SECOND DECLARATIONS
29 MAY 2017

Declarations: 36

9 Horses scratched at 2^nd declarations

Secret Captain

Copper Pot

Fort Meyers

Bold Viking

Bi Pot

Deo Juvente

Rocketball

Prince Of Wales

Jubilee Line

PLEASE NOTE:

• Final Supp. Entries: Close 11:00 Monday, 12 June 2017
• Weights Published: Tuesday, 13 June 2017
• Final Declaration: Close 11:00 Monday, 19 June 2017
• Final Field and Draw: Announcement of the Final Field and Barrier Draws will take place on Tuesday, 20 June 2017
• Public Gallops:  7am at Greyville Racecourse, Thursday, 22 June 2017

Justin Snaith has declared both Zodiac Ruler (Bernard Fayd’Herbe) and Copper Force (Richard Fourie) for the Daily News 2000 at Greyville on Saturday. The pair were third and fourth to Janoobi in the Daisy Guineas.

He won the Grade 1 with Legislate three years ago and Fourie’s mount went on take the Vodacom Durban July. He also sent out last year’s runner-up It’s My Turn who went on to finish fourth in the July.

His Daisy Fillies Guineas winner Gimme Six will again be ridden by Anthony Delpech in the Woolavington 2000 while Fourie partners Captain Splendid in the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup. Joey Ramsden has supplemented Macduff for this 2 400m Grade 3.

By Michael Clower

Seemingly Aldo Domeyer has news for the medical profession. He himself might have been prescribed physiotherapy, biokinetics and chiropractics but for a jockey nothing is a better tonic than winners.

After riding six on Saturday (for the second time this year) he couldn’t feel an ounce of pain in his troubled back – just elation and satisfaction, particularly given his belief that Dutch Philip and Magical Wonderland seem sure to add to his tally in future features.

Aldo-Domeyer

Both the Cape Of Good Hope Nursery and the Kenilworth Fillies Nursery suffered from a well-nigh funereal pace – they were run over a second slower than the work riders’ maiden – but each time Domeyer’s mounts answered their rider’s every call.

“I was a little bit lacking in confidence with Dutch Philip because he hadn’t felt quite himself during the week and I don’t think he was at his best here,” he related. “But he has so much class that he managed to pull it off and he is a horse who is going to continue to improve.

“When I won on Magical Wonderland last time I said she was a bit better than that and Saturday’s race proved that. She really impressed me and coming to the last two furlongs I had so much horse under me. What I like about her is that every time I ask her for something she has an answer.”

Plans for both What A Winter horses are fluid. Candice Bass-Robinson, watching from Scottsville, said: “Dutch Philip could possibly run in the Langerman – he only got going at the end – but I haven’t decided. If he doesn’t he will have a break.

“I’m not sure that the filly will get further than sprint distances so she will probably have a rest. I won’t run her in the Irridescence.”

Five of the six Domeyer winners came in the last five races and by the end Midtown Manhattan was almost as inevitable as Churchill at The Curragh and was backed accordingly, from 6-1 to 22-10 favourite. His rider duly gave a whole new meaning to the phrase service delivery.

Platinum Prince won the 1 800m handicap like a horse on the up – he had also won his previous start – but the Snaiths intend to let him work his way through the handicap rather than step him up in class.

“There is an option to go for the Winter Derby which I think could have a small field and be a weak race,” said Jonathan Snaith. “But to take a well-handicapped horse like this and stick him in at level weights wouldn’t make much sense.”

Wildlife Safari, who drifted from 16-1 to 36-1, served up the shock of the day under Akshay Balloo in the 1 200m handicap. The Eric Sands-trained gelding is part-owned by 37 Maine Chance grooms but sadly the transport of those coming to the course was late leaving and they had got no further than Kuils River by the time the race was run. They watched it on their cell phones.

It is not so long ago that Jason Smitsdorff was a highly sought-after apprentice with a good future in front of him but apparently most of those trainers who were so keen on him didn’t want to know when his claim was gone – and until Saturday he was heading for a winnerless season of little more than 50 rides.

A work-riding opportunity at the Andre Nel winner factory – grabbed with both hands over two months ago -looks like putting the 24-year-old back on the right road as he showed when Hall Of Fame finished like a rocket to make a winning debut in the Racing Association Maiden.

By Michael Clower

Dennis Drier equaled a feat achieved by his famous Uncle Syd Laird on Saturday at Scottsville by winning the same Gr 1 race for the seventh time.

Sand And Sea (Nkosi Hlophe)

The exciting Twice Over colt Sand And Sea landed “Uncle Den” his seventh Gold Medallion, which is currently sponsored by Tsogo Sun. “Uncle Syd’s” seven-up was more celebrated as he did it in the Durban July and thereby set a record in the big race which still stands.

However, the most impressive part of Drier’s achievement is that of the eight renewals of the Gold Medallion this decade he has won six of them.

His first Medallion victory was way back in 1990 with Spook And Diesel and since then he has won it with Link Man (2010), Potent Power (2012), Captain Of All (2013), Guiness (2014), Seventh Plain (2015) and now Sand And Sea.

Of those horses, Captain Of All went on to win two further Gr 1s and Seventh Plain one. Captain Of All landed the Tsogo Sun Sprint and the Mercury Sprint as a four-year-old, having missed most of his three-year-old season. Seventh Plain won his next race, the Gr 1 Golden Horseshoe over 1400m at Greyville.

Sand And Sea could by all accounts go on to further Gr 1 success. He took a while to find his stride on Saturday. This didn’t overly concern Anton Marcus, not surprisingly, as the rangy colt was travelling ominously well in behind the field. When he switched him out it was race over in a matter of strides as the colt’s big action saw him making up the ground easily to win going away by 2,25 lengths from Varallo and Al Mariachi.

He looks likely to go a mile this season.

Sand And Sea was bred by Drakenstein Stud and is owned by Bernard Kantor, Jack Mitchell, Marsh Shirtliff and Mayfair Speculators.

Markus Jooste, of Mayfair Speculators was the outright owner of all of Captain Of All, Guiness and Seventh Plain, while Anton Marcus rode all of those in the Medallion with the exception of Captain Of All.

By David Thiselton

The swansong victory of Carry On Alice in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint at Scottsville on Saturday was accompanied by rare emotion from her normally phlegmatic trainer Sean Tarry and the win was significant for more than one reason.

The five-year-old Captain Al mare was a member of what is regarded as probably the greatest crop of fillies in South African history. She was the first among them to win a Grade 1 and currently is the last, although one of her best contemporaries, Smart Call, is still campaigning overseas.  On Saturday she joined another of her contemporaries, Inara, as a five-time Grade 1 winner.

Sean Tarry (Nkosi Hlophe)

Carry On Alice won one Grade 1 in each of her first three seasons and in her final season has won two. Although all five of those wins were in sprint events, she showed her class as a two-year-old when going down by a short-head in the Gr 1 Thekwini over 1600m, despite jumping from a wide draw at Greyville.

She and four of her contemporaries won seven Grade 1 races between them in open company as three-year-olds. Inara and Alboran Sea achieved the feat twice, and Carry On Alice, Majmu and Same Jurisdiction each did it once, Furthermore, both of Alboran Seas Gr 1 victories that season were in weight for age sprints against the boys. Carry On Alice had also beaten the boys in the SA Nursery as a two-year-old and failed by only 0,25 lengths to repeat the feat in the Gold Medallion. The crop have gone on to win another nine Grade 1s between them. That makes a total of 24 Grade 1 wins for the crop to date, as they also contested eight age restricted Grade 1s. Those 24 Grade 1s have been won by nine individuals, namely Carry On Alice (five), Inara (five), Alboran Sea (three), Smart Call (three), Same Jurisdiction (two), Majmu (two), Bilateral (one), Siren’s Call (one), Pine Princess (one) and Real Princess (one).

Amazingly, Carry On Alice is yet to win an Equus award having been ousted by three exceptional members of her crop, Majmu, Alboran Sea and Smart Call, in respective champion age group awards, and by Captain Of All and Talktothestars, both merit rated above 120, in respective Champion Sprinter awards. However, this year she looks likely to walk away with two Equus awards as Champion Sprinter and Champion Older Female.

Carry On Alice has a fairytale story behind her and two of her owners, UK couple Dr John and Jill Warner, have become staunch fans of South African racing as a result.

It was only through the tender care of the Klawervlei Stud staff that Carry On Alice was ever conceived at all.

Klawervlei part-owner John Koster, speaking of her mother Carry On Katie a couple of years ago, said, “She used to throw these monster foals and maybe her canals were just too narrow. When she gave birth to her first foal she injured her pelvis and couldn’t get back up for a day or two. We nursed her back to health and the following year she conceived Carry On Alice.”

Carry On Alice was successfully born, but the following year Carry On Katie had complications when foaling down. Unfortunately, despite around the clock care, both her and her foal did not survive the ordeal on this occasion.

However, as consolation, Carry On Alice will be able to continue her legacy.

Carry On Alice (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Warners were two of forty people who had booked for a racing tour of South Africa in early 2013, which had included in its itinerary a trip to Klawervlei Stud. When the Met was moved to a later date that season, the Warners were two of only four people who did not cancel their tour tickets. On the trip to Klawervlei, Jill Warner asked Koster about a filly which had caught her eye in the catalogue for the pending CTS Premier Yearling Sale. The filly was of course Carry On Alice. The Warners became part-owners of the filly a few days later along with Tarry’s chief owner Chris van Niekerk. Klawervlei Stud also kept a share. The Warners could never have dreamed Carry On Alice would give them such a wonderful ride and she has also made them a myriad new friends.

On Saturday Carry On Alice proved she is better without cover as this allows her to use her high cruising speed to maximum effect. She crept up to join the leader before Khumalo pressed the button at the 400m mark. That famous kick propelled her to the front and her big heart enabled her to stave off the challenges of Grade 1 winners Just Sensual and The Secret Is Out to win by a length. She also won this race two years ago as a three-year-old. Her other Grade 1 wins were all against the boys, in the Gr 1 SA Nursery (2014), the weight for age (wfa) Gr 1 Computaform Sprint (2016) and the wfa Betting World Cape Flying Championships (2017).

She can arguably be regarded as the greatest sprinting female South Africa has produced his decade as her Grade 1 count is higher than the like of Val De Ra and Via Africa. However, National Colour will still have pride of place as the best Tarry has ever trained. One can only hope Carry On Alice will be as good a broodmare as National Colour, who already has two Gr 1-winning progeny, and she will be given every opportunity to be so as she will be heading overseas to be covered by the best stallions.

Carry On Alice will be sorely missed by the racing public, who could always rely on her to give of her best. He career record ends at eleven wins, eight seconds and five thirds from 29 starts and she only failed to earn a cheque on three occasion and all of those were in races beyond sprints. She earned R4 591 250 in stakes.

By David Thiselton