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.

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.

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

Young South African jockey Callan Murray gained a dream result at just his third meeting in Hong Kong, scoring his first Sha Tin win in style with a shock victory on 88-1 rank outsider Lucky Year in the Gr3 Sha Tin Vase Handicap (1200m) on Sunday.

“Unbelievable!” Murray exclaimed after Danny Shum-trained Lucky Year poked through to hold off a wall of challengers.

“I can’t believe it, how exciting is this? It’s crazy. I didn’t expect it so soon, but I’m thrilled – what a way to break through at Sha Tin. I’ve been very fortunate.

“You always hope that you can make an impression quickly, you’ve got it in the back of your head you want to do well, but I didn’t think it could be like this. Hopefully it gives me a bit of momentum going forward.”

“Danny told me to have him midfield but they went so slow, they were really dragging it back throughout, so I ended up sitting handier,” Murray said. “I think he seemed to really travel well, and I knew I had plenty underneath me turning in. I thought he could be around the mark but wow, he really found.

Murray admitted there was some concern that he would miss the ride because he would struggle to get down to the horse’s allotted weight of 115lb. In the end, he tipped the scales one pound over at 116lb.

“I thought I might have to forego the ride, not getting down to 115, but they let me ride 116,” Murray said. “It was hard work to get that weight down but I’m absolutely rapt, I’m so happy I did it. This is such a great result.”

Shum was full of praise for Murray and predicted a fruitful Hong Kong career for the 20-year-old Johannesburg native.

“I rang a few jockeys asking them to ride this horse, but none of them wanted to ride him,” Shum said. “Then I came across Callan. He worked hard to get his weight down and he really wanted the chance. I thought he would be a good fit.

“He’s a very polite kid, he’s got talent and I would be happy to use him on more of my horses. I could see him being here for a long time to come.”

– HKJC.com

Jockey Gunther Wrogemann might well have been singing “Brave Mary keep on rolling” when the Brave Tin Soldier filly burst away from the opposition to win the R750 000, Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship at Scottsville on Saturday.

Carrying the action name given to the American Indian activist Mary Brave Bird in the 70’s, and costing a mere R40 000, Brave Mary stunned the large crowd at Scottsville and, even more so, the fancied runners Call To Account, Green Plains and Neptune’s Rain when she tore away to post a time of 68.3 secs, a fraction faster than the smart Dennis Drier-trained Twice Over colt Sand And Sea, that impressively won the Tsogo Sun Medallion.

Trainer Paul Matchett did not appear that surprised in the interview after Brave Mary, a daughter of the Rich Man’s Gold mare Mary Lou that he had trained to win six races, skated clear of the field. A former Zimbabwean top trainer and for years very competitive on the Highveld, Paul obviously had a good idea of what he had in his care to travel from Gauteng to Scottsville for just one runner on the day.

That confidence will have come from the filly’s last race over 1 000m at the Vaal where she bolted away from the maiden field to win by 6.5 lengths in the cracking time for a juvenile of 56.79 secs. Saturday’s performance will have strengthened his belief in her talent and she looks a very exciting prospect for the future.

Following up in the R750 000, Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion, Sand And Sea was awesomely impressive in pulverising a field that included some very exciting young colts and geldings to give Dennis Drier his seventh victory in the prestigious race and his sixth in eight years. Strongly fancied to beat the Mike de Kock-trained favourite Naafer, his supporter’s hearts will have dropped when he virtually walked out of the pens at the start and trailed the field in the early stages.

But when Anton Marcus said giddy up boy the colt quickened and before long it was race over as he skipped clear to win by 2.25 lengths relieving what was no doubt a few seconds of tension for his conditioner.

Then it was time for the queen of sprint in South Africa, Carry On Alice, to take the stage for her grand finale on the track before going off to stud and she treated the public to another scintillating performance to win the R750 000, Grade 1 South African Fillies Sprint for trainer Sean Tarry who, together with owner Chris van Niekerk, shed a little tear at memories of what she had achieved and sorrow that she is being retired.

For Tarry, however, the smiles soon returned when the Toreador gelding Bull Valley, that he had taken over from retired trainer Dom Zaki a year ago, demolished a strong sprinting field to win the top race of the day, the R1-million, Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint, giving Tarry a Grade 1 double for the day and pushing his stake earnings in the season to a record high which cemented his place at the top of the trainer log.

A day of mixed results and fortunes with Brave Mary demolishing the opposition and, as a 27-1 winner, the Pick 6 hopes of thousands leaving an eventual payout of R970 000 and some change.

By Richard McMillan

As a builder of character, racing is up there with war and poverty, wrote Les Carlyon, who added, racing can even cause poverty. But racing also brings out an array of emotions that were on full display at Scottsville yesterday – raucous celebration, relief and the shedding of a quiet tear.

For champion trainer Sean Tarry is was a bit of both. Bull Valley’s clinical performance in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint was celebrated with loud, fist-pumping and back slapping while star mare Carry On Alice bowed out of racing with a quiet tear after signing off her racing career in the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint.

Relief was etched on Dennis Drier’s face after boom colt Sand And Sea gave him his sixth Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion in eight years and seventh overall but Les Taylor and his friends gave it the full treatment after Paul Matchett’s outsider Brave Mary romped home in the Gr1 Allan Robertson.

A group hug and dance on the members viewing balcony almost saw them topple over the rail before they bolted to the paddock to the refrain of, “you’ve just seen the next Igugu.”

General consensus before the meeting was that the inside 5m strip of turf that had been protected at the last Scottsville meeting, would provide the best going.

As a result, all dived for the strip of supposedly superior going in the first three sprints and there were the usual hard luck stories. Not so for Anton Marcus who had sussed out the going aboard Attenborough a fortnight back, winning from the extreme outside barrier.

By the running of the Tsogo Sun, attention had switched to the outside strip and S’Manga Khumalo took full advantage of 16 draw on Bull Valley. He catapulted his mount out of the pens and was barely headed with London Call matching strides up the centre.

A furlong out, there were still plenty in contention but Bull Valley kept finding and drew off to win rather comfortably from Search Party and the veteran Barbosa. Top weight and last year’s winner Talktothestars found traffic just as he was unwinding a run and lost all momentum.

A lightly raced son of Toreador, this was Bull Valley’s fifth victory from just nine starts.

Carry On Alice bowed out of racing on a fitting note as she added a fifth Gr1 to her CV and the 11^th success of her career. With celebrations under way, Tarry walked off to one side, alone with his emotions while co-owner Chris van Niekerk was also dabbing away with his handkerchief. “I’m shedding a few tears. This is a bit embarrassing.”

Regular pilot Khumalo always had Carry On Alice up with the pace and she responded as any tough campaigner would, hitting the front when it counted and fighting all the way to the line. Three-year-olds Just Sensual, winner of the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas, and last season’s Gr1 Allan Robertson winner The Secret Is Out chased hard, the former closing late, but they were no match.

Van Niekerk confirmed that the daughter of super sire Captain Al would now be shipped to Australia for a date with a stallion still to be decided on.

“She will miss the season,” said Tarry, “but that’s OK.”

“We won’t be able to buy them,” quipped Tarry to Mike de Kock, referring to Rafeef and Mustaaqeem, both progeny of Tarry’s star mare National Colour who stands Down Under and races in the blue and white silks of Sheikh Hamdan.

The grey Bela-Bela, having her first outing since the Sun Met back in January, finished just off them and Justin Snaith will have been well pleased with her performance.

Giving start in a Gr1 sprint is usually tantamount to disaster but Sand And Sea made light of this seeming mishap turning in a superb performance under Anton Marcus. Sand And Sea is a magnificent specimen of a thoroughbred and strutted the paddock like he owned it.  “You can see that he thinks he’s good,” commented Drier.

“He’s a brute of a horse,” said Marcus. “He takes time to get going but he does it so easily.”

Sire Twice Over was a superb racehorse, numbering the Gr1 Champion Stakes and the Gr1 Juddmonte International Stakes amongst his victories and this victory is a cracking start to his stud career.

Tarry’s day did not get off to the best of starts, Gr2 SA Fillies Nursery winner Green Plans having to play second fiddle to 30-1 outsider Brave Mary. Gunter Wrogemann had his mount travelling well within herself in the early exchanges but when asked the question, the daughter of Brave Tin Soldier responded as if she had jumped in at the two-furlong pole. She simply raced clear to win as she liked much to the delight of her connections. A simple tongue-tie would appear to have been the key to unlocking her potential, winning her maiden by five lengths.

Whether she is another Igugu, only time will tell but Les Taylor and his mates live in hope. Co-owner Dean Bayley missed the party but Dubai would probably have been rocking.

By Andrew Harrison

Dutch Philip is a confident choice for the Cape Of Good Hope Nursery at Kenilworth tomorrow – or at least he would be if the history of the race did not suggest that he is odds-on to get beaten.

The Somerset, which he won with such authority three weeks ago, is a notoriously unreliable guide. In the last 12 seasons only two of its winners have won the Cape Nursery and during that period only twice has the outright favourite for this proved successful. Indeed the starting price of the last two winners has averaged 10-1.

The race tends to be won by a forgettable horse – although subsequent Dubai scorer Diana’s Choice came out on top ten years ago and last year Sergeant Hardy came out on top – but, statistics apart, Dutch Philip has all the right credentials.

If he is to be beaten then Speedpoint looks the most likely to succeed. There was only half a length between them when they met over a furlong less at levels six weeks ago but it was the superior turn of foot of Aldo Domeyer’s mount that proved decisive and he looked as if he would confirm the placings over this trip.

Speedpoint missed the Somerset rematch because of a viral infection as did stable companion Morning Catch who, although well held on a line through Captain Ram, won his only start convincingly and in a manner that suggested he could come on quite considerably.

Virtue, stablemate of the favourite, won his only start and, although the form does not look anything special, it’s worth bearing in mind that the racecourse woke him up and revealed talent for perhaps the first time – Domeyer: “He is a lazy guy but I was absolutely cantering behind horses.”

Dollar Tractor produced a late surge to get up close home when starting favourite three weeks ago but he is going to have to produce further improvement to pose a threat. Badawee is the only non-winner in the field, and Supreme Orator cut him down mercilessly in the last 100m, while third-placed Ben-Hur did the form no favours last Sunday.

Zodiac Jack was beaten over four lengths when third in the Somerset and he is now 2kg worse with Dutch Philip who appears to have only history to beat.

Stable companion Magical Wonderland beat a strong field in the Perfect Promise and can stretch her unbeaten run to three in the Kenilworth Fillies Nursery.

By Michael Clower