The handicappers have raised Rainbow Bridge seven points to a new merit rating of 104 following his impressive win in last Saturday’s Matchem Stakes but that still leaves the unbeaten four-year-old quite a bit below the mark required to win the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate. Legal Eagle, winner of the last three runnings, is rated 123 which makes him nearly ten lengths the better over a mile.

The Eric Sands stable reported yesterday that their star had “pulled up well.” Surprise runner-up New Caledonia has been raised five points to 95 but last year’s winner Our Mate Art, beaten two lengths in third, has been left on an unchanged 99.

Last year’s Cape Guineas winner Tap O’Noth, fourth in the Matchem, and Progress Plate winner One World – also unchanged on 113 and 109 respectively – were said by Vaughan Marshall yesterday to have come out of their races well, with the trainer adding: “It was a very pleasing day.”  But Justin Snaith’s comments about Kasimir echo those of Bernard Fayd’Herbe which suggested that One World may have been flattered by the courageous way he appeared to outbattle Kasimir.

Snaith said: “It was Kasimir’s first run since May, he had only had one gallop since then and he got tired in the last bit. He is best in sprints but it is going to be hard for him because he has a high rating of 105.”

The champion trainer had arranged to sell the horse to Hong Kong but the deal fell through because the four-year-old failed the piroplasmosis test aimed at ensuring that he is free from any trace of tick-borne diseases.

The market in the jockeys’ championship has altered dramatically in the 16 days since this column expressed the opinion that Anton Marcus, then fourth in the log, was a big price at 20-1.

The four-time champion, now on 42 winners and only one behind log leader Muzi Yeni, has been slashed to 4-1 with Yeni, Richard Fourie and Gavin Lerena joint favourites at 33-10 with World Sports Betting.

Now the value looks to be Ryan Munger who landed a four-timer at Kimberley on Monday to put himself third on the log. He has, surprisingly, been pushed out from 14-1 to 25-1 despite being a natural lightweight with a keenness to travel that sees him having more rides than anyone except Yeni.

Munger, on 37 winners after landing the opener at Durbanville yesterday on Rob Roy for Glen Kotzen, said: “I am going well. Rob Roy was my fifth winner from my last nine rides and my strike rate is higher than it has been for quite some time.”

Current champion Lyle Hewitson is an 11-2 chance and others priced up are Aldo Domeyer at 15-2 and Warren Kennedy on 16-1 with 45-1 available about Keagan de Melo. Greg Cheyne is a 55-1 shot and you can get 75-1 about Craig Zackey.

Backers of favourites had a tough time yesterday with all bar Silver Maple biting the dust including many people’s idea of the biggest certainty, Trippi’s Express. He was beaten just over a length into third at even money behind the Paul Reeves-trained all-the-way 9-1 shot Photocopy (Donovan Dillon) in the Betting World Handicap. To be fair, it was only the colt’s third run and he was rated 85.

Brett Crawford said: “I expected better but I am not devastated. At this time of year it is harder for three-year-olds against older horses than people think and he was giving weight to the two four-year-olds that beat him.”

By Michael Clower

Raymond Rogers, the stalwart KZN racing TV Producer, passed away suddenly on Monday in Johannesburg where he was to film Ready To Run gallops. Tributes poured in for the affable giant who will be a great loss to the industry.

Gold Circle’s Racing Executive Raf Sheik said, “To fill his shoes will be impossible.”

Sheik was referring to Raymond’s renowned passion and dedication to his job. He used the recent introduction of the green screen studio at Gold Circle to highlight these sentiments.

Green screen technology has the ability to superimpose any image required on the green background, giving the impression that the studio presenters are either in an ultra-modern room or even outside.

Rogers and Sheik attended a meeting in Johannesburg a year ago to speak to the suppliers.

“Raymond was so impressed I had to drag him away kicking and screaming,” recalled Sheik. “He mastered the technology very quickly and basically ate and slept it. I would regularly receive phone calls at 8 o’ clock at night to tell me he had discovered something else the technology could do.”

The green screen studio was soon up and running and remains an impressive feature of Gold Circle Racing.

Raymond was also known for arriving at the course on race days at 6:30 a.m. sharp and sending sms’s to all of his staff telling them what time they were to start work.

“Nothing was ever too much for Raymond,” said Marketing Consultant to Gold Circle, Graeme Hawkins.

Raymond approached every task he did with high professionalism and mastered his role as TV Producer. On race days this involved the visual mixing, communication with the on course presenters and Tellytrack simultaneously, and at the same time he was producing the race replays to be available as soon as possible. He never delegated the teaching of new staff but instead showed them the ropes himself and in this way had full faith that they knew exactly what was expected of them.

Raymond was the son of former Kingsmead cricket groundsman Roy.

The Sport Of Gentlemen rubbed off on him and in 1968 he became the first pupil of Westville Boys High to ever make the Natal Schools cricket team. He must have only been in standard eight at the time, because two years later in 1970 he made the South African Schools team.

Dave Pearse, an old boy of Kearsney College who played both cricket and rugby for Natal, remembers Raymond as being “a very quick” opening bowler at school.

He recalled him having a long run up, almost from the boundary, but remembers him being quiet and always respectful to batsmen.

The only time he remembered him having anything to say to the opposition was in a club game for Marist when the known powerful batsman Keith Hosken of Durban University was smashing him all over the park. Eventually an exasperated Rogers stood in the middle the pitch with hands on hips and shouted, “Where the @#$!% am I going to bowl it next!”

Rogers played under the captaincy of renowned Natal and South Africa seam bowler Pat Trimborn at Marist, but his club cricket career did not last too long.

His new sporting passion became football refereeing. He rose to become one of the most respected refs in the National Football league and reached the pinnacle of achievement by refereeing the biggest Derby match in the country, “the Soweto Derby” between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

Paul Lafferty, a former Durban City Player and current Gold Circle director, remembers Rogers being very active as a referee in the South African premiership and being highly respected. He said, “He was fair and could take a chirp.” Lafferty later enjoyed a fine partnership with Rogers in the production of the Tellytrack magazine program Winning Ways, which Lafferty co-hosts with James Goodman.

Raymond continued to follow South African soccer after his refereeing days were over and was an avid Pirates fan.

However, he will probably be best remembered for his friendly demeanour and his enjoyment of some banter during his tours of departments in Gold Circle to discuss work matters.

Gold Circle staff were left reeling with the news on Monday and it was hard to believe the big man’s loud voice and quick wit will never be heard again.

Farewell Ray.

By David Thiselton

The meeting tomorrow has been switched to the Turffontein Inside track due to ongoing problems with the Vaal Classic track.

The introduction of Assessment Plates have been making the Pick 6 easier to catch, but tomorrow’s ninth race over 1450m is potentially tricky as a number of the contestants are returning from layoffs. However, Sean Tarry said about Redberry Lane, “She is obviously not at 100% but she does a lot at home so might be closer to her peak than I think she is and she could win it even if she did need it.” She is second best in at the weights on official merit ratings, being 2kg under sufferance with Green Top. Alec Laird said about Green Top, “She never shows much at home and horses who beat her on the training tracks she beats them in her races. She is an exciting prospect. This is a preparation run but I expect her to run well although she is not a banker.”

Redberry Lane has her first start after her famous victory over Snowdance in the Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes over 1600m on VDJ day and has a tricky draw of six out of eleven considering her preferred front-running style and her big weight of 61kg. However, this ultra-consistent mare overcame a wide draw to win her penultimate start over 1600m in the Listed Syringa on the Standside track when carrying second top weight of 58,5kg and in the Garden Province she proved she doesn’t have to lead. Green Top is never one of the stand outs on the way down to the start but she has proved she can deliver when it counts by finishing third in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas and then a short-head second in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic. She does have a tough draw of eleven but her class should pull her through.

Tarry also runs Chariots Of Gold but said he was going to seek permission to run her on Saturday instead, where she is better drawn, and considering the meeting was moved he should be granted permission. The rest of the field are three-year-olds and despite some of them being promising they have tough tasks at the weights according to official merit ratings. Mazari finished a close second in the Golden Slipper over this sort of trip and has had one run this season already, so should be fit. However, she is officially 11kg under sufferance with Green Top. Running Brave is well regarded and was just 2,75 lengths behind Mazari in the Golden Slipper and is now 4kg better off and better drawn so there is not much in it. Elusive Butterfly also looks promising but she and Running Brave have their first runs of the season. Redberry Lane and Green Top should be enough to get punters through the exotics although the risk averse can include the three latter mentioned three-year-olds as they have the potential to still rise above their current merit ratings.

The eighth race is a Pinnacle Stakes event with some good horses but most of them are returning from layoffs. Rocky Valley is the class act in the field and the race could set up well for him from draw four as there will be a lot of pace up front. Kissable is capable of blitzing fields and came back to her best at the end of last season so she will be dangerous from pole position. Frederico’s Dream is also very speedy and is officially the best weighted horse but has a tricky draw of five out of seven. Rebel’s Champ is rated only one point lower than Rocky Vally and can’t be ignored as he can run on from off the strong pace. Isphan is the other speedster in the field and he is well drawn although he has a tough task at the weights. Fillipo looks promising but also has a tough task at the weights and Brigtnumberten has a lot to do at the weights.

In race seven Copper Jay will be hard to beat from a plum draw but Alpine Glacier will be dangerous from pole position, Pillaroftheearth is coming into his own, Keyboogie looks promising and Galactic Warrior is a well regarded sort who has been disappointing so he could pop up from a good draw with a 4kg claimer up.

Race six is an Assessment Plate and here the best weighted horse New Zealand and the up and coming Gift For The Gap should be enough to get punters through.

In race five Earth Sky and Aeronautical should fight it out.

The first leg of the Pick 6 is a tricky maiden but Pink should enjoy the step up in trip. Traffic Jam has a fine chance if settling better than she did on debut when running on well and Nandi’s Vision looks capable and should have come on from her first two runs.

In the first leg of the PA Seneca Falls and Sea Venture should get punters through.

In the first leg of the Bipot Monopolize, an Elusive Fort half-brother to his talented stablemate Maximizer, looks a Bipot banker, although the Sean Tarry pair of first-timers Slay The Dragon and Vontreo have to be considered.

By David Thiselton

The World Sports Betting Grand Heritage scheduled to be run at the Vaal on Saturday will be replaced by the World Sports Betting Grand Series at Turffontein – effectively splitting the field in two with both races offering stakes of R500,000.

Following a track inspection late afternoon on Monday, the decision was made that the track will not be race ready come Saturday.

The track inspection was organised by Clyde Basel, Racing Executive for Phumelela, who invited stakeholders to join him at the 2000m mark and to walk all the way to the winning post in order to ascertain first-hand the current condition of the track.

After the long walk, the stakeholders involved met for close on two hours after which it was decided to move the Heritage to Turffontein and to run it as two separate races.

“The decision has been taken to move the Grand Heritage and all the other races carded for the Vaal on Saturday, to the Turffontein Inside Track,” Basel said on Monday night. “All the nominations for Saturday’s races have been reopened, but the original declared Heritage runners will get preferential treatment when it comes to elimination stage.”

According to Basel the two races will now be called the World Sports Betting Grand Series Leg 1 and 2, both being run over 1475m.

The winners of the two races will qualify for a match race early in December at the Vaal to determine who carries the title of Series Champion. “It will give new meaning to the phrase two-horse race,” Basel said on Monday night. The stakes for that race will be announced in due course.

According to Basel prize monies will be paid up to 10 places in both the Grand Series races.

The Heritage was originally scheduled to be run on 29 September, but was postponed to this coming Saturday due to the track not being race ready.

Basel said the stakeholders who joined in the walkabout on the Vaal track on Monday were in agreement that although a marked improvement in the racing surface is evident, the track needs to improve further.

“Our estimate is that the track will need another couple of weeks to return to racing standard.

“Our main concern is for the safety of the horses and the jockeys and therefore a unanimous decision was taken to move the Heritage.

“Our sponsors, World Sports Betting, support the decision and are excited about the match race to come.

“We tried our best to accommodate the Heritage, but we are not prepared to take unnecessary risks and we don’t want to delay the Heritage any further.”

National track Manager Dean Diedericks said: “It’s been a very trying winter for Vaal racecourses but we are slowly but surely overcoming the issues.”

Earlier on Monday, Phumelela issued a media release in which the JSE-listed company announced that Andy O’Connor, former chairman of the NHA, will lead a commission mandated to review the track management systems for Phumelela.

Phumelela Group CEO John Stuart last week announced the review in light of various race meetings at the Vaal having been moved to Turffontein while last Thursday’s meeting was abandoned after only three races had been run owing to an “uneven and inconsistent track”.

According to Stuart, O’Connor’s independence and integrity is above reproach, making him the perfect candidate to lead a team tasked with making recommendations to Phumelela.

Part of O’Connor’s mandate will be to investigate current track management processes and the ways in which they could and should be improved, to draw up Standard Operational Procedures regarding the implementation of improved track management processes, and to ensure the alignment of the maintenance of training and racing tracks, with the feature race calendar at the various racing courses.

Apart from serving as chairman of the NHA, O’Connor also has a five-year stint as director on the Racing Association on his CV.

– TAB news

Winter Five looks the business in the TAB Telebet Maiden Plate at Durbanville today when Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides her for the first time.

Forget her last start. It was in a work riders’ race when the form is usually about as reliable as last year’s rainfall. Look at her previous two runs and the fact that Paul Reeves is taking off the blinkers is hugely significant.

“She gets a bit uptight and I am hoping that she will be more relaxed without them, enabling her to save more for the finish,” says her trainer. “In any case she doesn’t need them and she has good gate speed.”

She was an 18-10 chance yesterday with World Sports Betting which makes Mumtaz favourite at 9-10. Richard Fourie’s mount is rated 1.5kg behind the selection although it is worth noting that she got stirred up in the pens when a warm favourite here last time and that may well have had something to do with her managing only a four-length fifth. The Joey Ramsden newcomer Skidaddle (by Do It Again’s sire Twice Over) at 4-1 is the only other priced at less than 10-1.

Ramsden and Donovan Dillon may win the first with Apollo Ace who was reported to be making an abnormal respiratory noise after finishing only fourth when favourite here last time. Dillon said that the horse was choking during the race. The colt’s form in his previous Kenilworth start was good, he is reasonably drawn at six and he has already been backed from 33-10 to dispute favouritism at 28-10.

Augustina (another by Twice Over) is the other joint favourite but few Justin Snaith newcomers win first time and Rob Roy (9-2) is probably the main danger after two good runs here – despite his double figure draw.

Trippi’s Express first caught the eye when second to Pleasedtomeetyou in that celebrated August 11 maiden when the third and fourth were also newcomers and both went on to win. He was almost unbackable at 2-10 here a fortnight ago when he led a furlong out and came away under hands and heels to score comfortably from Rob Roy. The Betting World Handicap (race four) will be a much tougher proposition but the Brett Crawford runner looks a bit special.

He shouldn’t really be odds-on – particularly with Captainofthesea and Photocopy in opposition – and he has eased from 17-20 to evens.

Harold Crawford is really striking while the iron is hot and his Spectra Force appeals at 11-2 in the Interbet Handicap.

By Michael Clower