DAVID THISELTON

THE Paul Matchett-trained War Of Athena laid claim to being the best three-year-old in the country on Saturday when downing her arch rival, the previously unbeaten Stuart Pettigrew-trained Anything Goes, by 1,75 lengths under Muzi Yeni in the Grade 3 Three Troikas Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein Standside.

Later, the Paul Peter-trained Dingaans winner Catch Twentytwo made a similar claim when winning the Grade 3 Tony Ruffel Stakes over the same course and distance under Gavin Lerena.

War Of Athena had been beaten twice before by Anything Goes. The latter ran as if she needed the run yesterday after a three month layoff and she also had to give War Of Athena 1kg. Furthermore her saddle slipped back in the running.

The pair’s rivalry will be one of the features of the season and their next clash will likely be in the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas on February 6.

However, of the pair, War Of Athena looks more likely on pedigree and running style to handle the step up to the 1800m of the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic.

War Of Athena, who was bred by Summerhill Stud and is by Act Of War out of Requiem maiden Qaphela, cost a mere R30,000 but has it all as a racehorse. She has good gatespeed and early pace and can be switched off in the running. At the business end she possesses an electrifying turn of foot and has a heart as big as the great outdoors. Lastly, she is sound and consistent. Saturday’s race was her eleventh career start and her fifth victory. She has not been out of the first two this season and her only run out of the first three was on debut when fifth.  

The feeling last season was that the two-year-old fillies were superior to the colts and geldings and it was proven on Saturday  when the filly that won the Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes against the boys, Sentbydestiny, was beaten six lengths by War Of Athena despite receiving 3kg.

This season the male three-year-olds made an early impact and there were predictions of it being a special crop. However, they begun fluffing their lines in the Dingaans when the previously unbeaten Grade 2 Hawaii Stakes winner Mount Pleasant ran unplaced. The Grade 1 Cape Guineas then produced a 100/1 shock winner in Russian Rock, who had won only one of his previous four career starts.  

However, among the fillies there is no doubting the class of Anything Goes and War Of Athena, whose form has also been franked by Princess Calla down in Cape Town. The latter, beaten 3,30 lengths and three lengths respectively by Anything Goes and War Of Athena in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes over 1600m last season, won the Grade 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship over 1400m and then finished a 2,25 length second in the Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guines to the smart Captain’s Ransom.  

Catch Twentytwo is one of the male sophomores’ who could still save his crop’s dwindling reputation as this rangy Narrow Creek Stud-bred Elusive Fort gelding proved he is progressive when beating stablemate MK’S Pride by half-a-length at level weights. The interesting formline here is MK’S Pride’s short-head victory over War Of Athena in the Peermont Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Cup over 1400m in which the latter received a 2.5kg female allowance, although it has to be said that not much went right for the filly in that race.

The other interesting formline from the Tony Ruffel is Copper Mountain being beaten two lengths into third at level weights. Copper Mountain  was an easy winner in the only defeat to date suffered by the promising Second Base and later he gave another promising sort in Paisley Park 4.5kg  when losing by just half-a-length.

Catch Twentytwo and War Of Athena were both rated 116 going into yesterday’s respective races, but the latter beat the 120 rated Anything Goes whereas the former’s runner up MK’S Pride was rated only 112.  

Mount Pleasant remains the highest rated three-year-old on 127 based on his cosy victory over the top class older pair Cirillo and Chimichuri Run in the Hawaai.

The other feature on Saturday’s card was the London News Stakes over 1800m and it saw Muzi Yeni converting a Grade 3 double on the Fanie Bronkhorst owned-and-trained Running Brave. She began over-racing a touch when not getting to the front from a wide draw but Zillzaal did her a favour by setting a good pace. This allowed Yeni to skilfully ease past Chijmes and slot in behind Zillzaal.  Running Brave showed just how courageous she is when taking the lead at the 500m mark and fending off the classy ExpressFromTheUS to win by three-quarters-of-a-length. However, she was well in at the weights with most and ran at level weights with the runner-up, to whom she would have had to give 3kg in a handicap. Running Brave, a Summerhill Stud-bred five-year-old mare by Brave Tin Soldier, has now won eight times and this was her third Graded victory. She has substance and can go on to win more features. A Grade 1 win this season would not be completely out of the question either.

David Thiselton

MOMBELA has for a long time been one of the Sean Tarry yard favourites and this good looking Trippi gelding earned bold black type at the age of nine yesterday when producing his usual devastating finishing burst to win the Grade 3 Lebelo Sprint over 1000m at Turffontein Standside under Lyle Hewitson.

Tarry said, “He is an unbelievable looking horse with a magnificent eye and is so honest. He has been around for a long time too, so it is hard to not like a horse like him. He was overdue.”

In Mombela’s previous start over the same 1000m course and distance he was tailed off at the 400m mark but then switched on the turbos and looked like he would knock the wall of horses in front of him over he was closing so fast. Jockey Chase Maujean had to switch him to the outside which cost him valuable momentum and ground and he only managed fifth.

Tarry said, “He is one of those horses who is able to produce an incredibly fast furlong, his fractions over a furlong must be frightening. But with that asset he also requires a clear run and he often doesn’t get one.”

Mombela had a moment of bad luck yesterday when squeezed out at the start between Donderweer and Oravar

This left him detached at the back.

However, Hewitson knows him well and switched him to the inside to get on to the back of a train of horses. He then switched him further inward to ensure he had a clear run.

He was still last at the 400m mark with about five or six lengths to make up but then started the engines and flew home to beat the up and coming sprinter Bold Ransom by a head. Miracle Flight, Oravar and Donderweer were next best beaten 0,60, 0,85 and 2,45 lengths respectively.

Tarry believes the key to the victory was that Mombela was able, unusually, to have three runs in succession in what has been a stop-start career.

The Drakenstein Stud-bred has a lot of issues and after making his debut in the January of his three-year-old year he had to wait more than a year for his second start. The issues were continuous and yesterday’s run was only his 20th career start.

Mombela has won five times now and placed nine times.

He was running off a 102 merit rating yesterday and receiving 1kg from Bold Ransom so it will be a big step up to a race like the Grade 1 weight for age Computaform Sprint over this course and distance. Tarry also believes he is better at 1200m.

The Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint, a handicap over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, might be an option.

Tarry has gained a reputation for keeping older horses going and Mombela is not the oldest horse he has won with.

He won a race with the ten-year-old Sorevof in February 2003.

However, Mombela is likely the oldest horse he has sent out for a black type victory.

Tarry and Hewitson combined for a treble yesterday, also winning with two promising sorts in Flying Carpet and Seehaam.

The National Horseracing Authority confirms that it has given careful and urgent consideration to the contents of the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address last night, which effectively placed South Africa under NEW adjusted Level 3 Lockdown effective today, 29 December 2020.

In keeping with its mandate to safeguard the wellbeing of its stake holders and interested parties, the NHA shall continue to align its racing behind closed doors protocols in a responsible and robust manner so  as  to ensure consistency and that Horseracing can continue at minimal risk to all of its participants. Consequently, the regulations and protocols that were instituted before the re-commencement of Racing on 1 June 2020 will be adopted with immediate effect. These include, but are not limited to:-

1. Only persons in possession of an Essential Service Permit will be allowed entrance onto Racecourse property.  This return to “Racing Behind Closed Doors” is necessary to limit the gathering of people and to minimise risk to the Essential Service Providers that will sustain the Industry during this period. The Permits that were previously issued by the NHA are timeless and thus are still active.

• Riders are to be domiciled in one region of their choice for the month of January 2021 and are to relocate to this Province if so required, prior to 4 January 2021. Once a Rider has ridden in a Centre from 4 January 2021, he will be limited to ride in the Centre for the remainder of the month.

• Field sizes will be restricted to 14 runners, with 16 runners being permitted for Listed and Graded Races.

• Sweat Box facilities remain strictly off limits.

• The minimum riding weight remains at 52 kg in Handicap races.

• The final event on any day will be scheduled to start by 19:00.

• Any persons with comorbidities shall not be able to attend.

• The proven non-pharmaceutical measures of wearing of masks, hand sanitizing/washing for at least 20 seconds and social distancing of at least 1,5m apart, is critical and the Chief Compliance Officer, Mr Arnold Hyde, together with his team shall ensure same is done throughout a race meeting.  Under the new regulations, the wearing of masks in public is now mandatory.  If a person is caught not wearing a mask, on conviction they are liable for a fine and/or be imprisoned for up to six months.  

With this second wave, the new variant of this virus is more potent and spreads faster with infections climbing at alarming an rate and people becoming more sick than previously.

Quote from the President last night:

“Unless we act now and unless we act decisively, the number of new infections will far exceed what we experienced during the first wave and thousands more people will lose their lives.”

The two month period that our Industry was shut down between 27 March until 31 May 2020 is still fresh in our memories and this should remind us of the NEED of individual responsibility which shall go a long way in ensuring the growth and sustainability of the horseracing Industry.

The NHA will provide an update around 18 January 2021, based on the President’s address to the nation prior to 15 January 2021.

Vee Moodley

Chief Executive NHA

Mark van Deventer

TRAINER Greg Ennion was confident that his quirky, but talented speedball, Elusive Trader would retain his Southeaster Sprint crown at Kenilworth over the unusual 1100m distance. The Elusive Fort gelding, who does best when conserved for a late dart, duly blitzed past front runner Constable to score at odds of around 5/1. He was ridden with aplomb by master jockey, Anton Marcus.

Marcus does his pre- race research with great attention to detail and even though he had not sat on the horse before, knew how best to ride him. He thanked experienced conditioner, Ennion afterwards for teeing up the opportunity, and confirming optimal tactics. The race, into an appropriately brisk S/E headwind, turned out ideally for Elusive Trader, who recorded his fourth victory from 28 starts and has now raked in stakes of R1.5 million. The best jockeys make potentially awkward strategies look straight-forward – Marcus explained simply afterwards, “They went a reasonable pace, and he came on for a courageous win.”

Ennion was justifiably satisfied as his charge has battled with soundness issues and is not the easiest customer to keep in one piece as a result. His hold- up style of running has also lead to a number of tough beats, hence the relatively low win rate. Ennion said, “This 1100m trip is perfect. He has a turn of foot as good as any sprinter in South Africa. We will go for the Cape Flying Championships next.”

Pace-presser, Constable was game in second, building on a sterling run to Erik the Red in the Merchants. The trifecta slot was up for grabs till the last jump – top weight Cartel Captain just edging out Captain Tatters by a lip, with feisty grey, Worlds Your Oyster just off these placed horses.

Justin Snaith has his string in sparkling fettle and continues to crank out winner after winner, saddling four on the day. He was in the No 1 box with Crown Diamond, Taking Silk, La Quinta and Gertrude Bell. In contrast Dennis Drier, usually a perennial threat when in the Cape during Summer has endured a lean spell by his high standards, but, the veteran horseman rectified that lull when heavily punted favourite, Hail Columbia swept past rivals in the last to provide Drier with his first winner of the Cape season.

David Thiselton

THE Peter Muscutt-trained Indi Anna, paying R30.70 a Tote win and R7.00 a place, romped to a comfortable win in Saturday’s Grade 3 Flamboyant Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville under Raymond Danielson.

There was also an upset in the Listed Christmas Handicap over the same 1600m course and distance as Keagan de Melo extracted a strong finish from the Dean Kannemeyer-trained bottom weight Mount Anderson, who paid R11.00 a win.

The latter win was possible to find as Mount Anderson had snuck into the handicap with the minimum weight of 52kg, although he did have half-a-kilogram overweight to contend with, and he had run a close second off his current mark the last time he ran in good ground at Hollywoodbets, although that was over 1400m.

However, Indi Anna would not have been given much chance by mathematicians as she had finished fourth, fifth and fifth in her last three handicap starts over distances from 1400m to 1600m and she was now 9kg under sufferance with the best weighted runner in this conditions event. However, a closer scrutiny of the form showed that she had won four races in the top centre of Cape Town to reach her current merit rating and her first run in KZN followed national lockdown and she was then given another five month layoff before two more runs, so this was going to be her peak run. Furthermore, Cape Town-based horses of this calibre usually arrive in other centres with suppressed merit ratings due to the class of horse down there and it was proved again in this race.  

Indi Anna broke well from draw eight but found herself without cover behind the leader Electric Surge and was threatening to over race. However, Petra was taken around runners to join the leader and thus provided Indi Anna with cover.

Anybody who happened to tune in as they left the narrow false rail could easily have mistaken Indi Anna for an odds on favourite as she is a big and impressive specimen with a big stride and she quickened well. The Master Of MY Fate filly had the race in safekeeping halfway down the straight as she was clearly not stopping.

The Grade 2-winning three-year-old Love Bomb started Tote favourite and had the run of the race in the box seat behind the leader. However, she could not match Indi Anna’s finishing speed.

Instead, it was another outsider, Mary O, who was 6kg under sufferance with the best weighted runner, who ran on from off the pace to finish a clear second, 1,50 lengths behind the winner and 2,1 lengths ahead of Love Bomb, who just held on for third from the best weighted runner Gallic Princess.

Mary O finished second in last season’s Grade 2 WSB Fillies Guineas over this course and distance so yesterday’s performance was no fluke. 

Gallic Princess is a top class sprinter so was a bit stretched by the trip, but stayed on steadily.

The fancied Silent Crusade sat behind Love Bomb in the running and stayed on for fifth.

The only other horse in single figure odds was Magic School who is a big galloping type who was going to be dangerous if managing to get to the front or in to a handy position. However, when she missed the break and ended up last in the running the writing was on the wall. She could only stay on forlornly for seventh.

In a similar scenario to the Flamboyant Stakes, Mount Anderson broke well and found himself one out and one back without cover. However, on this occasion jockey Ant Mgudlwa was not keen to keep his mount Farland in the box seat after the pacemaker Priceless Ruler had begun applying the brakes, so he moved alongside and this provided perfect cover for Mount Anderson.

The favourite Baby Shooz now had the box seat and, carrying just 53.5kg, had the opportunity to prove that his entry in The Met is not a pipe dream.

Priceless Ruler had soon cried enough and Baby Shooz moved up well to take the lead. However, he needs further and Mr Fitz, who had sat behind him, was clearly finishing stronger. However, Mount Anderson, who is well bred being by Vercingetorix out of the Grade 1 Golden Slipper (1400m) and Grade 2 Gold Bracelet (2000m) winner Gilded Minaret, then found a burst and in the end won cosily by half-a-length from Mr Fitz, who pipped Baby Shoes by a short-head for second. Sniper Shot finished next best ahead of Shareholder. 

Danielson rode a double on the day as the Gavin Van Zyl-trained Blackball was at his impressive best when carrying joint topweight of 61.5kg to a 3,50 length win in a Pinnacle Stakes event over 2200m. 

Serino Moodley scored a double on the Lezeanne Forbes-trained Underthemistletoe and the Michael Roberts-trained Alado’s Pride.

Wendy Whitehead scored a double with Teichman, ridden by 2.5kg claimer Jabu Jacobs, and Macara, who converted favouritism in the last race under Donovan Dillon.

The meeting had also begun well for punters as the Tony Rivalland-trained Guitar King converted favouritism in the first under Lyle Hewitson.