The jockeys wore black armbands and flags were flown at half-mast at Kenilworth on Saturday as a mark of respect to Chris Puller who was found dead on Thursday. He was 31 and steeped in racing.

His father Glen was a jockey before turning to training and his uncle Garth, also now a trainer, was one of the best jockeys of his generation. Richard Fourie is married to Chris’s sister.

Puller’s big race successes included the 2007 Diana Stakes on 20-1 shot Joshlin and two Chairman’s Cups for Mike Bass – Meteor Shower in 2009 and Golden Parachute two years later.

In recent seasons he was repeatedly forced to cry off riding arrangements, complaining of the after-effects of old injuries, and he had just 80 rides (including seven winners) last season. His death came as a shock, as well as a devastating blow, to his weighing room colleagues.

Aldo Domeyer said: “It’s very sad. We grew up together and we were at the Academy at the same time. He was one guy who had real natural talent and he used to make bad horses look good.

“He always seemed happy and he was the one who uplifted others when they were down or going through a bad patch. I don’t know what demons he had but maybe we should have been more there for him. His death is a sad loss.”
Craig du Plooy added: “It’s tragic. He sat alongside me in the jockeys’ room for 15 years. He was a fun, jokey sort of guy, always revving us up in a nice way.”

Grant van Niekerk said: “I didn’t expect this. He was a bubbly person, always happy and cheerful, and I can only imagine what the family must be going through.”

Puller had a good association with a number of Cape Town trainers including Greg Ennion for whom he won the 2006 Sophomore on Bulldozer and the Milnerton trainer said: “Chris was an unusually talented rider and very good at judging a horse in its work. Indeed he was as good a judge as Garth and that is saying something.

“I was waiting for him to rehabilitate himself and ride for me again. He rang to say he was coming to talk to me – but he never arrived.”
Michael Clower

A resurgent Andrew Fortune is reported to be determined to go all out to win the championship he previously landed eight seasons ago – even though he parried questions on this at Kenilworth on Saturday with typical joking quick-fire repartee.

“I’m coloured and when they start paying coloureds more than R200 000 a month for working hard I will have a go,” he insisted after winning the last on Waning Crescent  for the globe-trotting Neil Bruss who shortly returns to Saudi Arabia.

Fortune also told Tellytrack’s Stan Elley: “I’ve had a phenomenal season for a man who was sitting on a couch a year ago. I’ve ridden 196 winners including Zimbabwe, I’m a bit fitter and a bit lighter these days and if I was a trainer I would probably pick myself!”

Beach Goddess may well have earned herself another season in training after just holding the strong-finishing Come Fly With Me to give Brett Crawford his first Champagne Stakes success.

Crawford said: “She fractured her shin last year and they weren’t sure she was going to race again but she is a very honest filly and she has been a model of consistency.

“I will discuss it with Ian Longmore but there is a possibility that she would be worth keeping in training. On her pedigree she will get further than this.”

The race was a triumph for Corne Orffer who improvised to brilliant effect when he found the door closing, as he explained: “I was always going well but I pulled the trigger slightly early because the gap was closing and Victoria Lavelle was falling back on me. Then the runner-up was coming at me but mine kept going.”

Piet Steyn’s stable tends to make its presence felt when the ground turns soft and, sure enough, he defied the testing conditions to land a double with Mr Lover Boy and Waiting For Rain (Orffer).

He said: “When I started training I had one of the biggest strings in Cape Town but these days I have just 24 horses and when you have a small stable you need to have them as fit as you can to take advantage.“

Aldo Domeyer, who rode Mr Lover Boy, also scored on the Mike Bass pair Scandola and Rocket Master, and said: “It’s an honour to win for Mr Bass on his last Cape Town day as a trainer.”

Domeyer was suspended for seven days for interference on Ashton Park in the Pinnacle and Orffer was given the same penalty for a similar offence on Navasha in the last. His ban starts on Wednesday.

Heavelon van der Hoven’s claim has been reduced to 1.5kg as his win on the Mike Robinson-trained Illdrinktothat was his 40^th and he promptly followed up on all-the-way scorer Auditorium for Glen Puller.

Last year’s Langerman winner Ready To Attack, ante-post favourite for the Pinnacle, was scratched as he has been sold to Mauritius where he will race for Ram Gujadhur.

Michael Clower

Marinaresco overcame a wide draw and a troubled passage to land the Gr1 Mike and Carol Bass Champions Cup at Greyville yesterday. It was a fitting send off for Bass to sign off on a race named in his honour as he retired after yesterday’s race meeting.

There were a few anxious moments for the supporters of the 11-10 favourite as he became the meat in the sandwich at around the 400m mark. However, there was no stopping the diminutive son of champion stallion Silvano as he powered through the tight gap, going on to win comfortably from Judicial, No Worries and Saratoga Dancer.

The early fractions were more suited to a funeral procession than a horserace and it allowed Grant van Niekerk to track wide on the home turn without much effort. Approaching the final two furlongs it was a cavalry charge and there were a number of hard luck stories, most notably Saratoga Dancer who only found daylight when the race was over.

Van Niekerk was lavish in his praise for Bass who recognised a precocious talent and plucked the young jockey out of obscurity, and also for his mount Marinaresco. “You always get nervous before a big race but when you sit on him he does it all for you.”

S’Manga Khumalo, Champion Jockey elect, rounded off a memorable season with a perfectly timed run aboard the Australian-bred Enaad (5-1) to give Mike de Kock back-to-back wins in the Gr2 eLan Gold Cup. He was chased home by Helderberg Blue and Kinaan with Ovidio filling fourth place.

Tucked in towards the back of the field for most of the race as stable companion Kingston Mines set the gallop, Khumalo gradually moved Enaad into contention up the hill and was within striking distance of the lead as the field came off the false rail at the top of the straight.

Along with stable companion Kinaan the pair hit the front with Enaad staying on the better. Helderberg Blue hit a flat spot in the straight but then picked it up smartly and finished strongly for second.

“This was one of my goals,” said Khumalo, already a winner of the Vodacom Durban July aboard Heavy Metal in 2013, “and I’m glad to have achieved it.”

“This horse had so much running in him. At the 800m mark I thought to myself that my horse was full of running and I didn’t want to break his stride.”

However, it is anxious times for Khumalo who faces charges of injudicious riding in a race in Port Elizabeth last month.

De Kock said, “He was a horse that was progressing nicely and he had to win the Gold Vase to get in the race. When he won the Vase I was a bit concerned because they don’t often do the double.”

“I wasn’t worried about the penalty because he was so low in the weights I didn’t think it would make any difference.”

“There is still more to come. I don’t think he’s reached his handicap mark as yet,” concluded the trainer.

Querari Falcon and Gunner gave the Equus Award judges a double headache when rounding off the season with victories in the Gr1 Thekwini Stakes and the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes respectively. Judging for the awards took place immediately after the running of the Gr1 Mike and Carol Bass Champions Cup.

With two-year-old Gr1’s at a premium, all have produced different results. Dawn Calling was in warm order for the Thekwini Stakes but after battling her way through traffic she was unable to match the finishing burst of Querari Falcon and Anthony Delpech who finished with a wet sail on the favourite’s outside.

It was also a red letter day for Champion freshman sire Gimmethegreenlight who rounded off his first season at stud with a Gr2 winner in Umkhomazi Stakes victor Hack Green and two races later Gunner caused a 25-1 upset in the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes for Paul Gadsby with Brandon Lerena aboard.

Ashburton-based Gadsby said he had bought Gunner at the CTS January sale. “I liked the Gimmethegreenlights and this is the one I wanted. Hassen (Adams) was kind enough to let me leave him on the farm for two months. It took me ages to put him together and Hassen kept a quarter. I have a few more Gimmethegreenlights back home so hopefully I’m in the right camp.”

Andrew Harrison

Gavin van Zyl said his smart three-year-old Judpot gelding Rocketball had “come out of the July bouncing” and he hoped the blinkers would do the trick in the Gr 1 Mike and Carol Bass Champions Stakes over 1800m at the eLan Gold Cup meeting at Greyville on Sunday. Meanwhile, his son and assistant Gareth is bullish about the chances of No Worries in the same race.

The yard also have a number of other runners with chances on the day. Rocketball, who has a giant of a stride, disappointed in the Vodacom Durban July when turning for home too far out of his ground and then failing to quicken.

Gavin said, “I hope the blinkers help this time. He has a good draw so will hopefully be ridden just off the pace and will hopefully follow through.” Champion jockey Gavin Lerena rides and is a boost to his chances.

No Worries bounced back to form this season over staying trips. However, he then proved the turnaround had little to do with his stamina capacity when winning the KZN Breeders Million Mile off the back of a slow pace, displaying a fine turn of foot.

The 1800m trip should be perfect. The draw of nine is tricky, but didn’t stop him in the KZN Million Mile, where he jumped from draw ten. Warren Kennedy gets on well with the six-year-old Kahal gelding and remains aboard. Gareth said, “He is 100%, we couldn’t have hoped for a better preparation. I am confident he will do his best.”

Gavin has an interesting runner in the Gr 1 Premier’s Champions Stakes over 1600m, the eye-catching Gimmethegreenlight gelding Without A Doubt. He is still a maiden but has impressed with his strong finishes against some good horses over shorter.

Gavin said, “He has good form and I don’t think he ran to his best on the poly last time (2,8 length third to Qeyaadah), I think he is better on the turf. He is bred to go the ground and further and it wouldn’t surprise me if he ran into the money.”

In the Gr 1 Thekwini Stakes over 1600m, Gavin runs Mogok filly Costa Da Sol. He said, “She has good form but is yet to come up against this sort of opposition and she has a wide draw too. But the two-year-old form is still establishing itself at this time of the year so we are taking our chances and hope she runs into the money.”

Gareth runs Poster Girl in the Thekwini and said, “Anton Marcus suggested we run her in this race and her work has been very good. The race will tell whether she stays the mile or not. All things considered, she could be the dark horse.”

Gavin’s sprinter Isca won well on Vodacom Durban July day and now runs over the same polytrack 1000m course and distance in the Listed Umgeni Handicap. However, he now has an eleven draw to overcome, as opposed to two, and was also given a maximum eight point raise for that last win. Gavin said, “I am just as happy with him as I was before that last run and he will run a good race.”

Gavin runs King Of Kings gelding Prince Ariano in the second race, a Juvenile Plate over 1900m on the turf. He said, “We have put the blinkers on and he is looking for the extra ground. He has got a chance and I expect him to run into the money.”

Gareth runs the talented Mygirldownunder in the Gr 2 Debutante over 1200m, but he was cautious about her chances.

He said, “She is very fast and only time will tell whether she sees out 1200m, so it not ideal trying that trip for the first time after a little rest and from a wide draw. She will likely come on from the run but is above average and it is a Gr 2 so we decided to take our chances. She certainly won’t disgrace herself.”

Gareth runs Night Shadow in the last race of the season, a MR 78 Handicap over 1900m on the poly, where he has an inexperienced 4kg claimer up in order to alleviate his 63,5kg weight. Gareth is not sure what to expect from this horse, whom he believes to probably be “bi-polar”. He said, “He is temperamental and has gone off the boil, but it seems it’s mental because one day he wants to work, the next day he doesn’t. If the right Night Shadow arrives he will probably win, so we hope he bounces back to form. He is fit and sound.”

Gavin completed his grass work with his charges last week and has been using the Summerveld polytrack this week.

Gareth has been using the Summerveld poly and the grass bend this week. None of the yard’s runners have missed any work.

David Thiselton

Frank Robinson managed to get a grass gallop in to his Gr 2 Gold Bracelet contender Olma on Tuesday around the Summerveld bend and she worked very well.

He said she had excercised twice a day on some days this week as the poly had been the only track open everyday and he added, “She is looking great.”

Ian Sturgeon knows her very well and replaces Piere Strydom. Last time out she ran a fine second in the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over 1600m from a wide draw. Strydom jumped off afterwards and said she had only really got going late, so she should have no trouble seeing out the 2000m on Sunday.

Robinson said the key to the Dynasty filly had been the application of the tongue tie. Before that she had tended to pull, but since its use her form has been outstanding. She will be hard to beat having at last landed a good draw.

Robinson revealed his six-year-old mare Sounds Positive had been working very well upsides Olma and he made her a “massive runner” in the first race on Sunday over 1400m on the Greyville poly.

David Thiselton