Anthony Delpech is part of the Rest of The World Team’s taking place at Ascot in England in Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup 2017, the world’s premier international jockeys’ team competition that includes a ladies team headed by Emm-Jayne Wilson.

Delpech, from South Africa, and Japan’s Keita Tosaki are both making their Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and British debuts. Delpech, 48, champion jockey in South Africa in 1998/1999 and 2002/03, has ridden internationally, while Tosaki, 37, has been the Japan Racing Association’s top rider for the last three years.

Kerrin McEvoy is making his second appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and will captain the Rest of The World Team. Formerly a Godolphin stable jockey, the Australian guided Rule Of Law to victory in the 2004 St Leger at Doncaster and has ridden three winners at Royal Ascot. The 36-year-old captured the Melbourne Cup for the second time in November.

Canada’s Emma-Jayne Wilson, the most successful female jockey of all-time in her homeland, is riding at her sixth Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. She captained The Girls Team to a historic victory in the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and will be in charge again this year.

Australia’s Michelle Payne became the first female rider to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 on 100/1 outsider Prince of Penzance. She also makes her Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut.

– Ascot Racecourse

The new season may be only a week old but the rich Ready To Run races are seemingly already acting as an irresistible magnet – and one of the first things Joey Ramsden said after Wine Festival ran away with a 1 400m maiden at Kenilworth yesterday was that she is qualified for one of the best of them.

This filly, owned by a quartet that includes the trainer’s partner Steph Grentell, was backed down to odds-on and drew further and further away under Grant van Niekerk to score by more than five lengths.

Ramsden said: “I am not sure about the quality of the rest of the field but this is a lovely rangy filly.”

The start was delayed for ten minutes after some of the jockeys spotted what looked like a dangerous patch close to the inside rail. “It turned out to be just an old divot but felt we couldn’t take any chances,” explained senior stipe Nick Shearer.

A bigger problem for Ramsden was his left hand, bandaged after painfully making contact with a red hot hob when he was cooking some bacon. He ended up in hospital.

Seemingly Riaan van Reenen’s problems were more with the Almighty after running Janice’s Secret in totally unsuitable conditions a fortnight ago. “It was p***ing with rain that time, she hated it and I couldn’t sleep for days afterwards,” he related. “But I was blessed when they postponed the meeting after the rain came down again last Tuesday.”

Richard Fourie completed the benediction by bringing the 9-2 chance with a strong run to lead 50m out. Fourie had already scored on Tripple Explosion for Glen Kotzen – when 17-20 favourite Captain Ram flopped and was found to be not striding out. Kotzen also scored with Essenceoflife and he and Fourie completed trebles with Dragon Flame in the last.

But it was 26-year-old Mauritian Akshay Balloo who stole the riding honours – quite literally on the Glen Puller-trained Flying Ryan in the Tabonline.co.za Handicap. He pinched a five-length lead on the 61-10 chance and, despite dropping his whip inside the final furlong, the advantage he gained was enough to keep him in front to the line.

Two races later he doubled up, for the third time in his career, when getting up in the final stride of the 1 200m handicap on Storm Front. Maybe he was fortunate to find a gap big enough to drive a bus through but the acceleration he persuaded the Eric Sands runner to produce was more reminiscent of a Ferrari.

Vaughan Marshall scratched two horses with pharyngitis but there was nothing wrong with Captain Falcon (Van Niekerk) who made no mistake after being heavily backed in the first despite being “a big baby and still very green.”

BLOB The Gnostic Wholistic Festival packed the top two floors of the grandstand and the Psychic (at R60 a time) proved a big draw. Madam Irma had travelled from Pretoria and, according to her reports, she had no problem forecasting one winner after another.

By Michael Clower

Darryl Hodgson has brought the curtain down on a training career spanning more than 40 years and has become racing manager for his boss Hassen Adams.

Dan Katz, Hodgson’s assistant for the past eight years, has taken over Adams’ private stable at Milnerton. He trained for a time in the 1990s and has his first runners in his new role at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Hodgson, 67, said yesterday: “I’ve had lots of highs and lows as a trainer, the highpoints being the Met with Past Master (2011) and the Queen’s Plate with I’m Taking It 20 years earlier. But there have been many others including the Guineas with State Control, two Fillies Guineas and Vesta who won three Group 1s as well as finishing second in both the colts Guineas and the Derby.

“My new job is to alleviate a lot of the equine work from Hassen’s load, as he is such a busy man, both on the racing front and on the stud sorting out horses for the various sales.”

Last year’s Durban July winner The Conglomerate has recovered well from the operation he had to remove a chip from his near-fore joint but it would appear that he is not certain to race again.

Joey Ramsden said: “He will be out for quite a while and I will speak to Derek Brugman about him but everyone, including Markus Jooste, is keen for him to retire sound.”

By Michael Clower

One of the unluckiest horses in Equus Awards history has been the Sean Tarry-trained Carry On Alice and there is a chance she might be denied for the fourth time in succession.

 

Carry On Alice won one Grade 1 in each of her first three seasons. However, in her fourth and final term just passed, she boosted both her Equus Champion Sprinter and Equus Champion Older Female award chances by winning two Grade 1s in a season for the first time.

 

However, her stable companion Bull Valley then joined her on two Grade 1 sprint victories when landing the Mercury Sprint.

 

A strong Champion Sprinter case can also be made for the Mike de Kock-trained Rafeef.

 

The panellists will have had a hard time separating this trio.

 

Carry On Alice won the Grade 1 weight for age Betting World Cape Flying Championship over 1000m and the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint, a level weights championship race for females over 1200m.

 

Bull Valley’s weight for age Mercury Sprint 1200m win followed his victory in the Tsogo Sun Sprint, a handicap over 1200m in which he carried third top weight of 58kg and won comfortably by 1,5 lengths.

 

However, Rafeef was unbeaten in four races from 1000-1400m during the season. In his only ever attempt at the minimum trip of 1000m he won the Grade 1 weight for age Computaform Sprint impressively by a cosy 1,3 lengths. Significantly, he beat third-placed Carry On Alice by 1,6 lengths in the latter race. Earlier, Rafeef won the Gr 2 Hawaii Stakes over 1400m.

 

Carry On Alice’s other sprint races during the season saw her finishing second in two Grade 2s and winning a Pinnacle Stakes event.

 

However, Bull Valley also won a Listed sprint over 1000m, which puts him on top in terms of stakes sprint wins for the season. In his other sprints he finished second and fourth in two Grade 2 sprints respectively.

 

The Older Female category will have been a boat race between Carry On Alice and Bela-Bela. 

 

Bela-Bela also won two Grade 1s during the season. However, significantly, both were against the girls, whereas Carry On Alice beat the boys in a weight for age Grade 1. On the other hand Bela-Bela’s 3,75 length demolition of a top class field in the Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over 1600m was undoubtedly the most impressive performance by a filly during the season. Bela-Bela also had a weight for age Grade 1 third against the boys to her name and ended her career by finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Champions Cup over 1800m against the boys. 

 

The Older Female award will thus have been as difficult for the panellists as the Sprinter award.     

 

It will be tough for Carry On Alice’s connections to endure yet another Equus Awards disappointment.

 

Maybe the panellists will have been swayed by her overall career record coupled with her Equus Awards emptyhandedness. If not, it will be no surprise to see her given a special Equus award.

By David Thiselton

Duncan Howells will be crowned the KZN Champion trainer for the second time in his career later in the year at the KZN Racing Awards.

Overall KZN yards had a few highlights in the 2016-2017 season, but will be hoping for a better Graded class campaign this term.

Howells got the better of Dennis Drier in what has become an annual duel for the KZN title, although Cape-based Dean Kannemeyer, who has a satellite yard at Summerveld, threatened once more to join the fray.

The KZN Trainer’s Championship is decided by number of winners in KZN-based races. Howells finished with 75 to Drier’s 69 and Kannemeyer’s 58.

However, the highest stakes earner in KZN races was national champion trainer Sean Tarry. In KZN he had 42 winners and stakes earnings of R9,277,425.

Tarry won three Grade 1 events in KZN. Carry On Alice won the SA Fillies Sprint and Bull Valley won both the Tsogo Sun Sprint and Mercury Sprint.

Drier had two Grade 1 victories during the season, both in KZN. Sand And Sea won the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion and Lady In Black won the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes. Remarkably, it was Drier’s sixth Gold Medallion victory in eight years and seventh overall.

Howells was second in stakes earnings in KZN races with R7,853,262 and Drier was third with R6,934,412.

On the national log Howells finished in eleventh place with stakes earnings of R8,144,138 (75 winners) and Drier was in twelfth with R7,784,163 (80 winners).

The duel at one stage in KZN was between Drier and Mike de Kock, but Howells emerged in the 2013/2014 season to beat De Kock to the title.

Drier won for the next two seasons from Howells as De Kock began diminishing his KZN operation. However, this season it was the famously hard working Howells’ turn. Drier had his winning-most month in August last year with 11 victories, a month in which Howells had only three winners. By the end of September Drier was on 18 and Howells on ten and by October’s end Drier was on 23 and Howells 15. Kannemeyer’s eight winners in November saw him moving into second place on 17 winners behind Drier on 25, while Howells was in third on 16.

Drier’s quiet spell was not surprising as he takes his best horses down to Cape Town to campaign in the Cape Summer Of Champions Season.

Howells, in typical fashion, emerged from his November drought firing on all cylinders and had his second best month of the season in December with eleven winners. His yard proved once more their dynamism during this month.

The three-cornered contest had now hotted up.

The log in the next six month-ends’ respectively read: December: Drier 28, Howells 27, Kannemeyer 26; January: Drier 33, Howells 33, Kannemeyer 32; February: Howells 39, Drier 36, Kannemeyer 36; March: Howells 43, Drier 43, Kannemeyer 41; April: Howells 50, Drier 49 Kannemeyer 45; May: Howells 55, Drier 54, Kannemeyer 47.

There was all to play for entering the last month of the season as the standings at the end of June were Howells 62, Drier 60 and Kannemeyer 56.

However, the Howells yard had their best month of the season when it counted. Their 13 winners in July saw them finishing the season six clear of Drier’s yard, who were in turn eleven clear of Kannemeyer.

Howells’ highlights were winning the Grade 2 Betting World 1900 with Ten Gun Salute, the Grade 3 Strelitzia Stakes with Neptune’s Rain, the R1 million BSA Mile with Legend and he also won three other Non-Black Type events.

Drier had his most disappointing Cape season this decade. However, besides his two Grade 1 wins in KZN, he also won the BSA Million Sprint with Hack Green and the Cornubia/Phoenix Sun Durban Dash with the three-year-old filly Sommerlied, who in the first KZN meeting of the season last Thursday lowered the Scottsville 1000m course record to 55,61 seconds.

There were a few highlights for other KZN yards during the season.

Gareth van Zyl made a dream start to his career as a licensed trainer at Greyville on Friday night, 28 October, when sending out a winner with his first  runner and later in the evening he capped it by winning the Listed Jonsson Workwear Michaelmas Handicap over 1900m with Celtic Captain. Gareth also won a Non-Black Type race with Celtic Captain and won the Listed Gatecrasher Stakes with Trojan Harbour. He finished the season with 25 winners.

His father Gavin, who has a yard at Summerveld and a satellite yard run by his son Chesney at Turffontein, finished in 15^th place on the National Trainers log and had 73 winners in all.

Among these was a Non-Black Type feature victory.

Charles Laird was as prominent as usual in KZN with 41 winners.

Paul Lafferty doubled his number of winners this season from 17 last term to 34.

Alyson Wright, Dennis Bosch and Mark Dixon all had good seasons with 31, 30 and 29 winners respectively.

Dixon’s crack sprinter London Call started the season with four wins on the trot including in the Non-Black Type Marula Sprint and ended it with a fourth place finish in the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint.

Lezanne Forbes, Yogas Govender, Dennis Bosch, Tony Rivalland and Michael Roberts all had one Non-Black Type victory apiece too.

By David Thiselton