Sean Tarry described it as a “team decision” to scratch Legal Eagle from this Saturday’s Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge and it was due to nothing more than the horse’s poor draw.

However, he added the crack gelding might still run in the Vodacom Durban July.

He said Legal Eagle would likely have had to run on from behind in the Gold Challenge at a course where the draw over a mile was usually all important. A potential blemish on his record was therefore averted by the scratching.

He said he was definitely fit and well enough at present to be able to take his place in the July: “He is not a big horse and does not require a lot of work.” However, he said the decision to run him in the big one might ultimately depend on the weights.

Owner Markus Jooste’s racing manager Derek Brugman will likely have the final say.

Tarry is coming off a tough week in which it was well documented he was concerned about a potential bacterial infection going around his Randjesfontein yard.

However, he believed this had nothing to do with brilliant sprinter Carry On Alice’s disappointing fifth place finish as odds-on favourite in the Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint at Scottsville on Saturday.

He was firstly disappointed she had been loaded early despite her history of being restless in the gates. She had started badly and he then felt jockey S’Manga Khumalo had possibly found cover too early, and behind the wrong horses, meaning she was travelling too well in the early stages. The jockey had then been “undecided for about three or four seconds and you can’t do that in a sprint.”

By the time she was extracted from her snookered position the race was over. However, Tarry said she had not been blowing after the race and had pulled up well.

The majority of his runners on the day had run well and he said the two-year-old fillies, Visuality and Myfunnyvalentine (3^rd and 4^th in the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship respectively), would likely line up in the Gr 2 Golden Slipper on July day.

He said he had pointed out last week Captain’s Causeway had only been his third choice runner in the Tsogo Sun Sprint and “you can’t win Gr 1s with your third choice.” He felt he had been vindicated in the belief Buckland should have been his first accepted runner as this horse had finished just 1,8 lengths behind Talktothestars in the Gr 2 Senor Santa Stakes and would have been considerably better off in the weights in the Tsogo Sun Sprint.

Tarry said it was impossible to tell with certainty which horses had been affected by the bacterial infection and which hadn’t. However, every declared runner is being tested before their respective races and if they pass the test they run, otherwise they are scratched.

French Navy, Trip To Heaven and Prospect Strike take their places in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge on Saturday.

Tarry said, “It is a preparation run for French Navy, we freshened him up after the Champions Challenge and the mile at Greyville is a touch sharp for him, but he will be running on strongly.

“Trip To Heaven (who will have his first run as a gelding) has put up a good gallop and has his final gallop tomorrow (Tuesday). It all depends on the break as he is a funny horse at the start, but if he breaks well he will lead.

“I thought Prospect Strike’s runs in the Canon Guineas and Daily News 2000 were both good ones from poor draws, now he gets a reasonable draw and is fit and well, so we will take our chances.”

Of his two Gr 2 Cup Trial runners (1800m) he was more pleased with Gold Onyx’s run in the Betting World 1900. Both horses had been too far back in a race where the front horses weren’t stopping.

He said Gold Onyx would improve further while Halve The Deficit would be placed more handily from a plum draw and the race would give a good indication of his well-being.

Bichette, who runs in the Gr 2 Tibouchina Stakes over 1400m, disappointed the yard in a Pinnacle over 1450m last time, but that was her second run after a rest and she will now be “cherry ripe and not without a chance.”

Tarry said it was unfortunate she was drawn eight out of 12 as she liked to run handy. However, he added this was probably her best trip and a positive showing would give the yard confidence to run her in the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes on July day.

Tarry felt Side Show would be competitive in the Listed Gatecrasher Stakes over 1400m after having come from strong maiden form and jumping from pole position with a weight allowance.

David Thiselton

The 2016 Rider Cup, an Inter-Provincial contest between leading jockeys from the Highveld; the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, is set to take place at Scottsville Racecourse on Sunday, 10 July 2016.

Gold Circle has extended invitations to riders based on their positions on the National Jockeys’ Log as at the end of May and, if all accept, the teams will shape up as follows:-

THE HIGHVELD HAWKS

S’mango Khumalo (Captain)

Andrew Fortune

Karl Zechner

JP van der Merwe

First Reserve: Gavin Lerena

THE CAPE EAGLES

Grant van Niekerk (Captain)

Aldo Domeyer

Bernard Fayd’herbe

Teaque Gould

First Reserve: Corne Orffer

THE KZN FALCONS:

Anthony Delpech (Captain)

Anton Marcus

Muzi Yeni

Keagan de Melo

First Reserve: Ian Sturgeon

The competition will be decided over four legs and apart from the bragging rights, medals and the floating trophy, an amount of R100 000 will be up for grabs, with the winning team receiving R48 000; the runners-up R30 000 and the also-rans R20 000.

FINAL FIELD for the R1million Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge to be run over 1600m at Greyville on Saturday, June 11:

Sc# Horse               Mass   MR       Draw   B  A  T  Jockey           Trainer

1   FRENCH NAVY         60.0  115 (115)   10      A     W Marwing        Sean Tarry

2   TRIP TO HEAVEN      60.0  113 (113)    5      A  T  S Khumalo        Sean Tarry

3   ICE MACHINE         60.0  111 (111)    9      A     A Marcus         Charles Laird

4   PATERFAMILIAS       60.0  110 (110)    2   B  A     G van Niekerk    Mike Bass

5   CAPTAIN ALDO        60.0  109 (109)    8      A     B Fayd’Herbe     St John Gray

6   MAC DE LAGO         60.0  107 (107)    7      A  T  P Strydom        Weiho Marwing

7   TRIPTIQUE           60.0  106 (106)    1      A     S Veale          Dennis Drier

8   BEZANOVA            60.0  102 (102)    4   B  A     S Randolph       Alec Laird

9   NEW PREDATOR        58.5  110 (107)    3      A     R Simons         Johan Janse van Vuuren

10  PROSPECT STRIKE     58.5  102 ( 99)    6      A  T  A Delpech        Sean Tarry

 

FINAL FIELD for the R400000 Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes to be run over 1400m at Greyville on Saturday, June 11:

Sc# Horse               Mass   MR       Draw   B  A  T  Jockey            Trainer

1   INARA               60.0  111 (111)    9      A     G van Niekerk     Mike Bass

2   ALEXIS              59.0  100 (100)    6      A     C Orffer          Brett Crawford

3   BICHETTE            59.0  100 (100)    8      A     S Khumalo         Sean Tarry

4   SILVER MOUNTAIN     58.5  107 (104)    2      A     B Fayd’Herbe      Mike Bass

5   ENTISAAR            58.5  103 (100)    1      A     A Delpech         Mike de Kock

6   OLMA                58.0  107 (107)   12      A  T  P Strydom         Frank Robinson

7   CUVEE BRUT          58.0  103 (103)   10      A     A Marcus          Brett Crawford

8   EVENTUAL ANGEL      58.0   95 ( 95)    7      A     S Veale           Dennis Drier

9   SENSIBLE LOVER      58.0   95 ( 95)    4      A     W Marwing         Weiho Marwing

10  LITTLEBLACKNUMBER   58.0   93 ( 93)    3      A  T  B Lerena          Duncan Howells

11  SILVER CLASS        58.0   87 ( 87)    5      A  T  R Simons          Johan Janse van Vuuren

12  COSMIC LIGHT        57.5  106 (103)   11      A     M Yeni            Duncan Howells

 

FINAL FIELD for the R250000 Gr3 Cup Trial to be run over 1800m at Greyville on Saturday, June 11:

Sc# Horse               Mass   MR       Draw   B  A  T  Jockey          Trainer

1   PUNTA ARENAS        60.0  107 (107)    6   C  A     K de Melo       Dennis Drier

2   GOLD ONYX           59.0  105 (105)    5      A  T  B Fayd’Herbe    Sean Tarry

3   IT IS WRITTEN       57.5  102 (102)    7      A     A Delpech       Dean Kannemeyer

4   MASTER’S EYE        57.0  101 (101)    3      A     P Strydom       Justin Snaith

5   THE CONGLOMERATE    57.0  101 (101)    8   C  A     A Marcus        Joey Ramsden

6   HALVE THE DEFICIT   56.5  100 (100)    2      A     S Khumalo       Sean Tarry

7   EXIT HERE           56.0  103 ( 99)   10   B  A     W Marwing       Charles Laird

8   WAY OF LIGHT        56.0   99 ( 99)    9      A     B Jacobson      Garth Puller

9   BIG CAT             55.5   98 ( 98)    4   B  A     C Orffer        Brett Crawford

10  DEPUTY JUD          55.5   98 ( 98)   11      A     K Zechner       Mike Azzie

11  DYNAMIC             55.5   98 ( 98)    1      A     G van Niekerk   Justin Snaith

12  SARATOGA DANCER     54.0   95 ( 95)   12      A     M Yeni          Duncan Howells

13  GREEK LEGEND        52.0   91 ( 91)   13   B  A     J P v’d Merwe   Mike Azzie

 

 

Vaal trainer Coenie de Beer said he had looked on the bright side after his beloved R1 million Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint hero Talktothestars had had a rare episode of not eating up the night before Saturday’s big race at Scottsville.

“A lion doesn’t catch a buck on a full stomach,” he had thought to himself.

And so it proved as the sales outcast gave weight and a thrashing to many regally-bred, expensively purchased horses. He was brilliantly ridden by the peerless Piere Strydom, who was winning the big race for the fifth time. Having him more handy than usual might have been the key, as he often runs on too late. This time he found extra from a handy position and going through the 100m Strydom felt he would still have had enough in the tank to fend off a late challenger.

It was the first Gr 1 win for both De Beer and also for Talktothestars unfashionable sire Overlord.

However, it was yet another Gr 1 accolade for the horse’s breeders Scott Brothers, who also stand Overlord. Scott Brothers had previously won this race with their home-bred Bold West in 1987.

De Beer, who has been training at the Vaal since 1998, is the son of former trainer Dawie de a Beer. He has a mere seven horses in his yard.

He owns Talktothestars outright and has fulfilled the old adage “have horse, will travel” in no uncertain terms.

The four-year-old gelding’s “calm” temperament has made this possible. It was Talktothestars’s third journey to Scottsville and he stayed there overnight before the race. He made the long journey to Cape Town in the summer, where he earned three cheques in five starts at Kenilworth. He has also raced at Flamingo Park in Kimberly on top of his regular runs at his home province courses of The Vaal and Turffontein. In mid-July he will experience another new course, Greyville, as De Beer said he would definitely bring him down for the Gr 1 weight for age Mercury Sprint, where he will attempt to exact revenge on his Computaform Sprint conqueror Carry On Alice. That race will likely decide the Equus Champion Sprinter award.

Talktothestars’ half-sister Star Voyager had caught De Beer’s eye at the Sales a few years back . De Beer said, “She was a good filly with a lot of promise and after that I bought all the progeny until I got this one.” Their dam Tellittothestars by Spaceship won one race over 1600m. Her daughter Star Voyager (Mogok) won five races for De Beer, another daughter Planet Queen (Mogok) won two races for him and Talktothestars’ three-year-old full-sister Lady Starlett has already won two races for the yard.

Talktothestars, with a reserve of R30,000, was a vendor buy back at the National Two-year-old Sale due to a lack of interest. De Beer later bought him cheaply off the farm as part of a package offered by Scott Brothers owner Robin Scott.

He is a big, strong horse and amazingly, as was the case on Saturday, usually runs without shoes. De Beer said, “I don’t mind running him in shoes if he has a problem. I did run him here once with shoes because he had a crack in his hoof (and he won).”

Talktothestars is the highest rated sprinter in the country and has earned R1,529,575.

It is South Africa’s equivalent of the Australian Takeover Target fairytale.

Race fans around the country at last know who Coenie de Beer is as the camera shy man gave a rare TV interview in the winner’s enclosure.

His few humble words said it all, “I tell you he is a great horse. He is a healthy, sound horse and he did it all himself.”

David Thiselton
Picture: Coenie de Beer and Talktothestars (Nkosi Hlophe)

The unstoppable combination of Dean Kannemeyer, Anthony Delpech and Khaya Stables added a Gr 1 to their recent feats when landing the City Of Pietermaritzburg Sprint at Scottsville on Saturday with Real Princess and Kannemeyer described it as an emotional win.

He said later, “I had always said to Lady Christine Laidlaw and Jehan Malherbe this filly WILL get the Gr 1. She had been rolled a few times earlier in her career and I felt she would be better as a four-year-old, she is a big filly and has matured and found her strength. By the end of last season I didn’t quite know what her distance was as she is bred to go 2000m, but she’s a speed horse and has a helluva turn of foot. She ran Carry On Alice to three-quarters of a length over 1000m at Kenilworth, so I thought she could have a big chance today. She loves Scottsville and you have to ride her with confidence and Anthony rode her confidently, because there was always a gap on the outside but he waited until the last 300m of the race and won going away. She has tremendous substance, a deep girth, a beautiful quarter, she’s one of the nicest specimen fillies I’ve ever seen. Lady Laidlaw had always wanted to buy a filly and Jehan and I told her, after viewing Real Princess on the farm before the sale, if you want to see a filly just come with us and have a look at this one.”

The Klawervlei Stud-bred Trippi filly’s sales tag, a staggering R2,7 million, confirmed those sentiments, but she has now proven worth it.

It was Delpech’s sixth Graded success of the SA Champions Season and three of them have been for Kannemeyer and Khaya Stables.

By David Thiselton