Dennis Drier clinched his ninth Grade 1 victory at Scottsville this decade when Sommerlied won the SA Fillies Sprint on Saturday and it provided an eighth victory in the space of ten years for the progeny of Avontuur Thoroughbred Farm stallions.

Avontuur have been closely associated with the Festival Of Speed meeting in this period through their stallion Var, the sire of Sommerlied. Their newer stallion Oratorio has now joined the party as he scored a one-two in Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion courtesy of the Tobie Spies-trained Van Halen and the Dennis Bosch-trained Cue The Music.

The four-year-old filly Sommerlied is the holder of the Scottsville 1000m course record but proved she could stay 1200m when winning the Grade 3 Poinsettia in yielding going at Scottsville four weeks ago at odds of 16/1. Ominously, the yard said she had still probably needed that run, her first since returning from a highly disappointing campaign in Cape Town, so it was surprising she was allowed to go off at odds of 15/1 on Saturday.

She jumped well from draw four under Sean Veale and the writing was on the wall for her opponents by the 500m mark as the speedy Jo’s Bond had provided her with a perfect tow. Veale then switched her inward and she was still full of running when hitting the front at the 300m mark. She fended off the favourite Magical Wonderland to win cosily by 1,5 lengths with another KZN horse, Neptune’s Rain, a short-head back in third. Vaughan Marshall’s The Secret Is Out, a previous Grade 1 Allan Robertson winner, emulated her full-sister and stablemate Canukeepitsecret, who had earlier finished fourth in the Alan Robertson. Jo’s Bond was one position worse than last year in fifth.

Drier has walked away with at least one Grade 1 trophy from this meeting in every year this decade apart from 2016. It started with Link Man winning the Gold Medallion in 2010, then Val De Ra won the SA Fillies Sprint in 2011. Potent Power, Captain Of All, Guiness, Seventh Plain and Sand And Sea won the Gold Medallion in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively, Captain Of All won the Tsogo Sun Sprint in 2015 and Sommerlied made it nine this decade. Drier’s first Scottsville Grade 1 success was way back in 1990 with Spook and Diesel in the Gold Medallion, then known as the Smirnoff Plate.

Var’s run at this meeting began in 2008 when the Vaughan Marshall-trained Villandry won the Gold Medallion. He produced the winner of the SA Fillies Sprint for three years in succession from 2011 courtesy of Val De Ra and the Duncan Howells-trained Via Africa, who won it twice in a row. In 2012 and 2013 he also produced the winner of the Tsogo Sun Sprint through the Charles Laird-trained pair Contador and Normanz.

Sommerlied became Var’s career eighth individual Grade 1 winner and his progeny have now scored 16 Grade 1 victories in total. He is a speed stallion yet his greatest progeny was the magnificent miler Variety Club.

In Saturday’s Gold Medallion the previously unbeaten colt Cue The Music looked set to justify favouritism. He had been up with the pace throughout and kicked ahead at the 400m mark. Unfortunately, he had not had any cover throughout and began wobbling under the right-handed stick in the final 300m. The strapping gelding Van Halen was thus able to reverse form with him under a fine ride by Craig Zackey, who got him up by a quarter-of-a-length. It was the wrong order for Avontuur as they bred Cue The Music, who is a half-brother to Val De Ra. Van Halen’s slow start turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Zackey had originally intended to “bowl him” in front due to his tremendous speed. Zackey had felt he was a 1000m specialist the first-time he rode him and praised the Spies yard for the stamina work they had put into him. Van Halen showed a tremendous turn of foot from off the pace.

Oratorio was described by Timeform of 2005 as “sturdy, good-bodied, who usually impressed in appearance.” He has stamped his progeny and Van Halen is a classic example as he is a magnificent specimen. Cue The Music is also strongly built and like Val De Ra has a magnificent racing temperament.

The purchase of Oratorio was a coup for Avontuur as he was one of the legendary Danehill’s best sons on the racecourse and before his first crop had raced here he had already produced over 40 stakes winners around the world.

By David Thiselton

Brett Crawford proved at Scottsville that the practice of protecting handicap marks can be counter-productive when his three-year-old Bold Silvano gelding Bold Respect clinched the Listed In Full Flight Handicap/Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint double.

In 2015 Crawford had Gulf Storm well enough to win the In Full Flight Handicap and despite the horse being raised nine points for that win he went on to finish second in the Tsogo Sun Sprint to the brilliant Captain Of All.

Bold Respect was also in good enough shape to win the In Full Flight in his SA Champions Season pipe opener four weeks ago. He was raised five points by the handicapper but the effort in going all out in that race not only brought him to his peak, but it also gave the yard confidence. Crawford had pointed out last week a first outing at Scottsville was always tough for a horse and they would likely be better in their next attempt. Bold Respect duly more than made up the required 2,5kg improvement by winning the Tsogo Sun even more easily. In the In Full Flight he beat his stable companion Sunset Eyes by half-a-length and on 1kg worse terms beat him by 2,5 lengths in the Tsogo Sun. Sunset Eyes finished third, 0,75 lengths behind the Dorrie Sham-trained Pinnacle Peak, who made it a Grade 1 runner up double. It was a rare one-two for three-year-olds in the race. Sham said after the Querari gelding had finished second in the Computaform Sprint that she was thrilled to just have a runner in the SA Champions Season. Pinnacle Peak gave Bold Respect half-a-kilogram and will no doubt be back to contest the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint.

Bold Respect jumped well and Corne Orffer was happy to let him use his big action in front. Pinnacle Peak lay second throughout on the outside. The perfect horse for Scottsville’s tough track is one that has both the speed to free-wheel down the hill and then produce a kick to put the opposition under pressure when the climb begins at the 500m mark. Bold Respect duly responded well to Orffer’s urging at the 400m mark and his long stride did the rest. He never looked in danger of defeat and justified 113-20 second favouritism. The favourite Kasimir, jumping from draw one, moved up well at the 400m mark but his effort petered out and his sixth place completed a day to forget for the national champion elect yard of Justin Snaith.

Bold Respect, considering the speed and class he showed, will likely start favourite for the Mercury Sprint. On Saturday he received 3kg from the Computaform Sprint winner Attenborough and beat him by four lengths.

This was Crawford’s first Grade 1 win this season. Last year he won six, including the Rising Sun Gold Challenge with Captain America, who runs in the same Delmar and Lance Sherrell-owned black and white colours as Bold Respect.

By David Thiselton

Jeff Lloyd will have his final throw of the Vodacom Durban July dice on board Rocket Countdown if the Selangor Cup winner makes the cut.

The Guv’nor’s rides on the big day are being organised by Deez Dayanand but his trip is sponsored by Kuda Insurance whose managing director Wehann Smith is part-owner of Rocket Countdown – and the booking was confirmed straight after the horse finished second to the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge in Saturday’s Winter Classic.

At the moment the gelding is just one of seven listed immediately below the July log’s top twenty but he has crowd-pulling appeal way above the other six. In addition to his legendary jockey, who will be bidding to finally win the great race at the 26^th attempt and will hang up his boots shortly afterwards, the horse is trained by the history-making Candice Bass-Robinson who became the first of her sex to train the winner (Marinaresco) last year and in her first season at that.

She has been in blistering form all this season and she has no doubt about her horse’s claims to get into the race, saying: “Why shouldn’t he get in? He deserves his place in the line-up after winning a Grade 2, he was giving weight all round in the Winter Classic, he will enjoy Greyville and he has a turn of foot. I want him to run.”

Oh Susanna, who could create a vacancy as Snaith Racing has said that she is only 50:50 to run, is a prohibitive 4-10 for the Woolavington at Greyville on Saturday, her first race since winning the Sun Met. World Sports Betting quotes Fiorella as 11-2 second favourite and goes 11-1 Lady In Black, 13-1 Elusive Heart, 22-1 and upwards others.

Daisy Guineas winner and leading Durban July fancy Do It Again is 7-2 favourite for the Daily News on the same card with Surcharge on 5-1, Pack Leader next at 6-1 and Majestic Mambo on 15-2.

By Michael Clower

Eric Sands and Chris Gerber yesterday tossed the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge into the Vodacom Durban July mix and the effect on the ante-post market could be like an unexploded grenade.

The Wilgerbosdrift/Mauritzfontein-bred Ideal World gelding is unbeaten in three starts and he won Saturday’s Highlands Stud Winter Classic decisively, despite throwing away most of his best cards with almost reckless abandon. Even so a July supplementary for such an inexperienced horse looked, in the immediate aftermath anyway, about as likely as tearing the guts out of him over a mile and a half in the mud of the Winter Derby.

After all the Queen’s Plate and the Sun Met are already on the horizon. But Gerber knows that it can sometimes pay to strike while the iron is hot rather than play the long game, and Sands has on occasion had more disappointments served up than breakfast.

After yesterday morning’s repast he issued an upbeat bulletin, saying: “Rainbow Bridge pulled up fairly well – apart from a little bit of warmth in one joint – and it is now the intention to go the July route provided the horse is 100%.”

Richard Fourie’s mount was backed down to odds-on at Kenilworth on Saturday – when the word soft appeared in the going description for the first time since last September – but his backers could hardly believe it when they say him so close to the pace. “He was tugging the whole way. He never came back to Richard,” said the trainer.

Fourie candidly admitted: “I thought I rode a bad race. I was going to try to be three or four lengths off them but then he started over-racing. I now think that he is better switched off sitting last but he is a quality horse with a very bright future.”

Rocket Countdown, conceding a kilo, was beaten a length and Doublemint was half a length further back third although Callan Murray was left under no illusions about finishing any closer – “The winner dropped a gear and he was never coming back.”

Certainly the winner’s merit rating considerably understates his ability. Handicapping rules meant that he could not be raised higher than 84 for his Winter Guineas win and a further ten points is the maximum he can get for this.

Joey Ramsden might have been concentrating more on Scottsville but he still found time to plot Call To Account’s victory in the Olympic Duel Stakes. Drawn on the unfavoured inside, he advised Donovan Dillon to resist the temptation to tack across. Only three horses stayed with Bernard Kantor’s Captain Al filly but, unexpectedly, they occupied the first three places. The 2-1 favourite was doing well to be racing at all as she fractured her off-fore last year.

Ramsden also won the third feature, the Stormsvlei Mile, with Fresnaye on whom an inspired Fourie came from miles back to get up inside the last 50m.

Finally, as you finish reading this, spare a thought for Ronnie Sheehan. The octogenarian, battling all sorts of illnesses (and now a lung infection as well) in the Panorama Medi-Clinic, has been in racing over much of the southern half of Africa for almost 70 years. He is down to a handful of horses but the aptly-named Over Again was his second winner in a week – and he was on at 8-1!

By Michael Clower

Scottsville can be a tricky course but Brett Crawford had it all sussed as Bold Respect made all the running to win the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint on Saturday. For good measure he saddled Sunset Eyes for third, his pair split by Dorrie Sham’s Computaform Sprint runner-up Pinnacle Peak.

It was an afternoon that had the stipendiary stewards earning their keep and punters guessing as Van Halen turned the tables on hot favourite Cue The Music in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion and Mighty High had them guessing in the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship.

The Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint proved fairly predictable as Sommerlied kept her clean sheet at Scottsville and probably bowed out on a high note, destine for the paddocks of Maine Chance Farms.

Crawford’s carefully laid plans came to fruition as Bold Respect built on his win in the In Full Flight Stakes, Crawford magnanimously giving credit to his Summerveld assistant Peter Muscutt. Corne Orffer had him out in a flash and the gelding was never headed. Pinnacle Peak, a game second in the Gr1 Computaform Sprint, tried his best to get on terms but Bold Respect was always in command. Sunset Eyes, second in the In Full Flight Stakes, stayed on well for third.

“He pinged the gate,” said Orffer, “and he’s a happy horse when you leave him alone. At the 400 I let the reins slip through my hands and he took off.”

This was Orffer’s fourth Gr1 for Crawford all in the same colours for Delma and Lance Sherrell.

Sommerlied was back on her favourite track and scored an emphatic victory in the SA Fillies Sprint.

“Nothing went her way in Cape Town,” confessed Sean Veale. “After that there was a little bit of pressure and I thought I would be ‘jocked’ off.”

Veal gave the filly the perfect ride and she responded with a smart turn of foot to hold off the attentions of favourite Magical Wonderland with Neptune’s Rain staying on for third.

“There’s nothing left for her now,” said Maine Chance Farms ambassador and former jockey Glen Hatt. “I think’s she done enough and there are no more races for her unless she takes on open company. She doesn’t like Cape Town so the next races for her would be next season. I don’t know for sure. We will discuss it later.”

Mighty High, racing in the familiar yellow and purple silks of Braam van Huyssteen, scored something of an upset as Mark Khan managed to extricate himself from a blind alley on Johan Janse van Vuuren’s filly to snatch victory ahead of Celtic Sea and Inverroche in the Allan Robertson Championship.

Celtic Sea looked to have the race in the bag approaching the final furlong, but Khan, hunting for a run as the door was shut in his face up the inside, fortunately found the heels of Sean Tarry’s runner as he switched out and followed her through.

“I like this feeling of leading in Gr1’s,” grinned Van Huyssteen in the winner’s box, Legal Eagle’s Cueen’s Plate victory being his first.

Khan has made a spectacular comeback from injury, winning two Gr1’s in a matter of a month and Mighty High was his only ride for the afternoon and the win all the sweeter as it was for his old jockey’s agent who was recording his first Gr1 victory.

Cue The Music was all the rage in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion but few, including seasoned trainer Tobie Spies, predicted victory for Van Halen.

The two had met previously in the Godolphin Barb, Van Halen finishing three lengths behind Dennis Bosch’s runner.

“I didn’t think we could turn the tables,” he said. “He beat us so easy last time and I wasn’t sure if he would see out the trip.”

But things did pan out for the good, although not as expected. “When he starts good he doesn’t finish it off. Today he started bad and finished it off.”

This may be the end of the season for Van Halen as Craig Zackey pleaded that the gelding be given a break.

Sergeant Hardy proved friendless in the market for the fourth in spite of him being very well in at the weights and many punter’s idea of an exotic bet banker. However, he does have his quirks and nothing worked in his favour yesterday.

“I feel sorry for the jockeys on my left,” said Bernard Fayd’Herbe prior to the start. “This horse jumps left and there’s is nothing that you can do about it.”

So Fayd’herbe was deliberately slow away to avoid trouble and as predicted Sergeant Hardy took a left turn out of the gate and kept going left which did his chances no good.

There was no skulduggery as intimated by some with empty pockets.

But it did leave the way clear for the diminutive Hashtag Strat. There is not much to Louis Goosen’s filly but she is quick and with apprentice Khanya Sakayi taking 4kg of her back, there was no catching her yesterday.

It was a fine day for Avontuur Stud as Oratorio was the sire of both Van Halen and Cue The Music while Sommerlied gave the studs stalwart stallion Var another Gr1 winner.

The Allan Robertson was delayed 10 minutes as the stalls were not positioned correctly, and the inexperienced tractor driver struggled to get them re-aligned. Eventually a frustrated MJ Byleveld, who has had experience driving tractors on a farm, took over and move the stalls into position before remounting.

• At Kenilworth, Rainbow Bridge earned himself a possible crack at the Vodacom Durban July after an emphatic victory in the Gr3 Highlands Stud Winter Classic. Eric Sands intimated that should his gelding win well enough he would think of supplementing him for the country’s biggest race.

By Andrew Harrison