Top Cape-based trainer Vaughan Marshall admitted, after adding two more Gr 1’s to his glittering CV at Scottsville on Saturday, the Captain Als were always the first horses he viewed at the sales and he always viewed every one of them.

Marshall trained the great Klawervlei-based champion stallion and both of his yard’s big race winners on Saturday, The Secret Is Out and Always In Charge, are by Captain Al.

MJ Byleveld rode a race out of the top drawer in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship, remaining calm when short of room at the 500m mark, easing The Secret Is Out back slightly and then bursting through to win cosily.

Owner and breeder Garth Miller’s intuition when buying The Secret Is Out’s dam Secret Of Victoria a few years ago due to the speed in the pedigree has led to his BBP syndicate, consisting of himself and Basil Nelson, being in possession of one of the best families in the South African stud book.

Secret Of Victoria herself finished second in the Allan Robertson for Marshall. The Secret Is Out has now become her second daughter to win the prestigious two-year-old event.

Miller owned a half-share in The Secret Is Out’s full-sister All Is Secret, who won the Allan Robertson for Marshall in 2012.

The Secret Is Out did not go to the sales and on Saturday became Marshall’s fourth winner of the big race. Nelson was there to accept the trophy and Miller was sure to have been tuned in from his holiday venue.

The small filly has a “wonderful temperament”, “a big action and a big heart”. Furthermore, Marshall said, “We have not got to the bottom of her yet.”

Later, The Klawervlei Stud-bred and Markus and Ingrid Jooste-owned Always In Charge gave Marshall his second career win of the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion.

Jockey Anton Marcus said it had not taken him long to agree with stable jockey Byleveld’s assessment of this being a “special horse” after he had begun working him ten days before the race at Summerveld.

Marshall purchased him for R650,000 at the CTS Emperor’s Palace Select Yearling Sale and Jooste had later taken ownership.

Marshall, recalling the sale, said, “He wasn’t a big horse, he was very athletic and had a lot of quality about him.”

He won in fine style on Saturday, beating the field by three lengths in a time 0,37 seconds quicker than the fillies race.

A lot more will be heard of him and Marshall believes he will be even better when he goes around the turn.

David Thiselton
Picture: Always In Charge (Nkosi Hlophe)

 

Mike Bass has decided to run his four-time Grade 1 winner Inara under top weight in the Tibouchina Stakes at Greyville on Saturday rather than go for the Rising Sun Gold Challenge.

Daughter Candice Robinson said: “Inara galloped last week and she worked well. She has raced at Greyville before (in last year’s KRA Fillies Guineas, Woolavington and Garden Province) but she wasn’t at her best then so we will have to see how she handles it.”

Grant van Niekerk again takes the mount while Bernard Fayd’Herbe will team up with Cape Fillies Guineas winner Silver Mountain for the second time in this seven furlong test. Bass runs Paterfamilias (Van Niekerk) in the Gold Challenge but Helderberg Blue will miss the Cup Trial.

The stable, buoyed by Fly By Night’s return to form at Scottsville, also had the satisfaction of seeing Whose That Girl make up for her March disappointment by responding to Robert Khathi’s urgings to get up on the line in Saturday’s Kenilworth Maiden Juvenile.

“She was feeling her shins quite a bit last time and she didn’t really travel as a result but she still needs to mature a bit more,” Mrs Robinson reported.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe turned his back on the big bucks at Scottsville to stay loyal to his Ridgemont retainer and he was rewarded with success on joint top weight Make It Raine in the Place Your Bets Handicap even if the pens proved a fraught affair.

He related: “I knew I was in a bit of trouble – she was obviously still thinking about the bad experience she had last time – and she tried to flip over with me.”

Ridgemont manager Craig Carey added: “She is a little hot and, while I like them to have a bit of fire if they are going to go to stud, we will have to keep an eye on her temperament. She also has a breathing problem – you can hear it when she works on the track. It’s no problem racing on the straight course but I don’t know how it would affect her if she goes 1 400m.”

Fayd’Herbe was also riding for Brett Crawford when he was at the centre of the action in the mile maiden. His mount Navasha started a prohibitive 9-20 and looked like overhauling the pace-setting Dontknowhy only to falter in the closing stages and go down by a short head.

Her rider promptly lodged an objection and the close-circuit suggested he might get it but, as so often, you had to see the boardroom head-on to really tell what happened. Brandon May switched his whip from his right hand to his left and his mount promptly began to hang away from it. She moved two or three metres to her right and in the process her quarters twice slammed against those of the favourite like a wet sail in a gale.

The stipes had little hesitation in reversing the placings and in suspending May for a week (June 5-11). He and Darryl Hodgson had some compensation when Ocean’s Swell won two races later but the apprentice was promptly back in the boardroom, this time to be fined a grand for celebrating before the line.

Table Bay could be under consideration for the Langerman on June 25 after proving much too good in the 1 400m Juvenile Plate with Donovan Dillon predicting: “I think he will go a long way. He is getting better and better.”

Captain Bagg, who usually makes the running, benefitted from a switch to waiting tactics under Grant Behr in the Itsarush.co.za Handicap – although the change was not by design. “Normally we can’t stop him going to the front but this time there was a pace and he settled,” explained Eric Sands.

It was disturbing to see three horses having to be scratched from the last because there weren’t enough jockeys available but that didn’t worry Paul Reeves who took over Grant Knowles’s Declarator from Shane Humby a month ago, slapped on a pair of blinkers and let Richard Fourie do the rest.

Michael Clower

The Cape Breeders Club will be hosting their annual auction of stallion services at Highlands Farm on Friday, June 10. And the auction will take place just after the inaugural CTS Mares & Fillies For Stud Select Sale takes place.

The 2016 Stallion Services auction will offer breeders a rare and final opportunity to acquire a service to some of the top sires in the country.

Among the sires with services on offer at this year’s auction are Captain Al (pictured), Dynasty, Silvano, and Var –four elite stallions all of whom are already fully booked for the upcoming breeding season. Other top class sires have top class books of mares for the season ahead and are filling fast –making this a not to be missed opportunity for any serious breeder.

Other top class and promising sires with services set to be offered include Byword, Captain Of All, Count Dubois, Duke Of Marmalade, Elusive Fort, Flower Alley, Gimmethegreenlight, Go Deputy, Greys Inn, Ideal World, Jay Peg, Judpot, Kingsbarns, Mambo in Seattle, Marchfield, Master Of My Fate, Oratorio, Pathfork, Philanthropist, Pomodoro, Potala Palace, Querari, Seventh Rock, Soft Falling Rain, Twice Over, Vercingetorix, Warm White Night, What A Winter, Where’s That Tiger, and Wylie Hall.

The Cape is also home to a number of really exciting new sires, and these horses (with services on offer) include Oratorio’s G1 son Fencing Master, Horse Of The Year winners Futura and Legislate (both sons of outstanding Cape sire Dynasty), Galileo’s well performed son Global View, Triple Crown winner Louis The King, and Lammerskraal’s exciting recent acquisition, Visionaire.

A number of young and up and coming stallions will have the services auction as silent bids.

Unfortunately, the stallion parade, which was scheduled to take place on the same night has had to be cancelled due to the recent outbreak of African Horse Sickness.

Interested parties are requested to contact Wendy at: secretary@capebreeders.co.za

 

Racing legend Basil Marcus is in Cape Town’s Milnerton Mediclinic recovering from what is believed to be a seizure.

Son Adam said: “It happened during track work last Thursday. When I went into the office I found him in a chair pretty much out, and I took him to the Mediclinic as that was the nearest hospital.

“They thought he had had a heart attack or a stroke and they did a CTC scan on his heart and lungs but both were OK.

“The next day they did an MRI scan on his brain and they now believe he had an epileptic seizure. It was a frightening experience and I personally didn’t think he was going to make it.

“It’s amazing to think that he had all those injuries, and broke all those bones, during his riding career yet this could happen when he was relaxing.”

Marcus, 59, was seven times champion in Hong Kong in an outstanding riding career that saw him win two Mets and three Queen’s Plates. He was also twice Cape champion apprentice and had considerable success in Britain. He was second on Game Plan in the 1990 Oaks and rode her to victory in the Pretty Polly Stakes in Ireland.

He switched to training in 2004 and sent out almost 300 winners in five and a half seasons including the Cape Guineas and Derby with Jay Peg.

Michael Clower

Coenie de Beer has traipsed the country with his one good horse in search of a Grade 1 and it paid off handsomely at Scottsville yesterday. Talktothestars (11-2), racing ‘barefoot’, defying top weight and his pedigree landed the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint over 1200m. The win was also the first Gr1 for De Beer.

Pierre Strydom, recently back from an extended injury break, rode the perfect race, tracking the pace before accelerating up the inside fence to win under hands and heels.

African Ruler tried hard up the centre but proved no match for the winner while Exelero was the first of the fancied runners home in third.

“What a lovely temperament this horse has, “said Strydom. “He tried to buck me off going to the start. First he didn’t want to canter, but he went into the stalls and stood quietly and he just travelled in the race.

“I felt really good going through the 400 but I always thought that something that was well handicapped might come and grab us with 60 on our back but he just kept on plugging away,” Strydom concluded.

Carry On Alice, looking for her fifth Gr1 victory, and back-to-back wins in the Gr1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint, proved an expensive failure as she could only manage fifth behind Real Princess (5-1) who was chased home by Fly By Night and rank outsider Joan Ranger.

This was the sixth and most important win for Real Princess who is unbeaten at Scottsville. “My filly just loves this track,” said winning rider Anthony Delpech. “She’s never been beaten here. This was a great win because she’s all heart and no legs.”

Delpech tracked the early pace and pulled out from behind the pack approaching the 300m mark. All this time S’manga Khumalo, who had tracked the early speed on Carry On Alice, found himself ‘snookered’ and his hunt for a gap was thwarted at every turn. Delpech gave Real Princess a clear run for the wire and she responded under a driving ride to hold of Fly By Night, second to Via Africa two years back, who had shown pace throughout on the outside.

Vaughan Marshall did the Gr1 two-year-old double as Always In Charge (19-10) lived up to his name and made most of the running to win the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Medallion following on The Secret Is Out’s victory in the G1 Allan Robertson Championship.

An outside gate down the Scottsville straight is widely regarded as a coffin draw but Anton Marcus, braving criticism, held station and cut the early pace. He had the field off the bit a long way out and although drifting towards the inside under pressure the result was never in doubt once the chips were down.

Corne Spies’s decision to skip the Allan Robertson in favour of the Medallion with Seattle Singer proved an inspired move as she put all but Always In Charge to bed, finishing a clear second ahead of Riverine and Red Rock.

Always In Charge is owned by Markus and Ingrid Jooste, in the UK for the Investec Derby, and was booted home by their retained rider.

“I must thank MJ Byleveld,” said Marcus. “When this horse arrived in Durban MJ came to me and said this horse is special. I have been working him for about 10 days now and his work was exceptional,” he added.

“This is one instance when I’m looking forward to a horse going around the turn because I think he will be even better,” commented Marshall, issuing a warning for to those with hopes in the Gr2 Golden Horseshoe on Vodacom Durban July day and the Gr1 Premier’s Champion Juvenile Stakes on eLan Gold Cup day.

 

If it wasn’t out before, it is now. The Secret Is Out (12-10, pictured) overcame some traffic and put a high class field to the sword in the Gr1 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship.

It was a fourth win in the race for Marshall who also trained full sister All Is Secret to win the race back in 2012. Super sire Captain Al was also trained by Marshall and did the double with Always In Charge winning the Medallion. Stable rider MJ Byleveld produced his filly with a sustained burst to comfortably hold off the attentions of a fast finishing Fursa with the Sean Tarry pair of Visuality and Myfunnyvalentine also running on strongly.

Byleveld was forced to ease out of a gap when Muzi Yeni aboard Blaze Of Mystery shut the door on him at the 500m mark but The Secret Is Out switched out smoothly and set sail for the line.

Blaze Of Mystery had the call inside the final furlong but The Secret Is Out gradually reeled her in as the leader came under pressure. The Secret Is Out took over 100m out as Blaze Of Mystery came up empty and it was left to SA Fillies Nursery winner and Dubai-bound Fursa, last coming through the junction of the courses, to chase home for second.

Marshall was lavish in his praise. “She has a wonderful temperament, nothing worries her and I don’t think we have got to the bottom of her yet.”

“She’s that good and she got herself out of trouble, just the sign of a very good horse. She’s very, very special.”

Andrew Harrison
Pictures: Nkosi Hlophe