Glen Kotzen experienced the highs and lows of racing at the Vodacom Durban July meeting on Saturday when first winning the Gr 2 Gold Circle Golden Slipper with Final Judgement, but later seeing his fancied Shizam scratched from the KZN Yearling Sale Million.

A plan came together in the Golden Slipper after Kotzen and jockey Stuart Randolph had analysed the previous run of the Varsfontein-bred Judpot filly Final Judgement.

In the Listed Devon Air Stakes, over the same Greyville turf 1400m course and distance, she had been cramped for galloping room behind a slow pace, so was unable to use her big action. Late in the race, after a challenger had edged ahead of her, she took off and came back to beat the latter for third place.

Kotzen and Randolph thus planned to go to the front from pole position on Saturday, where she would be able to use her action and it would also put the ball in the court of the other jockeys to use up energy and go around her if they wanted to overcome their wider draws.

She bounced out into the front and strode out nicely on the rail, while two of the dangers, Visuality and Al Hawraa, were trapped wide and burnt up some valuable energy. The eventual third-placed Sail, who looks full of promise, initially used up some energy before being reined in.

Final Judgement (Nkosi Hlophe)

However, Final Judgement’s tactics did appear to have played into the hands of the hot odds-on favourite Maleficent, who had been drawn in barrier two. The latter was able to park in behind her on the rail.

However, the second reason for Kotzen and Randolph’s plan proved spot on. After using that big stride to keep Maleficent at bay, Final Judgement was challenged by Dawn Calling late in the race. However, just as the latter put her nose in front, Final Judgement once again picked up a gear and surged to get up by a neck.

Maleficent did not find the kick she had displayed in the Devon Air Stakes and perhaps ran below par.

Kotzen said about Final Judgement, “The further for her the better. We avoided the Allan Robertson, because we knew she would be better suited to the bend.”

However, the connections are in no rush to run her in the Gr 1 Thekwini on eLan Gold Cup day, as they believe she has a fine three-year-old career ahead of her, and will see how the field and the draws look before committing. Dawn Calling and Sail will likely enjoy the 1600m of the Thekwini too.

Final Judgement is owned by Peter De Beyer and Hugo Hattingh’s Triple H Trust.  At last year’s Bloodstock South Africa Val de Vie Sale, Hattingh had arrived with the resolve of not buying any fillies. However, Kotzen asked him to have a look at just one of them, Final Judgement, whom he believed to be the pick of the Sale. It did not take Hattingh long to agree.

Peter de Beyer later arrived and liked the pedigree. She is out of the Gr 1 Garden Province Stakes-winning Proclaim mare Final Claim, who is a daughter of the 1996 ARCSA Champion Broodmare Ollies Last (Highborn Harry), who also produced Gr 1 Cape Guineas-winner Alpha Omega as well as Gr 3-winner Over Bearing. Hattingh and De Beyer  landed Final Judgement for R500,000, which now looks a bargain.

Kotzen said, “I was very pleased for Hugo on Saturday as he has put his money down to buy some well bred horses and it was lovely to see him rewarded. Being out of a Gr 1-winning mare she is now worth bombs.”

Kotzen was also pleased for Peter de Beyer, although the latter is no stranger to success and judging by his record looks to be one of the most intuitive buyers in the country.

A dampener was later put on Kotzen’s day. Apparently noise from revellers unnerved his strongly fancied Kahal filly Shizam as she was leaving the parade ring for the KZN Yearling Million and her left hind leg became caught over the wooden railing, which is on the left hand side of the chute entrance. She had blood on the leg and was scratched down at the start. The injuries have proved to be superficial. However, the incident was costly to the owners, who could have recouped plenty of costs and more.

Gold Circle will be looking into the structure of the parade ring at the entrance to the chute to see whether any changes could lessen the chances of a repeat of such an incident. The KZN Million was moved this year from the last race on the day to the ninth, due to it being dark by the 12^th and the crowd by that stage being rowdy. There might now be renewed requests to bring it forward even further.

David Thiselton

Abashiri and Adriaan van Vuuren (Liesl King)

Adriaan van Vuuren, whose orange-and-black silks were carried by Triple Crown winner Abashiri, has written on Facebook that he and wife Rika will be leaving the sport of horseracing.

Van Vuuren says that he and his family have been hurt by the “evil eyes” of the media, following his decision to run Abashiri in the Vodacom Durban July.

He wrote on Facebook on Monday night:

It is with sadness that I have to announce that myself and Misty Meadows will exit Horse Racing as owners in the coming season. The abuse of the media and false and inaccurate reporting has destroyed our love and desire for the sport.

We will not buy or purchase one more horse and will reduce our presence down to 30 horses. Support and involvement to zero in the coming months. It is sad to say but in this game we are not prepared to pay in family time and resources to be abused and victimized like this.

Sporting Post and all other evil eyes – Well done and mission achieved. Sad day for me but I must be the most stupid man alive to continue in a dishonest hi-jacked two-man circus where I am described and labelled as the main clown.

This clown is done and signing out for duty.

Nearly R150 million was wagered on the tote on Vodacom Durban July day last Saturday and several TAB and tabGOLD customers won huge amounts for relatively small outlays.

The TAB Quartet pool on the big race, boosted by a R1.2-million carryover, soared to more than R17 million and several Quartet players had six-figure wins for small amounts.

A TAB customer in Embalenhle in Mpumalanga and a tabGOLD client selected the first four past the post in the Durban July and played them in a R24 Quartet Box. Each collected the full payout of R152,149 – over 6,000 times their outlay.

Another tabGOLD customer in Chatsworth bet a R20 Quartet on the Durban July and took home R126,790, while a player in Howick in KwaZulu-Natal bet a R100 Quartet and collected R633,954.

The biggest winner on the meeting was a TAB telephone betting customer in the Western Cape, who bet a R3,120 Pick 6 permutation and won nearly R1.5 million.

A Stanger-based player was another big winner, playing a R500 Pick 6 permutation and collecting R902,615!

A TAB customer bet a R220 Pick 6 at Gold Reef City and collected R176,510 and a Mabopane player won R103,155 on the Pick 6 with a R150 bet.

A Western Cape-based digital customer was the sharpest Pick 6 player on the day with a R120 permutation delivering a payout of R541,569.

The Pick 6 pool started with a R4-million carryover and the total pool was more than 14 million.

Please be advised ,races 7 and 8 for today’s Kenilworth race meeting
has been abandoned due to poor visibility and rain.

Joey Ramsden consolidated himself as a top echelon trainer on Saturday when adding the Vodacom Durban July to his glittering CV with the Australian-bred The Conglomerate, while Piere Strydom showed once again why he is regarded as one of South Africa’s greatest ever jockeys.

That it takes a top trainer to win the country’s premier race is evident in the winner’s roll. In fact, Ramsden became only the ninth trainer this century to have won the July.

Pundits are always experts afterwards, but a look at last year’s July ultimately provided the best clue to The Conglomerate’s chances.

He jumped from the widest draw of all in last year’s race as a three-year-old and connections were left wondering what might have been. His inexperienced jockey had panicked coming up the hill and from last place on the rail had soon found himself widest of all entering the straight, but still last. Yet, the horse still managed to move up strongly on the standside rail and looked to have a ton in hand when faced with a wall of horses and nowhere to go. In retrospect, had the jockey remained patient at the back and made his run down the centre or inside, he could have threatened the winner, or at least the placed horses.

This year, The Conglomerate jumped from the same barrier position, but significantly had one of the all-time great jockeys in world history aboard. However, what had likely led to him being largely ignored by pundits was his form since last year’s July. Furthermore, Strydom had only been given second choice of the Markus Jooste-owned horses behind retained jockey Anton Marcus, who had plumped for St. Tropez.

Joey Ramsden (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Conglomerate’s two best performances in seven outings this season had been fourth place finishes in both the Gr 2 Betting World 1900 and Gr 3 Cup Trial over 1800m. He had lacked zip in the finish in the 1900, but in his defence it was his second run after a four month layoff and gelding. His Cup Trial run was difficult to analyse as he was involved in a bumping match with Saratoga Dancer on the outside which led to him being demoted from third to fourth.

The four-year-old son of Lonhro duly ran in this year’s race off a merit rating of only 101, seven points lower than a year ago, and from being 1kg under sufferance last year, he was now 2,5kg under sufferance.

Furthermore, as the Cup Trial was a handicap and the Betting World 1900 a merit-rated bands conditions race, he was going to have improve a number of lengths from those last two runs.

Ramsden thus pulled off a magnificent training feat on Saturday. He had spoken beforehand of the tremendous work The Conglomerate had been putting in at Summerveld and of a faultless preparation. Strydom then came to the party and rode a fantastic race, managing to slot the bay into a handy position from the wide draw.

The final factor was the trip, only the horse’s second attempt beyond 2000m. He once again relished it and quickened well before staying on resolutely.

Ironically, The Conglomerate was one of the many horses in the race affected by the much talked about “manipulation” of the weights. Had Legal Eagle been scratched before the setting of the weights, The Conglomerate would have been perfectly handicapped i.e. scraping into the handicap with the minimum weight for an older horse of 53kg. Instead, he carried 55,5kg and was 2,5kg under sufferance.

The charismatic Ramsden provided entertainment in the build up to the July with his antics at the draw ceremony and was also at his best on Saturday, bowing ceremoniously to President Zuma with hands out-stretched before receiving the trophy.

David Thiselton