NIKLAAS “Ivan” van Wyk saddled his first winner as a licensed trainer when Ashley de Klerk’s six-year-old gelding Putchini won a MR68 Handicap over 1200m at Scottsville on Sunday in the capable hands of Billy Jacobson.

More than 11 years ago Van Wyk (51), who grew up loving horses, found himself a job as a groom with veteran trainer Chris Erasmus at Turrffontein. He handled top filly Ice Lily and handicappers Bo West and Shakeitupbaby and says: “I learnt most of what I know from Mr Erasmus, who still advises me today and is only a phone call away.”

Van Wyk, who’d worked himself up to the rank of assistant trainer, moved from Johannesburg to Durban in 2011 when Erasmus was put in charge of a string owned by Koos and Lorraine de Klerk of Yellow Star Stud. With a further six years under his belt, Van Wyk was ready to take over when Erasmus departed recently. Van Wyk commented: “I am thankful and privileged to have this opportunity. I’ve had support from the De Klerk family, fellow trainers and the stipes. I am keen to have more winners and things are improving.

I’ve had a frustrating time with places, but having the first winner under the belt changes everything, it brings confidence.”

Yellow Star Stud was formerly owned by Craig Ramsey, who immigrated to New Zealand in the mid-2000s. “We have excellent tracks here, a sand track of about 1400m with an 800m run-in, and two grass tracks, one has an uphill,” Van Wyk noted. Putchini is probably the best older horse in the stable, but Van Wyk has a few two-year-olds that will run in due course. “We have three nice youngsters by Kildonan, they should come to hand soon and will race as two-year-olds,” he said.

Van Wyk only see his Cape Town family a few times a year, but they are in full support of a man who has given heart and soul to the game and is now in a position to go from strength to strength.

– Turf Talk

Bernard Fayd’Herbe can celebrate his 36^th birthday a day early by winning the first two races at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Both Henry Tudor and Bid Before Sunset have losses to recover after starting favourite and finding one too good for them earlier in the month. Indeed it’s a little surprising to see Justin Snaith turning them out again so quickly.

“Fitness,” he replies when quizzed about this. “I want them both to win a maiden and then I can rest them. They are fit and I think they will both be hard to beat.”

Henry Tudor has finished second in all his last three starts but he looked genuine enough ten days ago when the form – dividing Victorious Captain and Photocopy – looked solid. The gelding was yesterday installed 2-1 favourite by World Sports Betting which has Southern Sun the danger at 3-1 after his cracking debut in June.

Ridden by an apprentice, he started at 100-1 and beat all except White River in a big field that included (an admittedly unlucky) Cot Campbell. “He surprised me that day,” recalls Dean Kannemeyer who adds that some of his runners may need the outing after their vaccinations.

Bid Before Sunset was a little disappointing last time considering how promisingly she had run on debut and, although ridden to lead just over 50m from home, she hadn’t shown the pace that many punters expected.

But she is a warm favourite at 12-10 and the early market suggests that Capaill (6-1) is the main threat. However Kannemeyer’s Royal Frost (9-1) is expected to run well – “She ran a nice race last time and she will continue to improve,” says her trainer.

One word of warning, though. Neither of the Snaith hotpots is well drawn – Henry Tudor is eight out of ten and the filly ten out of 15. The penetrometer readings last Saturday showed that those racing on the inside (ie drawn low) had a 5% advantage over those in the middle and a 6% advantage had any jockey been foolish enough to try to come up the stands side.

Fayd’Herbe has a few other good rides and just possibly the draw may swing it for him in race three. Courtisan is favourite at 33-10 after a better first run that Spam Alert but Richard Fourie’s mount will start from pen 15 whereas Spam Alert (9-2) is drawn two.

Whatever his fortunes here, though, Fourie can win the Betting World Maiden on Counting Stars who looks value at 5-1. He was only just behind last Saturday’s easy winner Rommel in a big field last month and has a reasonable draw. Orakal is 18-10 favourite and is the obvious danger.

Our old friend Power Grid is drawn ten out of 14 in race seven but last week’s rain will help and he looks worth a few rand each way at 7-1.

By Michael Clower

Direct exports from South Africa to the European Union could well be back on track as early as December next year or January 2019, according to Adrian Todd, a spokesman from our horseracing industry’s Import-Export Task Team.

Todd was speaking at a recent workshop attended by the most important decision-makers in the South African horseracing industry and was upbeat about the recent progress made by the team chaired by prominent owner and businessman Chris van Niekerk.

“We have been working diligently to fix the issues raised in a 2013 audit by the EU, getting expert advice domestically and internationally, and have verified we are on the right path,” said Todd. “There remains work to be done before the official EU audit in the middle of next year, but we know we’ve made real strides in our record keeping, communication and movement control. We are on path to meet or exceed our commitments to upgrade where necessary.”

Exports of South African horses have historically taken months because of a equine disease endemic to Africa called African Horse Sickness (AHS). Just like malaria is transferred through a mosquito bite, AHS is transferred by a bite from the Culicoides Midge.

All horses north of Cape Town have to be inoculated against AHS but cases have occurred in the AHS-control zones in the Western Cape. It has now been proven that the cases in the controlled areas were vaccine related and new controls regarding the timing of vaccinations are believed to have solved this risk.

There was an enormous breakthrough last year, though, when Prof Alan Guthrie and his colleagues at the University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science’s Equine Research Centre announced they had developed a diagnostic test, known as a RT-PCR Test (polymerase chain reaction used in molecular biology to amplify a single copy or a few copies of a segment of DNA). The test can determine with absolute certainty a horse’s AHS status within four hours. It previously took a minimum of two weeks to obtain a diagnosis.

The test was officially validated by the OIE last year and since then Van Niekerk, Todd and his team have been working diligently to get the protocols governing exports from South Africa changed.

“The progress we have made shows how far we can go if we work together towards a clear and concise target,” said Todd. “It became evident when the task team was first formed that there were no clear roles and responsibilities assigned. We did not present a united front to the rest of the world. So we put a national plan together with clear actions and responsibilities and we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Horses will still have to stand in a vector-protected (insect-free) quarantine facility, and work is in progress to ultimately reduce the number of days.

In the past SA horses going overseas have had to spend a certain amount of time in quarantine in South Africa, Mauritius and a European country, a journey that took nearly five months.

“Obviously getting exports right will not be a silver bullet for the SA horseracing industry, but our science is solid and has been accepted. We are confident about our position and we’ve got a path to follow. We know exactly where we need to go.

“We working towards a resumption of trade after the official audit next year and expect to be allowed to send horses directly abroad by December 2018-January 2019.”

– tabnews.co.za

Dean Kannemeyer, 25 Grade 1 winners already in the bag including the Durban July three times, goes into battle with 90 horses this season.

He said: “I have 30 two-year-olds coming in and, while 25 of the string will stay in Durban, I am bringing back 20 horses to Cape Town next month. October 2 is the earliest they can come back into the free zone as this will be 40 days after their last shot.

“I haven’t had any boom horses in the last year but I particularly like Last Winter. He won his only start at Greyville at two and I thought he would be a classic horse last season but he kicked a wall and suffered a hairline fracture of his pedal bone.

“He came back to win his first two at Scottsville in May and July (both mile handicaps) and I think he has a very bright future. I haven’t exposed him yet – I have tried to do the right thing with him – but he is well bred (by Western Winter out of the 2009 Cape Fillies Guineas winner Field Flower) and he has a lot of potential.”

Andre Nel has the Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes on January 6 as the ultimate objective for Igugu’s half-sister Ngaga who won her first three starts before finishing second in both the Stormsvlei Mile and the Ladies Mile.

Nel said: “She is having a break at the moment but we are going to put a bit more pressure on her this season. She is prone to niggly little problems and so we were easy on her during the winter.”

Saturday week’s Settlers Trophy has attracted 15 entries and Justin Snaith has already accepted with three for the mile and a half Durbanville feature – Arezzo (Bernard Fayd’Herbe) who won the race in 2015, One Direction (Richard Fourie) and Cigar Boy. Snaith is bidding for his fifth Settlers victory.

By Michael Clower

The Brett Crawford-trained Sun Met winner Whisky Baron has “tightened up nicely” and his regular jockey Greg Cheyne will ride him next week on Monday in his first “proper gallop” since the big horse arrived in England on June 21.

The five-year-old Australian-bred Manhattan Rain gelding will do a hard gallop over 1000m on the Rowley Mile next week. His chief target is the Hong Kong International meeting in December, where he will either run in the HK$20 million Hong Kong Mile or the HK$25 million Hong Kong Cup over 2000m.

Crawford and Cheyne will decide after next week’s gallop whether Whisky Baron will be ready to take his place in the Group 2 Shadwell Joel Stakes over a mile on the Rowley Mile on September 29.

Crawford has been flying back and forth to assess Whisky Baron.

He said, “He is looking very well and has done everything right. We have taken him to a few different tracks, but have tried to keep it simple. Newmarket is a beautiful place and the facilities are fantastic.”

Cheyne has had two stints over there riding Whisky Baron. When arriving for the second stint he could immediately feel the improvement. In the second stint Whisky Baron had workouts for five days in succession and Cheyne said he had “handled the pressure well.”

Cheyne will fly out for a third time in order to ride Whisky Baron in Monday’s gallop.

Cheyne will have his first ride in England if Whisky Baron takes his place in the Joel Stakes.

He said, “Just riding work there is an experience on its own. It’s unbelievable, it’s mind blowing. Just watching the races on TV and seeing the galloping style is going to make the race very interesting. Over here and in Australia we tend to jump, sit and sprint. In the U.K. they gallop from the off and you have to maintain the gallop until the line.”

To date Cheyne has ridden Whisky Baron on the Golden Mile (peat moss), Long Hill (turf) and the Long Hill polytrack. The latter has a stiff uphill finish.

Crawford has tried to familiarise Whisky Baron with his training grounds as far as possible so has made a lot of use of the latter polytrack  as well as a nine furlong polytrack called the Al Bahathri.

A former South Africa-based assistant of Crawford’s, Jevin Awotar, who is a Mauritian, looks after Whisky Baron at Mary Slack’s Abingdon Place stables.

Whisky Baron’s regular workrider is Lisa Moncrieff, who does a lot of workriding for Mike de Kock out of Abingdon Place.

Crawford is concerned about the approach of winter in the U.K, which usually brings with it more rain. He and Cheyne are very much hoping the ground stays “on top” for the Joel Stakes.

Cheyne elaborated, “He won’t appreciate bottomless ground, especially in his first start as it will be his first race for eight months.”

South African-connected horses have enjoyed success at Newmarket in recent times. Mike de Kock has won the Joel Stakes twice. In 2008 he won it with Eagle Mountain under Kevin Shea and he set a course record in the process. Bankable was second in that race and went on to be trained by Herman Brown in Dubai before standing at Summerhill Stud. In 2013 De Kock won the Joel Stakes with the South African-bred Soft Falling Rain, ridden by Paul Hanagan. In that same year De Kock finished second in a Listed race on the Rowley Mile with the SA-bred Igugu.

Three South African-bred horses, National Colour, J J The Jet Plane and Shea Shea have finished second, third and fourth respectively in Group 1 sprint races on the Newmarket July course within the last ten years.

The South African-bred De Kock-trained Imbongi won the Group 3 Criterion Stakes over seven furlongs under Shea on the July course in 2009.

Linngari, who had earlier been trained by Herman Brown Jnr and later stood at Summerhill Stud, finished third in a Group 1 on the Rowley Mile in 2008.

The Joel Stakes are named after Solly Joel, who made his fortune as a mining magnate in South Africa and was a prolific thoroughbred owner and breeder. He won the Epsom Derby twice as an owner. However, the likely best ever decision he made was to buy a horse-in-training called Polymelus for £4,200 at the Newmarket October Sale in 1906. Polymelus was a good horse, but a cut below the best. However, he went on to lead the General English/Irish sires list five times and produced at least 50 stakes winners, including Phalaris. The vast majority of thoroughbreds today trace back to Phalaris on their male lines, through the like of legends such as Northern Dancer and Mr Prospector.

Polymelus also had a major impact on South African breeding and his Solly Joel-owned and bred son Polystome was the eleven-times SA Champion sire, a record.

By David Thiselton