Justin Snaith was officially crowned National Champion trainer when the season closed on Tuesday. Snaith led for much of the season on his way to his second championship, finishing R6 million ahead of reigning champion Sean Tarry.

The Championship is judged on stakes won and Snaith runners, that included 162 winners, earned R26 794 988. Tarry had 138 winners and his runners earned R20 522 775.

Mike de Kock finished third with Brett Crawford in fourth place.

The unfortunate fall that side-lined Anthony Delpech for the final three months of the season left the door open for apprentice Lyle Hewitson who took full toll. Hewitson racked up 184 winners in a memorable season that saw him land the National Jockey’s Championship as an apprentice, emulating the legendary Michael Roberts who was the last apprentice to win the National Championship.

Muzi Yeni finished a clear second on 149 winners and Aldo Domeyer edged out Delpech for third by just a single winner with Greg Cheyne, two back in fifth.

The battle between Domeyer and Cheyne went down to the last race meeting of the season with the pair fighting it out for a place on the three-man South African team to take part in the Singapore Jockey’s International taking place on September 25. Domeyer will join Hewitson and Yeni.

Naturally, Hewitson also took the National Apprentice title with Denis Schwarz and Ashton Arries in second and third places respectively.

Sun Met and Woolavington 2000 winner Oh Susanna was the leading stakes earner followed by Undercover Agent and Vodacom Durban July winner Do It Again.

In sixth place was Yulong Prince, the re-named Surcharge, who will resume his racing career in Hong Kong.

The race for the National Breeders Championship was again a close-run thing but reigning champions Klawervlei Stud retained their title from perennial rivals Summerhill Stud.

By Andrew Harrison

Name	Runs	Wins	Win%	2nd	3rd	Other	Places	Place%	Win Stake	Total Stake
* Mr L Hewitson (APPRENTICE)	1471	184	12.5	186	156	334	676	46	12,560,000	20,168,963
Mr M A Yeni	1447	149	10.3	164	190	309	663	45.8	11,494,938	18,108,375
Mr A Domeyer	695	137	19.7	107	96	152	355	51.1	8,698,750	13,732,220
Mr A C Delpech	527	136	25.8	98	59	83	240	45.5	9,708,063	14,482,075
Mr G M Cheyne	801	135	16.9	110	118	168	396	49.4	6,932,375	11,242,150
Mr C Murray	940	120	12.8	102	90	140	332	35.3	8,083,125	12,584,325
Mr R D Fourie	668	119	17.8	82	92	128	302	45.2	8,871,125	13,203,963
Mr K de Melo	1020	114	11.2	123	112	199	434	42.5	7,480,625	12,693,845
Mr G van Niekerk	552	107	19.4	82	68	117	267	48.4	15,718,125	19,106,325
Mr R Munger	1334	107	8	100	109	248	457	34.3	5,219,088	8,777,038

Top 10 apprentices

Name	Runs	Wins	Win%	2nd	3rd	Other	Places	Place%	Win Stake	Total Stake
Mr L Hewitson	1470	184	12.5	186	156	334	676	46	12,560,000	20,168,963
Mr D W Schwarz	722	50	6.9	40	75	112	227	31.4	2,837,500	4,651,625
Mr A Arries	421	45	10.7	45	46	62	153	36.3	2,545,000	4,036,325
Serino Moodley	424	31	7.3	24	36	92	152	35.8	1,690,000	2,780,275
Mr L J Ferraris	224	26	11.6	14	18	41	73	32.6	1,738,750	2,368,850
Mr D de Gouveia	287	22	7.7	25	20	49	94	32.8	1,225,000	2,051,850
Mr D R Lerena	264	22	8.3	19	14	41	74	28	1,226,875	1,827,475
Mr E Ngwane	350	16	4.6	20	25	57	102	29.1	934,375	1,800,125
Mr S Mbhele	188	16	8.5	13	24	34	71	37.8	885,000	1,453,725
Mr M Mjoka	485	13	2.7	25	28	65	118	24.3	710,625	1,589,900

Top 10 Trainer

Name	Runs	Wins	Win%	2nd	3rd	Other	Places	Place%	Win Stake	Total Stake
Mr S J Snaith	1154	162	14	135	121	240	496	43	18,806,250	26,794,988
Mr S G Tarry	1269	138	10.9	127	121	247	495	39	13,445,000	20,522,775
Mr M F de Kock	766	131	17.1	84	77	150	311	40.6	11,207,688	16,308,058
Mr B J Crawford	739	101	13.7	97	79	147	323	43.7	7,813,000	12,379,188
Mr A C Greeff	1020	148	14.5	127	108	213	448	43.9	7,100,250	10,669,525
Mrs C L Bass-Robinson	934	98	10.5	99	112	190	401	42.9	5,814,375	10,463,900
Mr P A Peter	634	88	13.9	52	55	104	211	33.3	6,022,500	9,145,720
Mr G S Kotzen	821	80	9.7	73	73	148	294	35.8	5,419,250	8,985,000
Messrs M G Azzie & A A Azzie	498	61	12.2	63	50	87	200	40.2	5,279,375	8,583,600
Mr J A Janse van Vuuren	477	67	14	62	54	89	205	43	5,083,750	7,676,970

Top 10 horses by stakes earned (restricted races excluded)

Name	Runs	Wins	Win%	2nd	3rd	Other	Places	Place%	Win Stake	Total Stake
Oh Susanna (AUS)	6	3	50	1	0	2	3	50	4,100,000	4,312,375
Undercover Agent	11	5	45.5	3	0	1	4	36.4	3,860,000	4,220,000
Do It Again	7	3	42.9	1	1	1	3	42.9	2,917,500	3,257,500
Dutch Philip	9	1	11.1	2	2	0	4	44.4	2,987,500	3,113,100
Coral Fever	9	2	22.2	2	2	1	5	55.6	2,650,000	3,085,000
Yulong Prince	9	5	55.6	3	0	1	4	44.4	1,625,000	2,695,000
Legal Eagle	6	3	50	0	1	2	3	50	1,812,500	2,115,500
Snowdance	7	3	42.9	4	0	0	4	57.1	1,500,000	2,016,000
Magical Wonderland	7	2	28.6	2	1	2	5	71.4	309,375	1,466,875
Nother Russia	8	3	37.5	1	1	3	5	62.5	956,250	1,449,250

 

The Equus Awards voting panel met at Greyville on Saturday evening, 28 July to finalise the nominees and winners for this season’s awards.

The first round of nominations were submitted after Vodacom Durban July Day.

The voting panel comprised of Matthew Lips, Robert Garner, Roger Smith, David Thiselton and Larry Wainstein as non-voting chairperson.

The categories and finalists are:

Champion Two-year-old Colt – distance immaterial: Soqrat, Van Halen

Champion Two-year-old Filly – distance immaterial: Mighty High, Return Flight

Champion Three-year-old Colt – distance immaterial: Bold Respect, Do It Again, Eyes Wide Open, Hero’s Honour, Lobo’s Legend, Surcharge, Tap O’ Noth, Undercover Agent.

Champion Three-year-old Filly – distance immaterial: Oh Susanna (Aus), Snow Dance.

Champion Older Male – distance immaterial: Captain America, Coral Fever, Legal Eagle, Will Pays.

Champion Older Filly/Mare – distance immaterial: Nother Russia, Redberry Lane, Sommerlied.

Champion Sprinter – (1000 – 1200m; age/gender immaterial): Attenborough, Bold Respect, Sergeant Hardy, Will Pays.

Champion Miler – (1400 – 1600; age/gender immaterial): Legal Eagle, Snow Dance, Undercover Agent.

Champion Middle Distance – (1800 – 2200; age/gender immaterial): Captain America, Coral Fever, Do It Again, Oh Susanna (Aus).

Champion Stayer – (2400 and up; age/gender immaterial): Hero’s Honour, It’s my Turn.

Voting Criteria
The awards are based on graded races and in particular Grade 1 races. As regards the stayer category, the winning horse will be at the discretion of the voting panel. This decision was taken as the only Grade 1 race in SA is the SA Derby, which would mean that this should be the obvious winner based on a single run. This would also have excluded fillies and mares.

Breeder Awards:
Stallion of the Year
Broodmare of the Year
Breeder of the Year

The Thoroughbred Breeders Association may include outstanding and/or international achievement awards.

Individual Awards:
Champion Apprentice
Champion Jockey
Champion Owner (based on stakes earned)
Champion Trainer (based on stakes earned)
Industry Merit Awards
Horse of the Year Award

The awards are a glittering black-tie gala event that takes place at the Convention Centre at Emperor’s Palace on Tuesday, August 14. Clyde Basel will be the master of ceremonies for the evening and guests will be treated to an array of entertainment. There will also be an after party at the same venue.

If you wish to purchase tickets (R700 per person) for this event, please contact Penny Morsner at the Racing Association on (011) 683-3220 or email penny@racingassociation.co.za

The Vaal Inside track stages a competitive ten race meeting tomorrow and once again the exotics looks the best way to approach it.

Psychic ran on well to win over 1800m last time and will relish the step up to 2000m in the seventh race. He was only given a two point raise in his merit rating and this Visionaire gelding is on the way up despite being a five-year-old so can win again from a plum draw of three. He is selected to be the Pick 6 banker. Zeal And Zest is a fair sort and has bounced back to form recently having dropped to his current mark and looks the main danger. Samar can also be a threat if repeating any of his last three runs which have been over distances from 1800m to 2400m.

The first leg of the PA over 1000m is an uninspiring event and a bit tricky. However, Mischievous Green looks to have scope for improvement and What A Fizz ran a fair race in his only start back in March. They can fight it out with the exposed Deago Deluxe, who ran on well the last time he went this trip and beat the debuting Mischievous Green by 2,9 lengths in that race.

In the first leg of the Pick 6 there is an interesting runner in the R220,000 British-bred filly Loja Lady. She was born on July 29 2015 and technically should be a four-year-old but the authorities appear to have given her three days leeway and accepted her as a three-year-old along with all other South African three-year-olds born on August 1 and onward. She makes a belated debut as the authorities did earlier stick to the rules and did not allowed her to compete as a two-year-old. She is by the Group 1 Dewhurst and Epsom Derby winner Sir Percy out of a Brazilian-bred Grade 2 winner and she would not have to be a star to win this 1400m event under Muzi Yeni. Little Sparrow and Soul Of Wit are still unexposed and have shown promise so are taken o be the chief contenders of those to have raced. Pachanga has hard knocking form but is a touch one-paced and limited. Rustling Leaf is another interesting first-timer, being a R140,000 purchase by Pathfork and a half-sister to Grade 1 winner On Her Toes, who also won the Grade 2 KZN Fillies Guineas.

The fifth race over 1400m is open and as many horses as possible should be included. Topweight Gold Shades is selected to win on the grounds of her fast finishing third in her penultimate start over 1700m when beaten a length by the well regarded Lady Val. She disappointed last time and has the same 4kg claimer aboard, but if he can revert to the off-the-pace tactics she enjoyed in her penultimate start she could go close from a plum draw.

In the sixth race, a MR 84 over 1400m, Bold Coast has been consistent in a higher class than this and off a competitive merit rating over an ideal trip he can go close from a fair draw. Dan The Lad and Sail For Joy are also ideally distance suited and are the main dangers.

The last two legs of the Pick 6 are tough 1200m handicaps and punters should go as wide as possible.

In the first of them Operetta has her first run out of the maidens but looks to be on the up and can get it right off a reasonable opening merit rating of 75. Kungfoofighting has dropped to an attractive merit rating and should make her presence felt. River Ayre has won over the course and distance and is only two points higher than that win.

In the last race Wottahottie is an honest and versatile type who gets on well with Keagan de Melo. He was raised only two points for his recent win over this 1200m trip and proved he was up to that mark by going close over 1600m last week. He now drops back to the trip of that last win but it will be tough.

By David Thiselton

Paul Reeves celebrated his 51^st birthday yesterday and victory for Photocopy in the opening Itsarush.co.za Welcome Maiden at Durbanville today would be a most welcome present.

The four-year-old is a consistent, albeit frustrating, sort who has been placed in all but one of his 11 starts but for a long time his trainer has been saying that his trip is a mile. Yet he runs over 1 250m here.

“Yes, I always thought he would be best over a mile but I now believe that is in the summer,” Reeves explains. “He doesn’t like the wet and a mile on softish ground at the end of May proved to be too far.

“This 1 250m should be perfect for him and if he doesn’t win today he is not the horse I thought he was!”

Reeves rode nearly 300 winners before a freak head-on collision riding work on the Milnerton training track ended his career. He started training nearly nine years ago and has earned a reputation as a hard-worker who can be guaranteed to get the best out of even the most moderate horse.

Photocopy probably has most to fear from Tyrian who is ridden by Richard Fourie, the rider of Photocopy in five of the latter’s last six starts. The Dynasty colt raced green on debut and was 9-10 favourite with World Sports Betting yesterday when Photocopy was a 5-2 chance. However the weights favour Photocopy. He has only to concede 2kg to the younger horse whereas the weight-for-age scale says he should be giving away 8kg.

Whatever his fortunes on Tyrian, Fourie should win the TAB Telebet Maiden on Margrethe 35 minutes later if he can only keep the Justin Snaith filly calm in the pens. She ran a most encouraging debut only to become fractious in the stalls on her last start. She got extremely upset and reared repeatedly. She was in no frame of mind to race when the gates eventually opened and she only managed fourth.

She has been backed from 11-10 to 8-10 with Touch Of Green (13-2) and newcomer Princess Irene (11-2) also in contention. Beautiful Beat (15-2) is another with claims.

Ikebana (7-10) is the obvious choice for the Tabonline.co.za Handicap after finishing well last time but don’t ignore 15-2 shot China Wolf as she is expected to leave last time’s disappointing effort behind her. “It was her first run out of the maidens and she was taking on the boys,” says Dan Katz. “She got a bit interfered with but she flew home. She is a big runner.”

Forest Prince (13-10) stands out in the Betting World Handicap despite a poor draw and losing ground at the start last time. Those looking for a better price (and a slightly better draw) may like to consider Astrapi at 9-2.

Blue Roller has been second on all his four starts but his turn should finally come in the Play Soccer Maiden, particularly with Aldo Domeyer’s mount stepping up to a mile.

By Michael Clower

The race for the third spot in the International Jockey’s Challenge to take place in Singapore on September 25 is down to the wire with Aldo Domeyer scoring a treble at Flamingo Park in Kimberly yesterday and going two up on rival Greg Cheyne.

Going into the last two days of the 2017/18 racing season just one win separated Cheyne and Domeyer on the jockeys’ log with Domeyer, who started the day on 132 winners, one behind Cheyne, on 133.

Domeyer won the first two races at Flamingo Park for Paul Matchett to edge one clear and went two clear when partnering Bright Flame to victory in the eighth for Steph Miller.

This leaves Cheyne with something of a mountain to climb, needing three winners at Fairview today to claim the final sport in the South African team and a draw is very much on the cards.

The current standings dictate that Lyle Hewitson, Muzi Yeni and either Aldo Domeyer or Greg Cheyne will represent South Africa.

Hewitson, still an apprentice, is set to be crowned the country’s top jockey having ridden 185 winners this season and will hopefully be recovered from a knee injury in time. Yeni, with 147 winners is also guaranteed a place in the SA line-up.

The UK will be represented by Jockeys Hayley Turner (England), Rob Havlin (Scotland) and PJ McDonald (Ireland).

Hugh Bowman, Corey Brown and Kerrin McEvoy will represent Australia.

The Asian team could well be led by Joao Moreira, who has had a tremendous spell in Hong Kong and is currently riding in Japan. His teammates will probably be the top two jockeys from the host country.

According to International Executive Director of Phumelela, John Stuart, Phumelela has been in a very successful relationship with the Singapore Turf Club (STC) for over a decade. The PGI Jockeys Challenge, will entrench this relationship and promote betting across international boundaries.

“Singapore offers magnificent opportunities and we would love South Africans to get seriously involved in Singapore racing,” he said.

By Andrew Harrison