Canukeepitsecret seems sure to be the shortest-priced horse of the meeting at Durbanville’s St Patrick’s Day fixture tomorrow when Mike Robinson’s wife Luella and the racecourse are combining forces to bring in a whole host of Stellenbosch University students.

Hopefully they won’t get their fingers burnt. The superbly bred Vaughan Marshall filly ran a cracker first time to beat all except Nous Voila who could well prove to be something special and she should win this.

Vaughan Marshall

But she is horribly short – she opened at 5-10 with World Sports Betting on Wednesday and was 4-10 yesterday morning – and it is worth noting that, while she had Cruise Along over a four and a half lengths behind, that filly lost almost as much ground as she was beaten by dawdling out of the pens. She will know a lot more about it this time and is 33-10 second favourite.

Silver Reserve (11-2) is one of six newcomers that Justin Snaith is running in the three two-year-old races. He has taken an ultra-patient approach with his juveniles this term, so much so that he is the only one of the big Cape Town trainers not to have won a two-year-old race. Marshall and Joey Ramsden have each won five already.

“I think my two fillies are a bit more forward than the colts but they are up against a horse that looks a shoe-in,” says Snaith.

Ramsden’s Bountiful Strength looks the one in the opening Juvenile Plate. He ran well when unfancied in a 14-strong field on debut despite losing a front shoe.  He is 13-10 favourite and has the added benefit of the in-form Richard Fourie in the irons. There is a line of form that puts him close with 16-10 Frozen Tune but that first run should have brought him on by a decisive amount.

The Racing Association Maiden (race two) is not as clear cut as the other two juvenile races. The Marshall-trained Flying Arrow is favourite and has already been backed from 19-10 to 16-10 but he owes his market position more to his trainer’s reputation and current form than to the book. He gets only a tentative vote. Lanza (4-1) and Skidoo (6-1) disappointed in better company on Met day while 10-1 shot Sacred Arrow and Carnage (4-1) also have claims.

Mister Colin found one too good for him when a heavily backed stable fancy on Queen’s Plate day and has since won at Fairview. Despite being raised 4kg for those last two runs he can justify 19-10 favouritism in the Play Soccer Handicap.

With Adam Marcus in such form Strabo (5-2) is taken to beat 15-10 favourite Negma and 22-10 shot Royal Marine in the Durbanville Twilight Meet Maiden.

By Michael Clower

It took nearly two years for Paul Gadsby to win his argument with the handicappers, a long time if you are the owner paying keep, but persistence has paid off as Miss Varlicious registered her second win on the bounce at Greyville yesterday.

Down from a merit rating high of 103 to 72 before her penultimate start, Miss Varlicious finally managed another victory and thanks to four kilo claiming apprentice Khanya Sakayi, Miss Varlicious managed one more win.

It was a close-run thing as Sakayi had to fight off Anton Marcus aboard Victory Trip who may have even headed the youngster. But persistence and his claim eventually carried the day.

Miss Varlicious (Candiese Marnewick)

This win may well be Miss Varlicious’s swan song as far as the winner’s enclosure is concerned as the handicappers are sure to add a few more pounds to her rating in spite of her possibly being at her limit.

Jockey Mandla Ntuli operates below the radar for much of the time but Tony Rivalland, Mark Dixon and Michael Roberts often make use of his services and Ntuli has done particularly well for Rivalland and came up trumps in the second when making most of the running on Tommaso.

Stepped up to a mile for the first time, Tammaso, with the blinkers removed, kept on finding to get the better of a charging Aim For The Stars.

The tribulations in the Howell’s stable are well documented and the virus that has plagued many of the Ashburton yards appears to be dormant. Dawn Calling relieved the pressure somewhat on Sunday and Roy’s Vogue opened the valve a little further yesterday as Marcus drove her to a hard-fought win over the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Orelia.

Keagan de Melo does not enjoy the high profile of riders such as Delpech, Marcus and Strydom but he is years younger and has plenty of talent as he showed when getting the Pat Lunn-trained Stockade home in the sixth.

In a driving finish where all of six horses were in with a shout, De Melo first switched in only to have the gap shut in his face, before switching to the outside rail to get home late.

Backed in from 20-1 to 4-1 at her previous start, Stockade found Victory Trip, a close second to the useful Miss Varlicious two runs earlier, too smart but those punters who were not catching an afternoon siesta will have quickly cottoned on, especially when given the heads-up by television presenter and race analyst Dees Dayanand.

Only an act of god or injury will deny Anthony Delpech a consecutive National Jockey’s Championship. Another double, with Shantytown adding a welcome second to Garth Puller’s tally for the afternoon increased Delpech’s lead in the championship to 44 – Muzi Yeni his nearest challenger, 127 to 83.

By Andrew Harrison

Justin Snaith’s first horse for the SA Champions Season, Platinum Prince, will arrive at Summerveld today (Thursday) in order to take part in the Grade 3 Kings Cup on March 25 and the rest of his 30 horse-string will arrive next week Friday.

It will be the most powerful string Snaith has ever sent to KZN and includes dual Grade 1 winners Snowdance and Oh Susanna.

Oh Susanna (Liesl King)

Snaith said, “We finished in the first three in many of the Cape Summer Season’s features, so the strength of the string lies in it being an all round one with runners over all distances. So we will have our work cut out, which is great, and we will stick to the same methods which worked in Cape Town.”

Summerveld trainer Tony Rivalland will oversee Platinum Prince’s care and training program until Snaith arrives.

Snaith said, “I saved Platinum Prince through the latter part of the Cape Summer for the Champions Season. He was very unlucky in the Premier’s Trophy, he had to eased out of the race, and then he flew home for third in the Peninsula”. The four-year-old Silvano gelding’s first two wins were over 1600m, but he has subsequently won three races from 1800-2000m so will probably find the Kings Cup, run over 1600m on the Greyville turf, a touch sharp, although he will come in fresh which will give him a shout. He has landed a plum draw of two among the 24 entries and has been allotted a weight of 54kg off his 100 merit rating.

Snaith’s speedy filly Jo’s Bond will be the first of the rest to come out in the Listed Kwazulu-Natal over 1000m at Scottsville.

The following weekend he will have runners in the three-year-old pipe-opening events over 1400m at Greyville, the Grade 3 Byerley Turk and the Grade 3 Umzimkhulu Stakes, and among them will be a filly he rates, Dynamic Diana. He will bring out his CTS 1200 runner up Kasimir and his Diadem winner Bishop’s Bounty on the same day for a Pinnacle event over 1100m.

Snaith would prefer to keep Snowdance and Oh Susanna apart, but it will be difficult as the obvious starting point for both would be the Grade 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas on the SA Champions Season’s official opening night, Friday May 4 at Greyville, although the weight for age plus penalties Grade 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes on the same night could be a viable option for Snowdance.

Snaith said the decision on whether to run Sun Met winner Oh Susanna in the Vodacom Durban July would lie out of his hands, but he would prefer to avoid it considering the impact such a tough race can have on the rest of a horse’s career.

By David Thiselton

Summerveld trainer Frank Robinson said his two best horses, Roy Had Enough and Roy’s Riviera, were waiting on the draw for the Grade 1 R2 million SA Classic and the Grade 1 R1 million Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic respectively which are to be both run over 1800m at Turffontein on April 7.

Roy Had Enough (Candiese Marnewick)

Roy Had Enough’s sire, Pierro, was a five-time Group 1-winning sprint-miler, who also finished third in the prestigious Group 1 weight for age Cox Plate over 2000m, and his dam Queens Plaza (Elusive Quality) is out of a Group 1 Australian Oaks winner. Therefore, he should stay the 1800m trip, especially as he has been relaxing so well in the running since the blinkers have been removed.

Roy’s Riviera’s sire All Too Hard was a great rival of Pierro’s and he ended his career as three-time Group 1-winner from 1400m to 1600m, although he did beat Pierro in the Cox Plate when finishing second. Roy’s Riviera’s dam Donna Amata (Anabaa) is out of a Sir Tristram mare who won four times from 1600m to 21000m. Furthermore, Roy’s Riviera is a half-sister to a filly by Sebring who won a Listed race over 2100. Therefore Roy’s Riviera should also relish the 1800m trip and her running style suggests the same. She did place over 2000m against older horses as early as October of this season.

The pair’s alternative plan is the Grade 3 King’s Cup over 1600m of the Greyville turf, although they have both drawn wide in 14 and 21 out of 24 entries, so their participation might also depend on the size of the field.

By David Thiselton

Colin Buckham, handicapper, long-time racecourse judge and avid golfer, succumbed to a long battle with cancer on Tuesday at the age of 78.

Buckham was a legend in racing, and one of the true characters of a sport that was his all-consuming passion and if he wasn’t talking racing it was golf.

Colin Buckham

Colin started his working career as a bank clerk before becoming an assistant handicapper at the then Durban Turf Club (DTC) at Greyville Racecourse under Gerald Lee. He had a strong racing pedigree as both his father and grandfather were trainers. His father Jimmy started out as a jockey and was ignominiously dumped at the start of his one and only ride in the July when he got caught up in the starting tapes.

His cousin Cyril Buckham, later head riding master at the South African Jockey Academy, was the first South African jockey to win 100 races in a season and won two Julys with Monesteraven in 1948 and later Spey Bridge in 1956.

Buckham recalled, “I’ve been racing since 1954. When I was 10-years-old I used to sit in my father’s car next to the track and watch the races. Children were not allowed on course in those days.”

Later, Buckham joined Harvey Topham and Warren Eisele in the judge’s box; 1975 to be exact. Colin was still assistant handicapper at the DTC and having to watch every race as a judge was of great benefit when it came to handicapping as in those days there was no Tellytrack or YouTube to watch replays.

After spending 40 years in the Judges Box at the three KwaZulu-Natal race courses, Buckham and Eisele were pushed into retirement at the end of July 2015, both over 65. The two were the longest serving judges in the history of South African racing.

When Gerald Lee retired, Buckham became chief handicapper for the DTC before all handicapping was put under the umbrella of the National Horseracing Authority where he worked until retirement.

He recalled a time when he was assistant handicapper. “There was a race called the Sires Produce Stakes, restricted to two-year-olds who had been sired by stallions that had won over 1900m or more. There were not enough acceptors and it was decided to scrap the race. (Trainer) John Breval had a horse in the race called Free Style who later ran second and third in the Gold Cup. I was looking out of the window the next day when a big car pulled up outside the offices and Bridget Oppenheimer got out. I knew what was coming and like a good coward ducked out of the office leaving Lee to take the ear-bashing while I chuckled, listening from around the corner.”

Buckham had a reputation of being absolutely meticulous and there were no mistakes in the judges box, but he did have his moments as a handicapper. “There were times that I was not very proud off. Once I was forced to re-do the July weights after threats of being taken to court. I was ready to hand in my resignation but three stewards, also members of the Jockey Club, stood by me and said that under no circumstances was I to resign and it would never happen again.”

“There was also a time when we had too many horses entered for a feature race and I had to eliminate. Instead of working through the form I put all the names of the horses on the borderline into a hat and drew a winner. I was then taken to court by one of the owners and the judge ruled against me. I had the last laugh though. Their horse never won another race.”

Colin is survived by his wife Annabel and daughters Leigh-Ann and Anthea. There will be no memorial service but a small gathering for family and close friends at his house at noon tomorrow.

By Andrew Harrison