planted at Scottsville and managed to bail.”

Re-loaded, Innocently Naughty held off the attentions of visiting Florence and Dancing Princess, favourite Awayinthewoods fourth after a difficult passage.

Trainer’s Louis Goosen and Duncan Howells were in the boardroom after the race complaining about the ride from Anton Marcus as Awayinthewoods hampered both of their runners at various stages of the race. Howells felt particularly hard done by as Starlight took a knock shortly before the line to finish a short-head back in fifth.

The stipendiary stewards however, were unmoved in their assessment, although both complaints came after the all-clear had been sounded. “We were satisfied with what we saw,” said head stipe Shaun Parker. “If they saw it differently then they should have objected and tried to convince us otherwise.” The official stipes report noted that Awayinthewoods had been hanging out throughout.

It was hard going for punters over the weekend with the Pick 6 and Place Accumulator paying rockets on Friday although Byron Forster, assistant of Cape-based Andre Nel in KZN, had a fine evening saddling three winners and a second but the luck ran out a tad yesterday as Q The Music and Silver Rose had to be content with second.

Approaching the final furlong, Q The Music looked all over a winner in the 1600 KZN Summer Challenge but stand-in rider Serino Moodley signed off on his apprenticeship with a winner. Replacing the indisposed Kennedy, Moodley came from the clouds on the Paul Lafferty-trained The Bayou, threading his way through the traffic to collar Q The Music and win going away. Moodley and Eric Ngwane have completed their five-year apprenticeship and from today are fully fledged jockeys.

National Champion jockey Lyle Hewitson, because of his experience in workrider races, was only indentured for three years and will also lose his apprentice moniker but his superb record may be challenged by second-year apprentice Luke Ferraris, who rode his 60^th winner at Turffontein on Saturday to lose his claim. Ferraris showed yesterday that he was capable, with or without his claim, as he scored on the Sean Tarry-trained Live As One. Tellingly, it was Tarry who was quick to realise the talents of Hewitson and provided him with the bulk of his winners in his national title triumph.

By Andrew Harrison