Brutal Force will miss the rest of the season after recovering from a life-threatening attack of colic last week.

Joey Ramsden said: “He got the colic in Jo’burg last Monday night and his gut was trapped between the rib cage and the liver. It was serious – apparently it is one of the worst types of colic there is.

“Fortunately the vets were able to pull out the trapped gut without having to cut it and the horse returned to the yard on Saturday.

“He is looking a bit sorry for himself but otherwise he is OK. He will be out of action for four months.”

The four-year-old, beaten only a head by Gulf Storm in the Betting World Cape Flying Championship on Met day, was in Johannesburg being prepared for a tilt at Saturday week’s World Sports Betting Computaform Sprint.

By Michael Clower

Picture: Brutal Force (Liesl King)

The Joey Ramsden stable is convinced that Newlands is going places even though the Australian-bred came close to throwing the race away at Kenilworth on Saturday.

The Maiden Juvenile Plate looked all over when the 6-10 hotpot swept to the front inside the final furlong but he promptly downed tools and Donovan Dillon, hastily switching his whip from one hand to the other like a magician finding his wand is not working, had to get him going again to beat off the 55-1 supposed no-hoper Hernando’s Promise.

Donovan Dillon (Nkosi Hlophe)

Dillon said: “He is still very dumb but he has scopes of improvement” while Ramsden’s assistant Ricardo Sobotker added: “He is a big baby and he can be very coltish but he is going to be a nice horse when he goes over ground.”

The Almighty had a busy afternoon. Dillon, who crosses himself every time he is led into the winner’s box, also won the opener for Ramsden on comfortable scorer Captain Gambler while Aldo Domeyer added to Mike Bass’s memorable day by taking the 1 800m handicap on Kilrain.

Domeyer marks victory with a similar silent prayer and, just to make sure that it goes to the right place, he thrusts his index finger heavenwards. He is, incidentally, particularly taken with the aptly-named Oomph, five-length winner of Friday’s East Cape Nursery and says: “That baby is something worth following.”

Racegoers have been asking why Richard Fourie is making such a stop-start of his return to action after Hong Kong. Saturday was the first time he had raced for three weeks and he has no more rides until this weekend.

“I am enjoying life before it becomes a job again,” he explained. “I went for a fortnight’s holiday and then to see my family in Jo’burg.”

He remains determined to book his own rides and has already turned down an offer from at least one agent but he is non-commital about whether he will continue as a freelance, saying only: “I don’t know.”

His seven mounts on Saturday produced no winners – despite his employing a whole variety of tactics – but three seconds included a peach of a ride on Carrie Bow Cay who was thwarted only by Craig du Plooy conjuring unexpected reserves from the Snaith-trained Katies Jay close home.

Fourie was also unlucky in the last when he felt Fairy Maker (beaten less than half a length by MJ Byleveld’s late run on Vaughan Marshall’s Three  Blue Cranes) not striding out properly. Sure enough, the course vet found that the mare had gone lame.

The recent African Horse Sickness death is causing problems for Glen Kotzen and all his five runners were withdrawn. The actual scratching was done by senior stipe Ernie Rodrigues rather than the trainer.

Rodrigues explained: “The state vet made the actual decision. I rang the trainer but he was at the sales in Johannesburg so I took the horses out. The stable may be able to have runners this Saturday under certain circumstances.”

Storm Clipper, the 14-1 shot who beat the older horses with ease in the Quinte Plus Maiden Plate, carries the colours of Mauritius trainer Ricky Maingard and will join him in time.

Shane Humby said: “I will have to speak to Ricky to see what he wants to do but this is a smart horse. We didn’t know if he was going to be alright here because he was so naughty in the pens first time.”

Piet Steyn has found the key to Garden Tea Party who flew home almost impossibly late to mercilessly cut down long-time leader Svala in the 1 200m Fillies Maiden.

“I have always rated her but I learned that you have got to keep her covered and sit on her as long as you can,“ Steyn explained. Seemingly, though, he wasn’t prepared for Grant Behr following his instructions quite so much to the letter – “I thought ‘Jesus, when is this guy going to let her go!’”

It is easy to see why Playboy Buddy had finished second in five of her six starts. She burned up kilos of nervous energy before the 2 500m maiden despite Behr skipping the parade, taking her down with his feet out of the irons and getting off her at the start. “She lives on her nerves and takes too much out of herself,” said Dean Kannemeyer’s assistant David Lilley. Thankfully for those who made her 13-10 favourite, Behr was able to conserve enough for her to come again at the end to score by a hard-fought length.

By Michael Clower

If there was any argument that last season’s crop of three-year-old fillies was above average it was finally put to bed by star filly Inara at Turffontein yesterday. Also stuffed under the blanket was that carefully planned, Cape Town-based horses have no trouble competing on the Highveld.

Winner of the Gr1 Klavervlei Majorca Stakes in two consecutive seasons, Inara took her form to the ‘Big Smoke’ and put their best away with ease in the Gr1 L Jaffee Empress Club Stakes, second leg of the unofficial fillies and mares Gr1 WFA 1600m Triple Crown.

Trainers from the Western Cape have traditionally been reluctant to travel to the Highveld where the rarefied atmosphere, 6000m above sea level, has often been blamed for disappointing performances. But if altitude came into play yesterday it was not in evidence as Inara made some high class opposition look decidedly ordinary.

Inara (Liesl King)

The field dawdled the first fractions but if the opposition plan was to blunt Inara’s finish it was misplaced. Grant van Niekerk rode a supremely confident race pushing for home early and Inara responded like the good horse she is.

Fitting was that Mike Bass, who has had difficult health issues of late, was on track to collect the trophy.

If Inara franked the three-year-old fillies form then Carry On Alice reinforced it. Second to Alboran Sea – another of the ‘Fillies Super Crop’ – in the G1 Computaform Sprint last year, she staked her claim for another crack at the big prize at the end of the month with an emphatic victory in a Pinnacle Stakes sprint over 1000m.

Even though she had everything in her favour, the win could not have been more emphatic and S’Manga Khumalo was looking through his legs for the opposition a long way out.

The Computaform Sprint will be more competitive but Carry On Alice showed enough yesterday to suggest that she will be a tough nut to crack.

Horses from champion trainer elect Sean Tarry’s yard have been almost invincible of late but there have been a couple of hiccups along the way and it is obviously preying on his mind. “I’ve had a number of odds-on favourites beaten when they looked to have everything in their favour,’ he surmised after Carry On Alice’s win.

Anyone who understands horse racing will be aware that things can go pear-shaped in a matter of seconds – tendon, muscles whatever – so it’s best to know the facts before shouting.

Mike Azzie, much like Tarry, has a wealth of talent in his yard and Rabada was back on track in a Progress Plate. Abashiri may be the stable darling as he heads for the final leg of the triple crown but Rabada has always been rated by Azzie as a horse with lots of potential.

Anton Marcus rode a supremely confident race, tracking the pace for much of the way up the straight, and Rabada responded smartly. The colt’s lack of race fitness started to tell over the final furlong as Machismo and Prospect Strike chased hard to put him under pressure.

By Andrew Harrison

Newlands, one of Joey Ramsden’s legion of smart two-year-olds, looks good for the Place Your Bets Maiden Juvenile at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Donovan Dillon (Nkosi Hlophe)

Donovan Dillon’s mount went into punters’ notebooks after taking third against older horses after failing to go the early pace over 1 200m on debut. The extra furlong here will be much more to his liking – he is by Epsom Derby winner High Chaparral out of a mare by Fusaichi Pegasus who won the Kentucky Derby – and he has a plum draw. He opened at 12-10 with World Sports Betting yesterday. The Justin Snaith-trained Pride Rock, 22-10 second favourite and the obvious danger, is drawn in the bush.

Snaith and Ramsden also dominate the opening Fillies Maiden Juvenile but this time the draw advantage is reversed with the Milnerton-trained 12-10 favourite Captain Gambler wide. Her form looks slightly better and Dillon is one of the few Cape Town jockeys to have made a noticeable effort to emulate the Anton Marcus starting methods.

That said, Alpha Girl  has the benefit of the in-form Heavelon van der Hoven’s 2.5kg claim and, as low numbers have a huge advantage over 1 400m on this course, she is marginally preferred –and yesterday’s 8-1 is a big price.

The majority of Dean Kannemeyer’s 61 winners this season have come in Durban – indeed he is the leading trainer at Greyville at the moment – whereas only 13 of his total have been in his native Cape Town. But the handicappers reckon he should add to this with Playboy Buddy in the 2 500m maiden.

Grant Behr (Nkosi Hlophe)

Grant Behr’s mount is the highest rated horse in the race and at the weights she has a theoretical 5kg in hand. Little wonder that she opened as short as evens. True, she has been off for two months but she did run up to her handicap mark when finishing well over a mile last time. Although she has never raced beyond 2 000m, she finished second when she did try that trip. Olympic Power (5-2) and Tropical Heat (16-10), who look the main dangers, have also not been further than 2 000m.

The Quinte Plus Maiden is on form a coin-toss between the top three and French Captain gets the vote only because he looks more accustomed to this 1 000m than the other two. But watch out for Snaith two-year-old Tweak the Wind. He opened 22-10 joint favourite with French Captain.

Sean Veale, successful on Triptique in the Cape Merchants here in November, gets the call from Brett Crawford as Corne Orffer is out for a week for an interference offence on Rock On Geordies three weeks ago.

Veale’s best chance is almost certainly on 3-1 shot Baqueira in race five assuming she can cope with the drop in trip. The filly has most to fear from 14-10 favourite Emerald Gal, Kwando (5-1) and 11-2 shot Garden Tea Party who is better than her last run would suggest (she was returned not striding out).

By Michael Clower

The highlight of the weekend is the GR 1 Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes over 1600m at Turffontein On Saturday and it will see an intriguing clash between three leading lights of probably the best female crop in South African racing history.

Inara (Liesl King)

There is also plenty of other highlights on both the Highveld and in KZN to look forward to.

The Mike Bass-trained Inara is a three-time Gr 1-winner who is ideally suited to the course and distance of the Empress Club Stakes and she is well drawn. She has never run to her best around a right hand turn but that probably had more to do with a lung infection she was incubating in the Champions Season in KZN last season. She has had to travel from Cape Town to Summerveld to prepare for the race and then travel up to Johannesburg this week. However, the Bass yard are already showing signs they are in for a fine season in KZN and she is undoubtedly the one to beat.

The Frank Robinson-trained Olma has not run well in three outing at Turffontein. However, she has matured and the use of a tongue tie has made a big difference. She is also proving to be best suited to the 1600m trip so as one who is getting better and better she is an interesting contender.

Trophy Wife will pick up the pieces if the top two go missing as she is an ultra consistent sort and as a Gr 1 bridesmaid deserves to one day be in the winner’s enclosure.

Later the Listed Spook Express Handicap over 2450m could see yet another marathon race win for the Weiho Marwing yard, who excel at these events and their up and coming stayer Zafira has snuck into the handicap with the minimum weight.

The meeting also sees the return of top class sorts Carry On Alice and Rabada.

Carry On Alice (Nkosi Hlophe)

Carry On Alice should hold too many guns in the fifth race over 1100m. An interesting runner for a place here is Winter Al as she is way out at the weights, but is well regarded and one day when this difficult customer  finally gets through the preliminaries unscathed she could pop up at long odds.

Rabada has had to come back from a couple of setbacks so might be beaten by Prospect Strike in the 1400m event as the latter has class and has had a good preparation.

Another intriguing race is the fourth where three classy types, Rainy Day Blues, Smart Mart and Jubilee Line clash over 2000m and they are slected in that order although it should be a mammoth tussle.

In KZN the exciting sprinter Natal appears in a race over 1200m, but might be ousted by Captain Alfredo. The latter has to give Natal 2,5kg but will relish the 1200m trip of Scottsville and has Gr 1 Tsogo Sun contender written all over him.

By David Thiselton