The dust has settled on another highly successful Champions Season in KwaZulu-Natal and the 2016 National Championships of South African racing again produced many memorable and exciting finishes as well performances out of the top drawer by both horse and rider.

From the time Bela Bela and Black Arthur opened the Season back in early May with scintillating victories in their respective Guineas all the way through to Marinaresco’s brilliant season-ending emotional and nail-biting success in the Mike and Carol Bass Champions Cup, the Season thrilled racing fans around the country and indeed the world. Piere Strydom, who celebrated his 50^th birthday during the year, was seen at his brilliant best from the worst of the draw when winning on The Conglomerate in the Vodacom Durban July. Another highlight was certainly Enaad’s Gold Vase/Gold Cup double, the first time ever that this staying double has been achieved.

Not to be outdone Anton Marcus rode the race of his life to get Rabada home in the Daily News, despite dropping his stick at the top of the straight, and Coenie de Beer’s Talktothestars took our breath away when carrying top weight to an effortless victory in the Tsogo Sun Sprint.

But while all this glorious action was taking place, Gold Circle came under fire for the condition of its turf tracks at both Greyville and Scottsville. While remaining silent at the time, so as not to further shift focus from the quality of racing, Gold Circle now wishes to set the record straight. The Company is satisfied that the condition of the tracks at no stage proved a threat to horse and rider. “Naturally in winter the tracks do not look as green as the summer tracks but the underfoot surface was good throughout the season, notwithstanding the torrential downpours in May and July, each of which delivered more than 200mm of rain within a 24-hour period,” said Marketing Executive Graeme Hawkins.

“At Greyville in winter the Cynoden grass takes over from the Kikuyu which results in a mixture of green and brown turf – not aesthetically pleasing but the underlying surface was good and certainly fit for racing. This is borne out by the evidence and feedback we have had from NHA and private veterinarians as well as many of the leading trainers, locally and from around the country, who raced horses throughout the Season at both Greyville and Scottsville. The statistics appear to suggest that fewer injuries occurred during this past Season and KZN Champion trainer, Dennis Drier, was one of the leading trainers who reported that his runners all came through the Season largely unscathed,” added Hawkins.

“Scottsville, like the tracks on the Highveld, is subject to frost in winter and the colour of the turf quickly changes during the course of Champions Season. Unfortunately, the perception of draw bias down the straight persisted but by adding a false rail to the inside of the course we were able to counter this and ensure safe and fair racing for all at our big Sprint race meeting,” concluded Hawkins.

The Equus Awards take place tomorrow evening at Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg and the KZN Racing Awards are scheduled for Friday night 26 August at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban.

The newly crowned national champion freshman stallion Gimmethegreenlight proved his worth at Scottsville yesterday as he was the sire of both the winner and runner up of the Bloodstock SA (BSA) Million Sprint, Hack Green and Green Pepper respectively, as well as being sire of the BSA Million Mile winner Legend.

KZN Champion trainer Dennis Drier and Sean Veale landed a four-timer together and their winners included 11/20 shot Hack Green, who was given a magnificent ride.

Later, Duncan Howells and Anthony Delpech converted favouritism in the BSA Million Mile with Legend, and in the meeting they landed a double and treble respectively.

Hack Green was covered up from a good draw in the Million Sprint and with the field cramming on to the inside strip Veale made a winning decision to switch outward for a run where he found the smallest of gaps. The horse had enough in the tank to squeeze through before courageously fending off another unbeaten horse, the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained filly Green Pepper, who was running on strongly under Randall Simons. Hack Green, under typically strong driving from Veale, held on by a hair’s breadth.

The winner and runner up are not only both by Gimmethegreenlight, but were also both bred by Varsfontein Stud and are both out of Fort Wood mares.

The four horses behind Hack Green were all fillies. Seattle Singer, who finished runner up in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion, proved her liking for the course and distance by running third ahead of Felicity Flyer and South Side.

Hack Green, who won the Gr 2 Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m at Greyville by three lengths two weeks ago, is owned by M Dally, DG Abery, EW Buhr, H Adams and N Loubser.

Delpech had the progressive Legend about six lengths off the pace from a good draw in the Million Mile and he then made up ground rapidly in the straight before going clear to win by 1,5 lengths from the Gavin van Zyl-trained Last Outlaw. The latter also jumped from a good draw and stayed on strongly to be clear of the rest, who were headed by Palladium, Orapa and Eden Gardens Glitz.

Legend, who was bred by Mr and Mrs CF de Vos, has been brought on continuously by Howells and, like his sire, loves the one mile trip. He is owned by TL Tait, KJ Berry, Howells himself, SD Tait and BE Tait. It is the second R1 million sales race Howells has landed this winter.

In the first race on the card, a maiden for three-year-old fillies over 1200m, the Drier-trained Fort Wood filly Maple Story was backed in from 6/1 to 3/1 and overcame a wide draw under Sean Veale to beat the widely drawn Howells-trained 14/1 chance Online. Online’s stablemate, the 12/10 favourite Inyati, found no extra and was pipped for third by yet another Howells-trained inmate, the 33/1 shot first-timer Accidental Tourist. The latter is another horse by Gimmethegreenlight to follow. Fifth-placed Jay Jay’s Girl found some outside support and after this decent debut is another one to keep an eye on.

Drier and Veale later won a 1000m MR 86 handicap with the problematic Imperial Stride gelding Swakopmund, who is fortunately part-owned by veterinarian Manfred Rohwer. This horse knocks himself badly and has often cost himself by tearing off to the front. However, thanks to plenty of work done by Carrie Radford, Drier’s trusty workrider, as well as the reluctant fitting of a citation bit, the horse showed his ability yesterday to win at odds of 11/1 in a blanket finish from Speedy Suzy, the 2/1 favourite Monte Christo, Piano Man and Panza.

Drier and Veale completed a fine day when the hitherto disappointing Warm White Night gelding Saber’s Beads enjoyed the 1600m trip of the last and stayed on from the front to held off The Boxster.

Delpech, who was aboard Inyati in the first, had a fine card of rides. His mount in the second, the Howells-trained 4/1 shot Sir Edmund, was in with a shout in the 1200m maiden for three-year-olds but had no answer to the Michael Roberts-trained Argonaut colt Sarah’s Secret. The latter looked a picture in the preliminaries and found a strong finish from a draw of ten under Keagan de Melo to win by 0,25 lengths at odds of 16/1. The Klawervlei Stud-bred colt had not run since May 18 and looks a promising sort.

Delpech got on to the board in the third, a maiden for three-year-olds over 1200m, when the Alyson Wright-trained Var colt Life Is Good improved on his debut and forged clear from a handy position before holding on to win by 0,75 lengths from rank outsider Cabinda and another outsider Roy’s Magic.

In the fourth race, a weak maiden over 2400m, Delpech won narrowly on the 4/1 Belinda Impey-trained chance Sky Arrow, beating Osuna, who was backed in from long odds to 20/1.

In the seventh race, a MR 70 Handicap over 1600m, the Howells-trained 10/1 chance Baltic Amber, ridden by Randall Simons, just held on from the Doug Campbell-trained 17/10 favourite Pirogue to deny Delpech another winner.

In the ninth, a Maiden over 1600m for fillies and mares, the Gavin van Zyl-trained Mambo In Seattle filly Inga ran on well under Warren Kennedy to convert favouritism. Doctor Lembethe took a terrible fall around the bend in this race but at time of going to press was sitting up in the medical room and was suspected to have a shoulder injury. He was to be taken to hospital thereafter.

David Thiselton

Gold Circle is pleased to announce that the Company has been awarded level 3 status in terms of the new BEE Code.

CEO Michel Nairac commented, “I am extremely proud that Gold Circle has achieved its primary objective under the new BEE Codes. We will continue to place transformation as a priority on our agenda and we look forward to further progress in this very important area.”

MJ Byleveld has had an operation to repair the right leg injury he suffered when he was kicked by Ready To Attack coming back in after the Langerman nearly 14 months ago. But he is optimistic that he will be able to return inside three weeks.

He said: “I had the operation in Cape Town on August 4, I have been having physio in the meantime and I go back to the doctor on August 26. I will probably be able to get back on a horse the following day.”

The original painful and horrific-looking gash required eight stitches just below the knee but the damage proved to be worse than first diagnosed.

Byleveld explained: “I had x-rays done at the time but not an MRI scan. Then, slowly but surely, it began aggravating me. When I did eventually go for a scan the doctors found that some of the cartilage had been ripped off and was floating around in my knee.

“By that time it was close to the Durban season so I put off the operation until this month. The doctors cleaned up the cartilage and said the operation was successful.”

He missed out on a winner at Kenilworth on Saturday when Richard Fourie deputised on 14-10 favourite Omaha Tribe in the 2 400m maiden. Vaughan Marshall, who intends putting Tribal Dance’s half-brother away until the finish of the Durbanville stint, also scored with Royal Chian, a fifth success for 20-year-old Craig Bantam.

Anthony Andrews, riding for the first time since his two-month Mauritius spell, is keen to get back into the swing of things and reckons he has more to offer.

“I like to think that I am now sharper and more tactically aware,” he said. “Everything happens very quickly in Mauritius and your decisions have to be split-second. You also have to be aware of where the other horses are and how they like to be ridden, particularly the favourite.”

Greg Cheyne is already back in business and he returned after the best part of eight months on the sidelines to strike on Fire Master in the Pinnacle Stakes, making all the running. Interestingly the five-year-old had a wind operation that Justin Snaith is convinced didn’t work. His sire Jet Master had two and trainer Geoff Woodruff reckoned that it was only the second one that did the trick.

Woodruff, incidentally, has significantly increased his Cape Town presence. After California Girl made a winning debut under Donovan Dillon in the opener daughter Lucy disclosed that she now has a team of 18 for her father. All but five are three-year-olds.

Cheyne was understandably pleased to score on his return, saying: “It was nice to get the monkey off my back so early and now I can crack on.”

Snaith vowed not run horses drawn wide after the Fourie-ridden Harakiri convincingly made up for her Durbanville disappointment in the 1 000m maiden.

He explained: “After she ran so poorly from her wide draw I said ‘Right, anything that draws badly I am going to scratch.’ If I keep running from bad draws I am going to be out of business.”

Grant van Niekerk is intent on continuing in the form that saw him win 114 races, including four Grade 1s, last term and he fired off a treble on Golden Pass, Miss Marker and Power Grid.

Mission Control, 28-10 favourite in the final leg, finished plumb last and was found to have suffered an epistaxis (pulmonary haemorrhage). The Paddy Kruyer-trained gelding has been suspended for 60 days.

Sandy Bay, 19-10 favourite for race three, also disappointed. Although the course vet could find nothing wrong Dillon reported that he felt something was amiss.

Michael Clower

 

Duncan Howells, again teaming up with Anthony Delpech, won their second million-rand race in just over a month when Legend ran out an impressive winner of the Bloodstock South Africa Million Mile at Scottsville yesterday – Howells’s decision to skip the G2 Golden Horseshoe on July day paying dividends.

“He has made massive improvement since his last win,” said the Ashburton-based trainer of his charge. “I could have run him on July day but he had a bad draw so we took a gamble and went for the bigger stake. I don’t say we could have won then but I’m pretty sure he would have finished in the first four.”

The manner of yesterday’s win suggests that Howells would not have been far off the mark.

“This is the first time that I’ve sat on the horse,” said Delpech. “But he gave me a good feel. I think he’s good enough to win a Group race. He’s got a real turn of foot.”

Sitting midfield for much of the race, Delpech was left hunting for a gap approaching the two furlong marker. However, the field opened up on que. “When I got the run I couldn’t believe it,” he said. Legend took the gap and was clear in a matter of strides.

Last Outlaw chased hard for second but was never a serious threat with Palladium and Orapa filling the minor placings.

Dennis Drier had a day to remember winning four races including the Bloodstock South Africa Million Sprint although it was a close-run thing. Hack Green was backed in to prohibitive odds and the unbeaten colt was expected to win as he liked after his stunning victory in the Gr2 Umkomazi Stakes at seasons end.

In the end it took a judge’s photo to separate Hack Green and Green Pepper, a piece of paper the margin, with the filly Seattle Singer in third.

“He’s a baby and still learning,” said relieved rider Sean Veale after facing a dilemma two furlongs out. “I didn’t know whether to barge through and take the seven days (suspension) or switch out.”

Luckily for Veale he made the correct decision, switching out for a run. “If he had stayed on the inside I don’t think he would have run a place,” said Drier.

To add to the tension, Johan Janse van Vuuren, trainer of Green Pepper called for race review. However, the stipendiary stewards were quick to dismiss it as in their view both runners moved independently of each other and it was Drier’s turn to be relieved. “This is a nerve-wracking game as it is. I don’t need the extra tension but it was also a bit stiff on the second horse.”

Recently crowned champion freshman sire Gimmethegreenlight was without a stakes winner in his first crop until the final days of the season when Hack Green won the Gr2 Umkomazi Stakes and Gunner capping it with victory in the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes an hour later.

Although yesterday’s races were both non-black type, Gimmethegreenlight, the only horse to have twice beaten the mighty Variety Club, sired both Legend and Hack Green and just for good measure runner-up Green Pepper.

All three were bred at Varsfontein Stud who stand the Gr1 winning son of More Than Ready. Hack Green and Green Pepper under the stud’s banner wile Legend was bred by stud manager Carl and wife Amanda de Vos.

De Vos was on the verge of selling the Spectrum mare Colour Fast but was persuaded by Cathy Rymill, Howells’s partner, to hold onto her as the stable thought Legend was a smart horse. Good advice indeed.

Andrew Harrison