The new Durbanville surface was given a unanimous thumbs-up by the jockeys yesterday but the course’s reopening has been put back a fortnight to September 23 when it will stage the Settlers Trophy.

Phumelela boss Clyde Basel, after having a lengthy meeting with trainers, jockeys, owner representatives and officials, said: “There is now a wonderful future for Durbanville but the consensus is that we should give the grass two more weeks and return to racing here on September 23.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe (Liesl King)

“We will then stage seven consecutive meetings at Durbanville while the three scheduled fixtures prior to September 23 will now be run on the winter course at Kenilworth.”

Justin Snaith provided six horses for the testing of the resurfacing and Bernard Fayd’Herbe, after partnering The Barry Burn in a 1 300m spin with Fake News (Anthony Andrews), said: “The course is awesome and is probably now one of the better tracks in the country.

“You would be able to stage big races on it and going through the first corner with its camber I felt that it is going to be so much better than it was.”

Snaith incidentally, said that the social media-hyped Fake News will make his long-awaited debut next month.

Aldo Domeyer, after riding Talitha Borealis in a similar spin with Lightning Trail (Grant van Niekerk), said: “At this point in time the course feels a bit superior to Kenilworth. The surface is smooth, it turns well and in the straight you can put your horse anywhere.

“It should make for fairer racing but it feels very firm and how tough it is I don’t know.”

Dean Diedricks, who has master-minded the resurfacing programme, was adamant that there is no question of opening up the course for weekly gallops in the immediate future. Most of the trainers agreed with this but some of them felt that the recommencement of racing should also be deferred.

Greg Ennion

Greg Ennion, speaking in advance of the meeting and its decision, said: “The course really needs the whole of September with the sun on it. It would be OK to race once a fortnight but we would be back where we started if we staged all ten scheduled meetings.”

The trial was much better attended than most people expected – although the racecourse thoughtfully laid on plenty of refreshments – and other trainers present included Candice Bass-Robinson, Vaughan Marshall, Glen Kotzen, Andre Nel, Paddy Kruyer, Riaaan van Reenen, Mike Robinson, Andries Steyn and Dan Katz.

Richard Fourie rode in the trial and Racing Association boss Larry Wainstein took an early flight from Johannesburg to watch it. Others present included senior stipe Ernie Rodrigues (“In time it will be magnificent”), Derek Brugman, Darryl Hodgson, Karl Neisius and NHA vet Lauren Brewis while the media representation included a Tellytrack broadcasting team.

The new-look racing surface has taken ten months to complete and involved removing the original turf, levelling out the old ridge and furrow, cambering or cross-falling the bends and replanting with a kikuyu-grass sod purchased already fully grown.

By Michael Clower

An ”absolute gentleman” was the common thread when the shocked racing community reminisced about the late Alec Forbes, who passed away in hospital of pneumonia in the early hours of the morning last Thursday having ridden a winner at Scottsville just hours earlier.

The hearts of all in the industry are with his wife Lezeanne and their young son Zac and also with his older offspring Jordan and Savannah.

Summerveld trainer Lezeanne sent out the Querari gelding Warfarer to win on Sunday at Scottsville and in an emotional moment in the winner’s enclosure jockey Tristan Godden spoke for many when pointing skywards and saying, “This one is for Alec.”

Forbes was clearly a dedicated horseman with a strong work ethic and will be a big loss to racing.

He would have made it in any walk of life as an enquiring mind who was an avid reader and his books and periodicals were his regular companions between races in the jockey’s room.

His riding agent of eleven years Rob Champion was particularly hard hit by the news, especially as he had spoken to him the previous evening and congratulated him on his winner. He said, “We have always been close friends, he was more like a son to me. He was always very honourable and straight shooting, the nicest guy you will ever meet, a total gentleman, the quieter type of gentleman, and an absolute pleasure to work for.”

Forbes had fine associations with the two leading KZN yards, Summerveld’s Dennis Drier and Ashburton’s Duncan Howells.

Drier said, “We had a great partnership over the years. He was an absolute gentleman, he wasn’t scared of work and did me proud with both Beach Beauty and Val De Ra. It is very sad and he is a big loss to the jockey ranks and to racing.”

Forbes rode the champion Beach Beauty to victory in two Grade 2s and a Grade 3 and to two seconds in Grade 1s.

He rode the champion sprinter Val De Ra to victory in the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint, the Grade 1 Cape Flying Championship and the Grade 2 Southern Cross Stakes.

Jockey Karl Neisius recalled that Cape Flying Championships, “I was drawn wider on What A Winter and dropped in behind Val DE Ra, but she kicked again and was too good. Alec was a fantastic guy, a total gentleman and down to earth, you couldn’t meet a nicer guy, it is very sad for the family.”

Howells said, “I knew Alec more on a professional level than a personal one and he was very workmanlike and I had a great amount of respect for him. He was always on time, he put a lot of effort into the work. He performed very well for us.”

Forbes also formed a good partnership at one stage with veteran Summerveld trainer Alistair Gordon.

Gordon said, “It was a huge shock too all of us. I had an awful lot of time for Alec, he was an exceptionally hardworking guy, a true gentleman of the sport and a really good guy, he was top-class.”

Jockey great Anton Marcus also spoke highly of his KZN-based colleague. “He was a great guy, a gentleman of the jockey room and is sorely missed.”

Greg Cheyne was in the same year as Forbes at the South African Jockeys Academy and said, “I am also good friends with his step-brother Paul Devlin, so am lost for words. Alec was a top bloke, quiet and humble and he would just go about his business. I don’t think he had any enemies, he was one of the good guys. I have fond memories of him in our time at the Academy. He was an accomplished rider. When he rode good horses he rode them well and took the chances which came his way. He was still under achieved. But this is more about him as a person. He will be absolutely missed, I can’t say enough about him. He was greatly respected by all of his colleagues.”

By David Thiselton

Mark Dixon has done a masterful job with London Call, a gelding that has not been the easiest to train, but apart from keeping the gelding sound and sane, Dixon has cherry-picked his races to the point where he has won nine of his 16 starts.

London Call (Nkosi Hlophe)

London Call’s record is peppered with lay-offs between runs but Dixon has been smart enough to target pinnacle stakes races where London Call inevitably has an advantage.

London Call showed in both the Gr1 Golden Horse Sprint and the Gr1 Mercury Sprint, both won by Bull Valley, that he is just below top class but not by far. At Scottsville yesterday, back in Pinnacle Stakes company, he had plenty in his favour in spite of carrying top weight and didn’t disappoint.

Brandon Lerena, riding his first winner back since his Mauritian nightmare, had his mount out and rolling from the jump and he never let up. Redcarpet Captain challenge briefly and Secret Captain was doing his best work late but London Call was never seriously threatened.

The Qatar Racing Club has identified the South African Jockey Academy as a potential training ground for their riders in an effort to upgrade racing in the Gulf State and the first batch of ten apprentices were put through their paces in the Al Rayyan Apprentice Cup, restricted to the Qatar apprentices.

Keagan De Melo (Nkosi Hlophe)

Most of the riders have limited race-racing experience but Abdulla Saleh kept Paul Lafferty’s 12-1 chance Tropical’s Son running to the line to hold the more fancied stable companion Freddie Flint but there was plenty of huffing-and-puffing behind them.

By their very nature objections are often contentious but the one-eyed Silent Obsession has been on the receiving end on two occasions.

First time across the line first he was on the wrong end of a boardroom decision before winning next time out. Yesterday, he had the filly Ideal Winter leaning on him for much of the home straight.

Keagan de Melo was quick to object on Silent Obsession’s behalf, “he never left me alone in the straight,” he protested but his protestations were in vain with the result standing.

Had there been a head or less in it at the line, De Melo’s protest may have been upheld but Silent Obsession was half-a-length back at the line.

The current ruling on objections is that the objection board must be confident that the offended would have beat the offender. Clearly in this case the objection board were not convinced.

By Andrew Harrison

One of the best jobs in South African racing is up for grabs as Sabine Plattner and Andre Nel have decided not to renew Grant van Niekerk’s contract as first jockey.

Andre Nel

Van Niekerk was appointed shortly after Aldo Domeyer replaced him as stable jockey to Candice Bass-Robinson after the Sun Met meeting at the end of January. The combination has had quite a bit of success but seemingly that was not enough.

Nel explained: “I still rate Grant highly but he and I didn’t really gel as a team in the way we should, and his contract came to an end at the end of last season. At the moment we are freelancing but the job is open and we are looking.”

Plattner Racing has a string of superbly bred horses, which have been a force to reckon with during the reigns of Chris Snaith, Brett Crawford and Yogas Govender. Indeed they give every appearance of being on the way back to their very best under Nel’s guidance.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe, who has not ridden since the end of last month, expects to resume at Kenilworth on Saturday.

He said: “I had a fall riding work at Philippi eight weeks ago and hurt my shoulder but I carried on riding taking anti-inflammatories, and then I injured my elbow in the pens in a KZN sales race at Greyville.

“I am booked off until Friday and I see the specialist this Monday. I am confident of being cleared to resume as I rode work on Saturday and everything was fine. The rest has done me good because it has helped to heal other injuries but I have missed a lot of winners and that is not cool.”

Grant Van Niekerk (Nkosi Hlophe)

Morne Winnaar is back in Cape Town after a successful stint in Durban, saying: “I want to establish myself here again before the summer season starts. The Durban trainers have their regular jockeys so rides there are harder to come by out of season. Also there are a maximum of 12 runners in races on the poly at Greyville and that also restricts opportunities.”

Craig du Plooy, sidelined since April and initially concerned that he might have to have a back operation, is optimistic that he will be in action once more by the beginning of December.

He said: “I have had rhizotomy treatment where they burn the nerve endings so that the disc can heal naturally. It takes a bit longer this way but it works better.”

Bertie Dobbie and his brother Melvyn bring the curtain down on half a century of bookmaking when they stand for the final time at Kenilworth on Wednesday. They say that it will not be viable to operate on-course when the increased fees come into operation. They intend continuing off-course and say they expect their place to be taken by World Sports Betting.

By Michael Clower

Cot Campbell may yet recoup punter losses despite costing his backers dear for the third time in four starts at Kenilworth on Saturday. I know it sounds like an old-fashioned record stuck in a groove – and such horses tend to benefit only bookmakers – but the three-year-old showed plenty in defeat in the Mark Well Handicap.

Richard Fourie (Nkosi Hlophe)

Richard Fourie and Justin Snaith, faced with a wide draw, opted to rein back and tack over to the rail. Their goose was promptly cooked by Brandon May, drawn one worse on Rocketeer, going straight to the front and setting a gallop that had the favourite third last and 12 lengths adrift after a furlong.

Cot Campbell still had ten lengths to find when Fourie started work early in the straight and, although his mount really motored in the final 200m, he was two lengths away where it mattered. He returned with blood in his mouth but nobody was offering that as an excuse

“Even with a good draw he would have needed further – he wants a mile,” was the rider’s verdict while Snaith added: “Under the old system I wouldn’t have run the horse but with draws after declarations in Cape Town there is nothing we can do. He found a bit of trouble with a horse going in and out in front of him but I was impressed with the ground he made up.”

Others were impressed with Calvin Ngcobo who won the race on the Joey Ramsden-trained Apollo Star, his first ride in Cape Town and his 67^th winner.

Fourie had better luck on League Game and Master’s  Spirit in the Green Street Bloodstock colours. The rapidly-expanding Green Street operation, the brainchild of Justin Vermaak, was founded just under three years ago and now has 55 horses spread through 16 trainers. It also has some 90 owners, 16% of them being new to racing.

Aldo Domeyer is on fire once more. He rode a four-timer on Saturday to take his tally for the season to 15 from just 59 rides and his never-say-die determination played a significant part in getting Hemmingway home for old boss Andre Nel in the Rawson Properties Maiden.

He and Sihle Cele on Dayonaut drew nine lengths clear of the rest as they battled it out in the final furlong and the luckless Dayonaut had to give second best (by less than a neck) for the fifth time in his last six races. But there was nothing ungenuine about his performance  – indeed quite the opposite – so his day will surely come.

By Michael Clower